In the vacuum of the players’ silence, it has been the Iranian diaspora in Australia who are speaking out against the regime
As Iran’s national anthem began to trumpet around Gold Coast Stadium on Monday night, members of an Iranian fan group who had gathered near the halfway line began to unfurl red, white and green flags.
They weren’t the flags of their home nation, though. At least, not the nation they want to remember.
Experts say US backing armed groups could ‘open up a hornet’s nest’; son of Ayatollah Khamenei tipped to succeed his father as leader. What we know on day six
China has set its target for GDP growth to a record low of 4.5-5%, the first time since 1991 that the figure has dropped below 5%, reflecting an economic strategy that is shifting away from export-led growth to a model that leaders hope will be more resilient to external shocks.
The Arctic Metagaz had been carrying 61,000 tonnes of liquefied natural gas when it exploded; Ukrainian drones reported to have hit southern Russia. What we know on day 1,471
Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has accused Ukraine of carrying out a attack on one of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, which exploded and sank into the Mediterranean Sea off Libya. Explosions were reported on the Arctic Metagaz, which had been carrying 61,000 tonnes of LNG, on Tuesday night when the ship was about 150 miles (240km) off the coast of Libya. Ukraine has not commented on the sinking on the ship, which had been under US and EU sanctions. Russia’s transport ministry had claimed that the Arctic Metagaz had been hit by Ukrainian drones launched from the Libyan coast.
Ukrainian drones damaged Russian civilian sites in the south-western region of Saratov, Roman Busgarin, the area’s governor said early on Thursday. Saratov airport and other airports in the southern and central regions were closed late on Wednesday and early on Thursday. Three injuries were reported.
A prolonged energy crisis caused by the widening war in the Middle East may offer the Russian war machine an economic lifelinejust as it was beginning to show signs of strain over its war in Ukraine. Russia could receive a windfall if disruption in the Middle East pushes buyers towards its energy, while a possible slowdown in western arms supplies to Ukraine as the US military action in Iran continues could give Russia a further boost.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that trilateral talks with Washington and Moscow about ending Ukraine’s war in Russia would resume, once the situation in Iran and the Middle East permitted. The Ukrainian president also said that he spoke to the king of Bahrain and the crown prince of Kuwait about the conflict in the Middle East on Wednesday.
Ukraine has said it will boycott Friday’s opening ceremony of the Paralympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy, over the participation of Russian athletes. Athletes from Russia and Belarus had been banned from the 2022 Winter Paralympics over its war in Ukraine, but were allowed to compete as neutral athletes in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Poland were set to join Ukraine in its boycott on Friday.
Vibration from Honda engine causing issue with drivers’ fingers
Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will be unable to complete race
Aston Martin have admitted that Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will not be able to complete even half race distance at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix this weekend for fear of suffering permanent nerve damage because of a vibration problem with their car.
The team principal Adrian Newey, who also designed the team’s new car, revealed on Thursday in the Melbourne paddock that both drivers were suffering such severe vibration through the steering wheel that they would only be able to complete 25 and 15 laps respectively.
Alireza Mohebbi was stripped of tournament credentials on Monday
Reporter accused of carrying prohibited flags into stadium
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has reinstated the accreditation of a veteran Iranian-Australian journalist three days after it had been removed while he was covering Iran’s national team at the Women’s Asian Cup.
Alireza Mohebbi, a journalist with London-based Iran International whose question about the death of Ayatollah Khamenei was shut down at a press conference last weekend, spent some time with a group of Iran fans in the stands during their opening match against South Korea on Monday. When he returned to the media centre, he was pulled aside by a security officer and accused of carrying prohibited flags.
More details have emerged about four of the American service members who were killed in an unmanned aircraft system attack in the Shuaiba port in Kuwait on Sunday, the first known US fatalities since the US and Israel launched their military campaign against Iran on Saturday.
