European intelligence agencies believe Russia is supplying drones to Iran, says official

Ban on junk food adverts has cut advertising spend and prompted a debate over the policy’s impactThe UK will have its first Easter without the traditional barrage of TV ads for chocolate eggs and hot cross buns as the ban on junk food advertising makes the sweetest tradition of the year a sugar-free viewing experience.New regulations, which came into force at the beginning of the year, prohibit products high in fat, sugar and salt from appearing in TV ads before 9pm, as part of efforts to tackle rising childhood obesity. Continue reading...

Conviction revealed during questioning of Rob Hastings about a second woman whom he deceived into intimate relationshipAn undercover officer who deceived a woman into an intimate relationship was later convicted and dismissed from the police for assaulting his long-term partner, the public inquiry into undercover policing has heard.Rob Hastings, who infiltrated pro-Palestinian and left wing protest groups for three years during his covert deployment, was convicted of assaulting his now ex-partner and mother of his three children in 2014. He was sacked by the Metropolitan police for gross misconduct as a result. Continue reading...

Nigel Farage has called Tate an ‘important voice’ for young men and held back from criticising his misogynistic viewsReform insiders are becoming increasingly irritated by the party’s association with Andrew Tate and other extreme online celebrities whose views are too toxic for the mainstream voters Nigel Farage needs to win over.Insiders have revealed that as Reform prepare for power they are trying to end their association with more controversial figures on the right such as Tate, whose extreme and misogynistic content could taint the party’s credibility. Continue reading...

Islamabad is attempting high-wire diplomacy between US and Iran, but Israel could spoil any chance of success Intensifying Israeli bombing of civilian targets in Iran and an expanding US military force in the Gulf are casting a dark shadow over Pakistan’s hopes of hosting peace talks between Iran and the US.Pakistan is attempting high-wire diplomacy, using its relative neutrality as a country with good relations with Iran and the US, to provide a venue for negotiations. It is not a player in the Middle East and does not host any American military bases, so it does not bring the baggage of other potential regional mediators. Continue reading...

War continues to escalate with Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis confirming a second wave of attacks on Israel since they joined the war on SaturdayRead the full reportHello and welcome to our live coverage of events in the Middle East as the war enters its second month.The war only continues to escalate as Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis confirmed a second wave of attacks on Israel since joining the conflict on Saturday. They have vowed to continue strikes in the coming days, posing a threat not just to worsening regional security but also global trade.In a televised speech, Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said the Iran-backed group had launched a “barrage of cruise missiles and drones” in a second attack on Israel, targeting key military sites. He vowed the Houthis would continue military operations in the coming days until Israel “ceases its attacks and aggression”.The entry of the Houthis, poses a direct threat to the Bab al-Mandab strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, a second major choke point in the supply chain of energy supplies and other trade in and out of the Middle East. With Iran’s near total closure of the strait of Hormuz, a shutdown of the Bab al-Mandab, located between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, would amplify the already grave impact of the war on the global economy, and could also reignite a Saudi-Yemen conflict.The Pentagon is preparing plans for weeks of ground operations in Iran – potentially including raids on Kharg Island and coastal sites near the strait of Hormuz – though President Donald Trump has not yet approved any deployment, the Washington Post is reporting. Any ground operation would stop short of a full-scale invasion, instead involving raids by special operations forces and conventional infantry troops, the Post said, citing unnamed officials.Exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has told one of the US’s biggest annual gatherings of conservatives that he is ready to lead a new Iranian government and would call on the country’s citizens to rise up when the “right moment arrives”, AP reports. Pahlavi is the son of the shah, a monarch deposed in 1979 when the Islamic theocracy came to power.Iran’s Revolutionary Guard threatened to target US universities in the Middle East after saying US-Israeli strikes had deliberately targeted two Iranian universities. “If the US government wants its universities in the region to be free from retaliation... it must condemn the bombing of the universities in an official statement by 12 noon on Monday, March 30, Tehran time,” said the statement published by Iranian media.Pakistan has said it would host a meeting of Middle Eastern powers on Monday in an effort to find a regional approach to ending the conflict. But the talks, which bring together the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt, did not appear to include any of the warring parties, casting further doubt on persistent US claims of diplomatic progress.Israeli attacks killed three journalists in a targeted strike on their car in southern Lebanon, which the Lebanese president condemned as a “blatant war crime”. The strike killed Ali Shoeib, from Hezbollah-owned al-Manar TV, Fatima Ftouni and her brother and cameraman Mohammed Ftouni from pro-Hezbollah outlet al-Mayadeen.Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organisation, called for an end to attacks on medical staff after nine paramedics were ​killed in southern Lebanon on Saturday.The Israeli military bombarded Tehran with a “wide-scale wave of strikes”, damaging residential areas, civilian infrastructure, and research and educational buildings. The IDF also said it had hit Iran’s headquarters for naval weaponry.Iran has allowed 20 oil tankers from Pakistan to pass through the strait of Hormuz. Ishaq Dar, Pakistan’s deputy prime minister, said two ships would cross per day. The country has been playing a key mediatory role in the conflict. Continue reading...

