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Iranian official stresses no decision made on taking part, as US vice-president JD Vance is set to travel to Islamabad for negotiations JD Vance to lead US delegation in Pakistan if Iran agrees to talksOn Tuesday morning, Islamabad sat poised and ready to host a second round of talks – even as uncertainty reigned over whether both sides would even turn up.Pakistani officials remained optimistic that the second round of negotiations would happen, even as Iranian ministers said they would refuse to come to the table under the threat of “force” and it remained unclear exactly when US vice-president JD Vance planned to depart Washington for Islamabad. Continue reading...

Growing numbers in the capital Honiara are playing the street card game Pass for a chance of a big payout, while risking big lossesAs the school day ends in Honiara, *Irene, a 43-year-old teacher in a floral dress with a yellow daisy in her bun, steps on to a minibus.After 10 minutes, Irene gets off the bus, walks down an alley, and enters a damp, smoky shelter. Plastic tables fill the space and playing cards are scattered on the floor. Irene has stopped by a hidden gambling table in a western suburb of Honiara to play Pass, a street card game gaining popularity in the Solomon Islands capital. Continue reading...

Users of share cars will need to pay for fuel themselves before seeking reimbursement, leaving them temporarily out of pocketGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralia’s two biggest car-share companies, GoGet and Flexicar, have removed fuel cards from their Melbourne vehicles after a spate of break-ins and thefts that a senior GoGet executive described as “one of the dumbest crimes ever”.The change will force users of share cars to pay for fuel themselves before seeking reimbursement, leaving them temporarily out of pocket amid record-high fuel prices caused by the US-Israel war on Iran. Continue reading...

Industry experts say booking of controversial US rapper was calculated risk that has implications for all festivalsThe fallout over Wireless announcing Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) as its 2026 headliner was both swift and considerable.Last Sunday, major sponsors of the three-day festival, including Pepsi and Diageo, began to withdraw their involvement in the face of a significant backlash to Ye’s shocking pronouncements on the Jewish community and the Holocaust. UK Jewish groups threatened to protest if the shows went ahead. Keir Starmer called the decision to book the rapper who wrote a song titled Heil Hitler “deeply concerning”. Continue reading...

Three arrested by federal agents had family ties to Iranian military general, regime spokesperson or security chiefUnited States federal agents arrested three Iranian nationals – including the son of a revolutionary at the center of the 1979 Iran hostage crisis – after the US state department terminated their green cards, the department announced on Saturday.State department officials revoked the green card status of Seyed Eissa Hashemi, whose mother was an Iranian revolutionary who served as the spokesperson for Iran’s regime during the hostage crisis that defined the late Jimmy Carter’s presidency. The state department also revoked the green card – or legal permanent resident – statuses of Hashemi’s wife and son. Continue reading...

Vice-president’s war doubts and his boss’s desperation to reopen Red Sea look like a weak deck against bolstered opponentsAs JD Vance arrives in Islamabad to negotiate a peace deal with Iran, his first high-profile assignment of the war looks to be a poisoned chalice.Vance, a vocal opponent of US wars in the Middle East gone quiet since the beginning of the current military campaign, will now face off with Iranian negotiators who feel emboldened by their new control of the Hormuz strait and their resilience in the face of the largest US-Israeli onslaught in history. Vance’s presence at the talks as vice-president will make it the highest-level meeting since the Iranian revolution of 1979. Continue reading...

Tribunal dismisses claim that the Welsh government’s financial package breached competition rulesCardiff airport has won a legal challenge brought by its rival in Bristol over the fairness of a £205m Welsh government subsidy package.A judgment by the competition appeal tribunal on Tuesday unanimously dismissed Bristol airport’s case against the Welsh government, which the south-west England hub had argued distorted the market and breached the Subsidy Control Act. Continue reading...

Watchdog finds complaints against City of Sanctuary UK were ‘misleading and false’ after online attacks over its migrant welcome projectA refugee charity subjected to vicious social media attacks over a migrant welcome project in schools has been cleared after watchdogs found allegations it encouraged pupils to send Valentine’s Day cards to asylum seekers were misleading and false.City of Sanctuary UK came under fire last year after rumours spread online that under its schools programme, children were being “forced” to write heart-shaped welcome cards to adult migrants, including cards addressed to “my fiancé”. Continue reading...

