France votes in local elections seen as crucial indicator for presidential poll

‘Of course there’s going to be retaliation,’ says one expert. ‘It may be that this is what Trump’s interested in’For decades, the US and its allies have painted Iran as the world’s biggest sponsor of state terrorism – invoking its Islamic rulers’ supposed revolutionary fanaticism and determined support for militant proxies.Now a long-standing but mainly latent threat is coalescing, with the war waged on the country by the US and Israel, to raise the risk of an attack on American soil to levels unseen since the murderous al-Qaida assaults of 11 September 2001, experts say. Continue reading...

Experts query ‘mix-up of priorities’ as president plays golf, posts old pictures and repeats details of Bill Maher feudMore than two weeks into the US-Israel war on Iran, and the conflict appears at risk of spiraling out of control.Back home, Donald Trump’s behavior also appears chaotic. A foreign conflict typically brings somber reflection from leaders: in Trump’s case, it has brought a stream of behavior that has defied norms and raised eyebrows over his state of mind. Continue reading...

Niko Bray, who obtained pilot’s license in January 2025, shares story after averting disaster on busy Jupiter roadA teenage pilot who made an emergency airplane landing on a busy Florida road while averting disaster entirely says “you just execute” when thrust into such life-or-death situations.“It can happen … so fast,” 19-year-old Niko Bray said in an interview with the Florida news outlet WSVN, nearly a week after authorities say he landed the small airplane he was flying on a six-lane thoroughfare in the community of Jupiter because of an emergency in the skies. Continue reading...

If costs stay high for the next three months, US owner Peter Huntsman says he will close the site on TeessideThe American owner of one of Britain’s last major chemicals plants has said he will close the site if energy prices remain at their current levels for the next three months.Peter Huntsman, whose family built Huntsman Corporation into a global chemicals empire, said the recent jump in gas prices fuelled by the Iran conflict was “another nail in the coffin” for European heavy industry. Continue reading...

Criminals exploiting Middle East crisis by targeting customers seeking help or refunds from affected carriersYour flight has been delayed as a result of the Middle East crisis and you want to find out what’s happening, so you go online for an answer. You find a social media account run by the airline you are booked with and post a question, and get a reply offering help.You’re asked to send a direct message with details, which seems reasonable. A conversation starts and you are told to give your phone number as you may be due compensation. This is where it all starts going wrong: instead of being given money, you have it taken. Although it looked official, the account that replied was a scam. Continue reading...

Lib Dem leader will tell spring conference Britain can no longer rely on US while Donald Trump is presidentBritain should have a completely independent nuclear deterrent as it can no longer rely on the US, Ed Davey is expected to say on Sunday.In a speech at the Liberal Democrats spring conference, the party leader will argue that the UK should manufacture and maintain its nuclear weapons in Britain, a move that Davey acknowledges will cost billions. Continue reading...

In 2023, what were thought to be Nazar Daletskyi’s remains were buried in his home village and his mother, Nataliia, visited the grave every week. Three years later, he spoke to her on the phoneNazar Daletskyi was declared dead in May 2023. The DNA match left no room for doubt, officials told his mother, Nataliia. A Ukrainian soldier who volunteered for the front in the early weeks of the war, Nazar had become one more casualty of Russia’s invasion.Nazar’s remains were laid to rest in the cemetery of his home village. In the months after the funeral, Nataliia visited the grave at least once a week, at first to cry and later to stand in quiet contemplation, remembering her only son. Continue reading...

Alexandre Dumas was wowed by it and Burt Lancaster starred there. Now the Cirque d’Hiver has a new spectacleFor more than 170 years the Cirque d’Hiver, the world’s oldest circus, has been the scene of many a breathtaking act.In 1859, gymnast Jules Léotard – whose name would become synonymous with the one-piece – captivated audiences by launching himself from one swinging trapeze to another without a safety net for the first time in public. Continue reading...

Streaming platform Hulu decides ‘not to move forward’ with reboot of hit 90s series, according to actressBuffy The Vampire Slayer will not return, its star Sarah Michelle Gellar has announced, saying a reboot of the 90s supernatural fantasy series had been cancelled.Hulu, the Disney-owned streaming platform, has decided not to pick up the planned sequel, according to the actor. Continue reading...

US president said he did not want to make a deal with Iran yet, while claiming that he might hit Kharg Island again ‘just for fun’How have you been affected by the latest Middle East events?Donald Trump has said he is “surprised” that US allies in the Gulf have been targeted by Iran, in an interview with NBC News.The president called these countries “terrific”, adding that “they got shot at unnecessarily.” When talking about Iran’s decision to target them, Trump said it was “the biggest surprise I had of this whole thing.”Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli strikes have killed 826 people, including 65 women and 106 children, since the start of the war. In a statement today, the ministry said 31 paramedics were among those killed. Local health authorities reported this morning that an Israeli strike killed 12 medical staff at a clinic in the southern town of Burj Qalaouiya.At least 15 people were killed when a strike by Israel and the US hit a factory in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, the semi-official Fars news agency said. There were workers inside the factory, which produces heaters and refrigerators, when the strike hit, Fars reported.Iran issued an evacuation warning for three major ports in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday, including the busiest in the Middle East, the Associated Press reported. Iran claims the US had used “ports, docks and hideouts” in the UAE to launch strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island. It urged people to evacuate areas where it said US forces were sheltering.Trump renewed his call for other nations to help secure the strait of Hormuz and said the US will coordinate with them amid the US-Israeli war on Iran. “The United States of America has beaten and completely decimated Iran, both Militarily, Economically, and in every other way, but the Countries of the World that receive Oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage, and we will help – A LOT,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.The Trump administration rebuffed efforts by Middle Eastern allies to start diplomatic negotiations aimed at ending the Iran war that started two weeks ago with a massive US-Israeli air assault, according to reporting from Reuters.The Israeli military says it killed two senior officials in Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Emergency Command in an airstrike on Tehran. In a post on X, army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said Abdullah Jalali-Nasab and Amir Shariat, described as senior figures in the command’s intelligence branch, were killed in the attack.Israel informed the US this week that it is running critically low on ballistic missile interceptors as the conflict with Iran continues, Semafor reported on Saturday, citing US officials familiar with the matter.The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair Brendan Carr accused news broadcasters of “running hoaxes and news distortions” amid the war in Iran in a post on X. “Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions - also known as the fake news - have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up,” Carr wrote.Formula One has cancelled the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia grands prix because of the war, underlining the disruption across the Middle East. The races were due to take place on 12 April in Bahrain and 19 April in Saudi Arabia but the sport was approaching the point at which a decision on cancellation needed to be made to prevent more freight being sent to Bahrain. Continue reading...

Economists predict RBA will raise interest rates this week and in May – days before treasurer unveils budgetFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastHouseholds can expect significant additional cost-of-living pressures because of the war in the Middle East, with Jim Chalmers confirming that the government expects inflation to rise beyond 4.5% in Australia.But the treasurer said he did not expect the economy to fall into recession because of the war sparked by US and Israeli bombings in Iran. Continue reading...