Fighting intensifies between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon

UAE and Qatar condemn targeting of South Pars gas field; Esmail Khatib confirmed killedIran threatens Gulf energy facilities after Israeli attack on its largest gasfieldFighting intensifies between Israel and Hezbollah in southern LebanonIran is still exporting millions of barrels of oil, with about 90 ships, including oil tankers, having crossed the strait of Hormuz since the beginning of the war with Iran, according to maritime and trade data platforms reports.This is despite Iran saying it had closed the vital waterway to vessels from the US and its allies. Continue reading...

As Deep As the Grave, the true story of 1920s archeologists, will bring late actor back with support from his estateVal Kilmer is set to be the latest Hollywood star to be resurrected by AI. The acting legend, who died last year at age 65, will star in the drama As Deep As the Grave.Kilmer was attached to the project prior to his death from throat cancer. Continue reading...

National intelligence director says Iran’s conventional military projection capabilities had been ‘largely destroyed’Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxTulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence who in 2019 was selling “No War With Iran” T-shirts, told the Senate intelligence committee on Wednesday that US strikes on Iran had been a strategic success.“I’d like to remind those who are watching what I am briefing here today conveys the intelligence community’s assessment of the threats facing US citizens, our homeland and our interests,” Gabbard told the committee, “not my personal views or opinions”.More details soon… Continue reading...

Reform UK leader was paid to make remarks about imprisoned rapper and ex-Honduran president in Cameo videosNewly unearthed Nigel Farage videos reveal support for rioter, neo-Nazi event and far-right slogansNigel Farage called for the release of the imprisoned rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs and commended the efforts to free a former Honduran president jailed in the US for drug trafficking.The Reform UK leader was paid to make the remarks on the personalised video platform Cameo, which allows users to commission celebrities and public figures to record short video clips. Continue reading...

Beijing seeks to decipher effect of Iran war on US midterms and best way to apply pressure when Trump meets XiThe White House said on Wednesday that China had agreed to postpone Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing, as war in the Middle East rages on, complicating the US president’s position at home and abroad.China has not yet commented on the delay to the highly anticipated trip, in which Trump and the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, will meet in person for the first time since October. Trump previously said he hoped to delay the trip, originally scheduled to run from 31 March to 2 April, for “five or six weeks”. Continue reading...

The bloc’s foremost troublemaker could lose April’s election, but the headaches he’s caused will not necessarily disappear with him• Don’t get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereHow do you solve a problem like Viktor Orban? By crossing your fingers and hoping it disappears in just over three weeks’ time. But even if the European Union’s disruptor-in-chief is ousted in elections next month (which is far from certain), Europe’s Hungary problem is unlikely to vanish overnight.EU leaders will gather in Brussels on Thursday and Friday for yet another summit that will be at least partly hijacked by Orbán, Hungary’s illiberal prime minister. Continue reading...

Marius Borg Høiby accused of 39 offences, but denies the most serious charges of four rapesMarius Borg Høiby, the son of Norway’s crown princess, should receive more than seven years in prison if he is found guilty of 39 offences, including four rapes and assaults, according to prosecutors.On Wednesday, the penultimate day of the more than six-week-long trial at Oslo district court, the prosecution said it believed that Høiby was guilty of 39 of the 40 offences with which he was charged, which, as well as rape and domestic abuse, include multiple breaches of restraining orders, assault, drug and driving offences. Continue reading...

Producers say alleged victim of grooming was ready to tell his story and show raises urgent issues around online safetyChannel 5 has defended its controversial drama about the downfall of Huw Edwards, saying it raises the “urgent” issue of grooming and online safety and gives voice to his alleged victim, who worked with the programme to tell his side of the story so “no one who has been silenced feels they are alone”.Starring Martin Clunes as the disgraced former BBC newsreader, the drama charts the claim of a relationship and texts between Edwards and a vulnerable young man who was at the centre of a scandal reported by the Sun in 2023, which alleged the presenter made payments to a 17-year-old for sexually explicit images.Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards will air at 9pm on 24 March on Channel 5. Continue reading...

Government’s first published land use framework maps how land is used and how it can be adapted to meet changing needsAbout 7% of England’s land – an area roughly two-and-a-half times the size of Cornwall – will need to be given over to nature, forests and renewable energy, to meet the UK’s environmental targets, new data shows.But there will still be enough land to grow the food needed, and to house a growing population, according to the government’s first “land use framework”, published on Wednesday.Placing a high priority on restoring peatland, all but 13% of which is degraded across England, but this will not include an outright ban on development such as wind or solar farms.Encouraging the “multi use” of land, for instance with livestock grazing alongside wind and solar farms, and wildlife protection and nature restoration on arable land.Encouraging local authorities to put nature reserves in urban areas as well as in the countryside.Grouse moors to come under closer scrutiny and tighter regulation, which will go further than EU rules.No new “right to roam” is included in the framework, but there will be a consultation on “making landowner liability more proportionate”, which could open up areas for public access.A national soil map will be published.A new “land use unit” will be established.Government planning for changes to the UK’s landscape under global heating of 2C above preindustrial levels, and of much higher heating of 4C. Continue reading...

Offer to reform taxes, tackle ‘rip-off Britain’ and overhaul fiscal rules could tempt exasperated Labour supportersZack Polanski says Greens would ditch GDP targets and focus on wellbeing insteadThe venue for Zack Polanski’s economic speech on Wednesday – a sunny north London garden centre – could hardly have been more different to the sombre City backdrop for Rachel Reeves’s Mais lecture on Tuesday.The chancellor was, as it happens, the last politician to give a major economic speech at the New Economics Foundation (NEF), the leftwing thinktank that invited the Green party leader, Polanski, to set out his stall as part of its 40th anniversary celebrations. Back in 2018 it hosted the speech in which, as a backbencher, Reeves called for an “everyday economics” that would prioritise the needs of low-paid workers. Continue reading...

Emanuel Fabian says his routine report became focus of wager with $23m at stake on online prediction platformAn Israeli journalist received threatening messages from users of the online prediction platform Polymarket after one of his reports, on a minor missile strike near Jerusalem, suddenly became the focus of an unresolved bet about the Israel-Iran conflict.“After you make us lose $900,000 we will invest no less than that to finish you,” said one message to the journalist, Emanuel Fabian. Continue reading...