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Foreign minister Anita Anand says she has drafted principles to reduce risk of regional spillover and wider shocksMiddle East crisis – live updatesCanada is pushing for a collective G7 and Middle East approach to de-escalating the Iran war, including off ramps that could bring an end to the conflict, the Canadian foreign minister, Anita Anand, has said.In London to meet the UK foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, after talks with her Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, Anand told the Guardian she hoped a G7 meeting chaired by France, this year’s president of the group, might start to build a broader collective approach to the crisis. Continue reading...

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) pushed National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard to answer questions about President Donald Trump's knowledge of economic fallout prior to the Iran war during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday. Gabbard tried to dodge his questions over what prompted the military strikes in Iran, and she appeared to contradict Trump's justifications and objectives behind launching the joint U.S.-Israeli operation. "Was it the intelligence community's assessment that, nevertheless, despite this obliteration, there was a, quote, imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime? Yes or no?" Ossoff asked. "It is not the intelligence community's responsibility to determine what is and is not an imminent threat. That is up to the president based on a volume of information that he receives," Gabbard said. Ossoff pushed back on Gabbard's claims. "No, it is precisely your responsibility to determine what constitutes a threat to the United States," Ossoff said. "This is the worldwide threats hearing where, as you noted in your opening testimony quote, you represent the IC's assessment of threats. You are here to represent the IC's assessment of threats. That's a quote from your own opening statement. And so my question is, as you're here to present the IC's assessment of threats, was it the assessment of the intelligence community that, as the White House claimed on March 1st, there was a, quote, imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime, yes or no?""Once again, senator, the intelligence community has provided the inputs that make up this annual threat assessment," Gabbard said, not answering Ossoff's question. "You won't answer the question," Ossoff said. "It is the nature of the imminent threat that the president has to make that determination based on a collection and volume of information and intelligence that he is provided with," Gabbard said. Ossoff interjected with a sharp response. "You're here to be timely, objective and independent of political considerations," Ossoff said. "That's exactly what I'm doing," Gabbard responded. Ossoff then called Gabbard out, alleging that she was not answering questions honestly. "No, you're evading a question because to provide a candid response to the committee would contradict a statement from the White House," Ossoff said.

Five-day cessation announced as mass funeral held for some of hundreds of victims of airstrike on rehab centrePakistan has announced a five-day pause in strikes against neighbouring Afghanistan, as a mass funeral was held for some of the hundreds of victims killed in Monday’s attack on a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul.The Afghan Taliban government has said more than 400 people were killed and 265 others wounded in that attack, which took place as people at the centre were praying days before the end of the holy month of Ramadan. 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...

Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones urged President Donald Trump's MAGA supporters to follow the lead of Joe Kent, an intelligence official who quit the administration over the war in Iran."Well, it's historic time for America and the world. Facts are all coming out. This is truly the age of revelation," Jones declared on his Tuesday broadcast. "Joe Kent. The head of the Office of National Counterterrorism, number two under Tulsi Gabbard, who oversees all 17 intelligence agencies, went public and resigned and said Israel's basically staged a coup over the Trump White House on foreign policy.""I mean, this is just incredibly insane," he continued. "And so to have him do this, be a gold star husband to his wife that died, highly decorated, extremely respected. And to have him come out like this, Trump must change course. This war is a disaster."According to Jones, Trump was notified of the danger of striking Iran days before Operation Epic Fury began battering the country."And so we have to just call it off what it is. There has been a partial coup over the United States of America," Jones said of Israel's ability to persuade Trump. "But now he's launched a new order, and Israel brags their papers that this all hurts U.S. interest, makes them strong... they will be the new center of the world and the new power structure."Jones said he did not think people understood "this Joe Kent situation.""This is going to cause a chain reaction. Other patriots to speak out. It's going to be whistleblowers like this that is going to change the courts. We're going to win! We have the initiative!" he exclaimed, comparing Trump to "the madness of King George." "Will he get back on track or will he fail?" he asked.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard indicated tepid support for President Donald Trump. Still, she did not endorse the war in Iran following the resignation of Joe Kent, one of her top deputies."After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today," Kent said in an X post on Tuesday. "I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby."In a statement hours later, Gabbard spelled out her role in the war."Donald Trump was overwhelmingly elected by the American people to be our President and Commander in Chief," she said. "As our Commander in Chief, he is responsible for determining what is and is not an imminent threat, and whether or not to take action he deems necessary to protect the safety and security of our troops, the American people and our country.""The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is responsible for helping coordinate and integrate all intelligence to provide the President and Commander in Chief with the best information available to inform his decisions," she added. "After carefully reviewing all the information before him, President Trump concluded that the terrorist Islamist regime in Iran posed an imminent threat and he took action based on that conclusion."Gabbard, however, was careful not to endorse the war.

The Trump administration was raging on Tuesday, dropping a bizarre comeback after it was called out over previous claims involving the Iran war.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reversed her comments from last week, when she was critical of an ABC News report and blamed the outlet in a post on X for "providing false information to intentionally alarm the American people.""TO BE CLEAR: No such threat from Iran to our homeland exists, and it never did," Leavitt wrote. But the White House was furious after people started noting the apparent change in tune from the Trump administration and clapped back with a surprising response on X. "No such threat to our homeland of Iran launching a drone offensive on our West Coast, dumba----. The nuclear threat of the psychotic, murderous Iranian regime is very real, however. Thank God we finally have a President who's doing something about it," the White House Rapid Response account on X wrote. Leavitt earlier Tuesday had responded on X with a lengthy post pointing to a public statement from U.S. intelligence official Joe Kent. Kent had resigned publicly via X and, in his letter to President Donald Trump, cited his reasons for leaving his position that Trump appointed him to, insisting that Iran had not posed an imminent threat."There are many false claims in this letter but let me address one specifically: that 'Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation,'" Leavitt wrote in rebuttal to Kent's resignation letter. "This is the same false claim that Democrats and some in the liberal media have been repeating over and over."

Family of then PM, Patrice Lumumba, welcome decision to charge Étienne Davignon as ‘beginning of a reckoning’ A former Belgian diplomat, 93, should stand trial over alleged complicity in the 1961 murder of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of what was then the newly independent Congolese state, a Brussels court has ruled.Étienne Davignon, the only person still alive among 10 Belgians the Lumumba family accuses of involvement in the killing, is charged with participation in war crimes.The illegal transfer of Lumumba and his associates from Léopoldville (now Kinshasa) to Katanga.The “humiliating and degrading treatment” of the men.Depriving them of a fair trial. Continue reading...