• Cardinals lost 6-1 to the Tigers in a recent MLB matchup, part of a series of games across the league. • Tigers' victory highlights their strong performance against NL Central foes on Saturday. • This result impacts Cardinals' early season standings in the competitive NL Central division.

• The American Heart Association released a warning that 60% of US women are projected to develop cardiovascular disease by 2050, reflecting trends in aging populations and risk factor prevalence. • The projection underscores disparities in cardiovascular health outcomes between men and women and highlights the growing public health burden of heart disease. • This forecast emphasizes the need for enhanced prevention strategies, early intervention programs, and targeted health policy initiatives focused on women's cardiovascular health.

• Visa introduced six AI tools on April 1, 2026, to modernize credit-card dispute processes for merchants, issuers, and acquirers using generative responses and predictive models. • The tools address over 103 million disputes processed in 2025, a 35% increase since 2019, with features like document summarization and centralized case management. • Deployment will streamline operations for US financial institutions, reducing resolution times and costs significantly.

President says ‘little journey’ to Iran close to achieving US aims but offers little clarity on plan to wind down conflictMiddle East crisis – live updatesDonald Trump used a primetime address to the nation on Wednesday evening to declare the month-long war in Iran a success “nearing completion”, despite a spiraling conflict that has caused economic turmoil across the globe, fractured transatlantic alliances and eroded the president’s approval ratings.In remarks from the White House, Trump argued that the US’s “little journey” to Iran had nearly accomplished “all of America’s military objectives”, but offered little clarity on how he planned to wind down the conflict over the next “two to three weeks”. Continue reading...

• Express Scripts added CARDAMYST (etripamil) nasal spray to its commercial national formularies effective March 27, 2026, expanding access for commercially insured patients. • The FDA-approved self-administered spray converts acute paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT) episodes to sinus rhythm in adults. • This coverage decision makes the first-in-class treatment broadly affordable across the U.S., improving cardiovascular care options.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the changes would help with the cost of living and that ‘Australians hate paying’ the surchargesDebit and credit card surcharges will be gone by October under Reserve Bank reforms, with big banks likely to foot the bill for the cost-of-living measures.The new rules, announced on Tuesday, will enable businesses to remove added fees on Mastercard, visa and eftpos card payments. Continue reading...

Number fell 23% year on year in 2025 but waste companies say recycling systems still under strain from sheer volumeMore than 6m vapes and vape pods are still being discarded every week in the UK, with waste management companies warning the sheer volume continues to strain recycling systems despite the ban on disposable e-cigarettes.According to research by the recycling campaign group Material Focus, the 6.3m vapes and pods thrown away each week in 2025 represented a 23% reduction from the previous year. Continue reading...

• Researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health published findings on March 19 in Environmental Health Perspectives linking fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure to a 3.2% increase in cardiovascular hospital admissions within two days in major US metropolitan areas. • The analysis of 15 million hospital records across 50 US cities over 12 years found that a 10 microgram per cubic meter increase in PM2.5 correlates with approximately 4,200 additional cardiovascular hospitalizations annually across studied cities. • The research supports EPA air quality standards and highlights urgent need for pollution control measures, as cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States affecting 126 million Americans.

Banking lobby group says lenders are holding off changes as there is no widespread consumer demand for nowExplainer: What will happen when the £100 limit is scrapped?Shoppers will not be able to splash unlimited amounts on contactless cards despite the lifting of a £100 cap on payments as Britain’s banks held off on making changes.The official limit on individual contactless transactions on credit and debit cards has been scrapped but the UK’s biggest high street and challenger banks have kept the £100 ceiling in place. Continue reading...

Houston Astros beat St. Louis Cardinals 5-3 at 6 p.m. ET in Jupiter, Florida, during MLB spring training, highlighted by Yordan Alvarez's RBI double. Cardinals' bullpen faltered in the 7th inning. Astros improve to 12-6-2 in exhibition play. Focus shifts to rotation health with Opening Day nearing.