Middle East crisis live: Claims new Iranian supreme leader ‘safe’ despite war injuries; ships hit in strait of Hormuz
Comments come amid speculation over the health and whereabouts of Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since he succeeded his fatherHow have you been affected by the latest Middle East events?Over in Senate question time, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has confirmed embassies in Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv and the consulate in Dubai all physically closed in the last week. Wong said the government’s number one priority is to “keep Australians safe at home and abroad”. She continued: “The dangerous and destabilising attacks by Iran put civilian lives at risk, including Australian lives.” More than 3,200 Australians over 23 commercial flights have returned to Australia since the US and Israel attacked Iran, setting off a regional conflict and grounding thousands of international flights.Wong criticised Nationals senators for “winding up people and stoking fear” to panic buy fuel. The senator said:“Petrol companies are telling us that fuel stock continues to arrive as expected and on time but there has been a large change in the pattern of demand and that is having an effect on the supply, particularly in regional communities. We have seen jerry cans coming off the shelves at Bunnings and lines at the pump.”One of the two members of the Iranian women’s football teams provided with a humanitarian visa to stay in Australia has changed her mind and contacted the Iranian embassy, according to the country’s home affairs minister.In Australia, people are able to change their mind, people are able to travel. So, we respect the context in which she has made that decision.Unfortunately, in making that decision, she had been advised by her teammates and coach to contact the Iranian embassy and get collected … As a result of that, it meant that the Iranian embassy now knew the location of where everybody was. Continue reading...
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Starmer warned cabinet against ‘overly deferential’ relations with devolved governments
Leak of memo comes after a third of Labour Senedd members raise alarm devolution is being rolled backUK politics live – latest updatesKeir Starmer warned his cabinet against an “overly deferential” approach to the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish governments, according to a leaked memo.In the document from December, obtained and published on Tuesday by Plaid Cymru, Starmer said ministers should be prepared to make spending decisions “even when devolved governments may oppose this”. It came shortly after Labour Senedd members wrote to the prime minister over concerns his administration was rolling back devolution powers. Continue reading...
Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea FC sale cash may be under investigation as ‘proceeds of crime’
Documents filed at Companies House over 2022 deal could complicate row with UK over how money will be usedJersey authorities may be investigating whether cash raised by Roman Abramovich’s 2022 sale of Chelsea FC amounts to the proceeds of crime, according to documents filed at Companies House on Wednesday, potentially complicating a row with the UK government over how the money will be used.Accounts for Fordstam Ltd, the company through which the billionaire Russian oligarch owned Chelsea, show that the proceeds of the sale – currently frozen and gathering interest in a Barclays Bank account – have risen to £2.4bn. Continue reading...
Mugabe's son drops bail request - what has happened to the family after losing power
With Bellarmine Mugabe due in court we look at what has happened to Zimbabwe's ex-first family.
Mandelson documents to be released after PMQs – UK politics live
Hundreds of papers relating to his appointment as ambassador to the US to be put into public domain todayBritain’s support for US military action against Iran came “a little too late” but Keir Starmer’s relationship with Donald Trump can be repaired, according to one of the president’s closest confidants, Steve Witkoff.The comments by Witkoff, who has been Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, come after a series of public broadsides by the US leader against the prime minister an the UK’s position on American and Israeli strikes on Iran.He has said, as you know that it is a little bit – it does fall into the category of too little too late, but I think they have a good, solid relationship, and hopefully they’ll be able to repair it. I go by what the president says, and the president says continuously that everybody is entitled to their point of view. But I think sometimes we detect that there’s not that feeling of gratitude.I think the president’s position is that we do plenty for Europe, plenty for the UK, in the area of trade, in the area of defence, in the area of the support we give to Nato. And I think sometimes the response back, the reciprocity back, is a little bit lacking. I would leave it at that, OK? Continue reading...
U.S. Says It Struck 16 Iranian Mine-Laying Vessels Near Oil Route
Whether any mines had been laid in the Strait of Hormuz since the war began on Feb. 28 is unclear. The Pentagon said 140 American service members had been wounded, eight severely, in the war.
Why Did the UK Police Repeatedly Decline to Investigate Claims About Epstein and Prince Andrew?
The police in London interviewed Virginia Giuffre three times over her allegations about Jeffrey Epstein, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Ghislaine Maxwell, but never began a criminal investigation.
Iran’s strategic patience tactic failed, what comes next could be far worse
Restraint didn't prevent war; new Iranian leadership may now look to much more dangerous approach to build a deterrent.
Democrats Demand Accountability from Hegseth on Iranian School Strike
A majority of Senate Democrats called on Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to disclose whether the U.S. carried out the deadly attack.