Minister’s decision to ditch town’s colonial-era identity and honour anti-apartheid activist divides residentsA South African town is divided over changing its name from the colonial-era Graaff-Reinet to Robert Sobukwe, after the anti-apartheid activist, in a debate that has inflamed racial tensions.Petitions have been signed, rival marches held and a formal letter of complaint sent to the sports, arts and culture minister, Gayton McKenzie, who approved the name change on 6 February. Continue reading...

Derbyshire police said a number of people had been injured, some of them seriously, in the incident in the city centreA man has been arrested after a car hit and injured pedestrians in Derby on Saturday.Derbyshire police said a number of people had been injured, some of them seriously, in the incident in the city centre. Continue reading...

Roofs torn off buildings in Exmouth, power lost and homes floodedGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAuthorities were still working on Sunday to restore power to communities hit hard by Cyclone Narelle as a popular tourist town remained effectively cut off.After lashing coastal communities with 250km/h winds and dumping a year’s worth of rain in a day, the now-subtropical low again headed offshore after ripping through parts of Western Australia. Continue reading...

National Education Union poll finds 89% feel class sizes in England are too big to be ‘properly inclusive’Oversized classes and inadequate staffing levels are hindering teachers’ capacity to support children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send), according to a large survey of state school teachers in England.Nine out of 10 (89%) of the 10,000 teachers who took part in the poll by the National Education Union (NEU), before its annual conference in Brighton which starts on Monday, said class sizes were too big to be “properly inclusive”. Continue reading...

Vice-president received about 53% of votes at Conservative Political Action Conference held in Texas this yearOne of the biggest conservative gatherings in the US ran a poll showing vice-president JD Vance is the top choice this year to be the next Republican presidential candidate.The poll from the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), released on Saturday, was taken during this year’s gathering. About 53% of the more than 1,600 attendees who voted in the poll chose Vance, Reuters reports. Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, came in second with 35%. Continue reading...

Party members to determine MP’s political future after Dinesh Gourisetty also nominated for upper house seatGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMoira Deeming’s political future in the Victorian Liberals is about to be decided behind closed doors in the final preselection battle for the party’s upper house seats on Sunday.Liberal members were due to gather at party headquarters for the western metropolitan region convention, where Deeming faces a serious challenge from Dinesh Gourisetty, a prominent figure in Melbourne’s fast-growing Indian community. Continue reading...

A 26-year old man died in a cell in Darwin on Saturday morning, and a 25 year-old man died in a police car on TuesdayGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA 26-year-old man died at Darwin correctional centre on Saturday, Northern Territory police said.It was the territory’s second reported death in custody in just a matter of days. Continue reading...