All four soldiers had been assigned to the 103rd sustainment command in Des Moines, Iowa, and were “supporting Operation Epic Fury”, the Department of Defense said, adding that they “died on March 1, 2026, in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, during an unmanned aircraft system attack”.
The general election is the first since gen-Z protests forced Nepal’s then-prime minister to quit
Nearly six months after a wave of unprecedented youth-led protests forced Nepal’s then prime minister to quit, people have begun voting in a general election that is shaping up to be a high-stakes showdown between the entrenched old guard and a powerful youth movement.
Key figures contesting the election include the Marxist former prime minister seeking a return to office, a rapper-turned-mayor bidding for the youth vote, and the newly elected leader of the powerful Nepali Congress party.
Among the generally drab lineup of mostly middle-aged men in suits who make up the nearly 3,000 delegates to the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s parliament, a few stand out.
There are delegates from China’s 55 official ethnic minority groups, who often arrive dressed in traditional outfits rather than western-style suits. There are military members, identifiable by their uniforms. And then there is Yao Ming, the 7ft and 6in tall retired basketball player who, towering over every other person in the Great Hall of the People, is hard to miss.
Exclusive: Prime minister also presented Melania Trump with a $3,000 Paspaley pearl pendant
The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, gave Donald Trump a gift of a model nuclear submarine with golden plates and finishes, internal documents reveal, during his visit to the White House last year which sealed the president’s support for the Aukus pact.
The prime minister also presented the US first lady, Melania Trump, with a A$3,000 Paspaley pearl pendant.
Weapons amnesty and buyback scheme will run until August as PM James Marape says illegal guns ‘destroying families and villages’
Papua New Guinea has asked residents to surrender illegal firearms in a bid to remove tens of thousands of weapons from the country, as it grapples with escalating violence and tribal fighting in the Highlands region.
The police minister, Sir John Pundari, said the national gun amnesty and buyback scheme started on 27 February and it would run until late August.
Corporation proposes sweeping changes intended to protect its independence and shore up its future
The BBC is to call for an end to political appointments to its board as part of sweeping changes designed to protect its independence.
The corporation will also demand that its royal charter be put on a permanent footing in an attempt to end the existential threat posed by having to negotiate with ministers over its future every 10 years.
Visiting PM tells Australia’s parliament ‘middle power’ countries must work together on defence, trade and AI
Canada and Australia will be stronger negotiating together with superpowers including Donald Trump’s America, acting as “strategic cousins” rather than competitors, Mark Carney has told the Australian federal parliament.
In a major address in Canberra on the last full day of his visit to Australia, the Canadian prime minister called for enhanced cooperation on critical minerals, defence and trade, and announced Australia would join the G7 critical minerals alliance, the largest grouping of democratic countries with major reserves in the world.
US study suggests GLP-1s, used to treat type 2 diabetes, could also reduce risk of people already using substances from overdosing
Weight loss drugs could help people avoid getting addicted to alcohol, tobacco and drugs such as cannabis and cocaine, a study has found.
They could also reduce the risk of people already addicted to illicit substances having an overdose, ending up in hospital or dying, according to research published in the British Medical Journal.
Top military officials told lawmakers in a closed door briefing on Tuesday that they may not be able to shoot down every Iranian drone being launched against US military installations and assets in retaliatory attacks, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The officials, led by the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Dan Caine, said Iran has been deploying thousands of one-way attack drones and while they have capacity to take down the vast majority but not all of the barrage.
OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, told employees on Tuesday that his company does not control how the Pentagon uses their artificial intelligence products in military operations. Altman’s claims on OpenAI’s lack of input come amid increased scrutiny of how the military uses AI in war and ethics concerns from AI workers over how their technology will be deployed.
“You do not get to make operational decisions,” Altman told employees, according to reports by Bloomberg and CNBC.
Lawyer for Peters says he expects Jared Polis to commute nine-year sentence over voting breach in 2020 election
A lawyer representing Tina Peters said he expects the DemocraticColorado governor Jared Polis to commute her nine-year prison sentence, a move that could release the only person serving a sentence related to trying to overturn the 2020 election from prison.
Peters was the county clerk in western Colorado’s Mesa county in 2020 and allowed an unauthorized person to use a security badge and access her county’s voting equipment. Passwords and other sensitive information related to the county’s election equipment later became public and was used by election deniers to try to question the 2020 election results.
Eddie Howe accepts his Newcastle side are at their best when they create chaos and no one in black and white is better at conjuring it than Will Osula.
The maverick Denmark Under-21 striker is, to say the least, unpredictable. No one, least of all Osula himself, ever seems quite sure what he will do at any given moment. Here though he stepped off the substitutes’ bench to score a fabulous, virtuoso 90th-minute winner for a home team reduced to 10 men by Jacob Ramsey’s controversial 45th-minute sending off for a perceived dive.
Senate Republicans on Wednesday voted down an attempt to require Donald Trump receive Congress’s permission before continuing the war with Iran, batting aside concerns from Democrats that the campaign is illegal and risks plunging the United States into a prolonged conflict.
The 47-53 vote on a war powers resolution introduced by Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine broke largely along party lines. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the sole Democrat to vote against the measure, while Rand Paul of Kentucky was the only member of the Republican majority to support the resolution.
Experts say backing Iran’s ethnic communities could ‘open up a hornet’s nest’ and increase risk of chaotic civil war
Intense waves of airstrikes have hit dozens of military positions, frontier posts and police stations along northern parts of Iran’s border with Iraq in what appears to be preparation by US and Israel for a new front in their war.
A US official with knowledge of the discussions between Washington and Kurdish officials said the US was ready to provide air support if Kurdish peshmerga fighters crossed the border from northern Iraq.
Arsenal did not come to see the seaside. There were not here to make friends – which was just as well. It was purely about the points. Mission Eyes On The Prize. They accomplished it and then some.
There were 78 minutes on the clock when the travelling support got wind of Nottingham Forest’s equaliser at Manchester City. How they belted out their anthems at that point – about previous title-winning glories – and when it was all over, there was plenty more from them.
The musician reflected on the death of his former One Direction bandmate in an interview with Zane Lowe to promote his new album
Harry Styles has reflected on the death of his One Direction bandmate Liam Payne in a new interview with Zane Lowe.
“It’s so difficult to lose a friend,” Styles said. “It’s difficult to lose any friend, but it’s so difficult to lose a friend who is so like you in so many ways.”
As these teams emerged for kick-off, the Holte End displayed a tifo proudly flaunting Aston Villa’s deck of cards, chiefly an ace of clubs. By the end, however, their upper hand in the race for the Champions League felt rather hollow, if not diminished. Chelsea had dismantled Unai Emery’s side to move within three points of Villa, João Pedro scoring a hat-trick to take his tally to 17 goals for the season.
The Brazil striker was in the mood for a fourth and tried his luck with an audacious overhead kick, while Emiliano Martínez prevented Alejandro Garnacho from adding a bruising fifth late on. For Villa and their grand aspirations, it was a sobering evening, even if Manchester United’s late defeat by Newcastle surely softened the blow.
“Vamos, vamos!” screamed Rodri in his native Spanish following a 62nd-minute header that seemed to grab a precious victory for Manchester City. But the title chasers’ 2-1 lead lasted only 14 minutes as Phil Foden allowed Elliot Anderson to run off him and the Nottingham Forest midfielder, from range, curled a sublime equaliser beyond Gianluigi Donnarumma that silenced City’s faithful.
Before Anderson’s leveller Erling Haaland was denied a penalty by the referee, Darren England, and the video assistant referee, for a coming together with Matz Sels, the visiting No 1. Bernardo Silva did not agree. “I just watched it,” City’s captain said afterwards. “It’s a penalty. We’re used to it this season, all the 50-50s have gone against us.”
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