West tries to draw Svalbard into 'battle for Arctic' — Russian envoy in Oslo Nikolay Korchunov recalled that not so long ago, Croatian President Zoran Milanovic "for no reason at all suggested that US President Donald Trump pay attention to the Norwegian archipelago instead of Greenland"

#Genome study reveals what happened after the Roman Empire fell. New research based on genome data from inhabitants of the fortified Roman frontier in what is now southern Germany documents how these dramatic political changes affected ordinary people, while contradicting the popular notion of a violent “barbarian invasion” sweeping through the defunct empire’s former domain.

For instance, the researchers found that the abandonment of imperial-era marriage restrictions led to swift intermingling between the garrison and urban population of Romans and low-status locals including some of Northern European descent.

“The temporal alignment between the fall of the Western Roman Empire in Italy and the genetic shift we detect in southern Germany is remarkably precise,” said anthropologist and population geneticist Joachim Burger of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Germany, senior author of the research published on Wednesday in the journal Nature.

The researchers analyzed the genomes of 258 people who were buried in what are called row graves in the modern-day German states of Bavaria and Hesse, 112 of whom were interred at the Bavarian village of Altheim. Most dated to between 450 and 620 AD.

“Row grave cemeteries were a newly emerging early-medieval burial practice where individuals were buried in rows, often containing grave goods like clothing, jewelry and weapons. These cemeteries stretched across the former Roman frontier from the Netherlands to Hungary,” Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz population geneticist and study lead author Jens Blöcher said.

Roman authorities had established military outposts to guard against invasions and unrest on the German frontier, some evolving into sizable settlements and eventually cities. These included Mainz, Regensburg, Trier and Cologne in the vicinity of the burial sites involved in the research.

The genome data revealed a major demographic shift coinciding with the late-fifth-century disintegration of Roman state structures. It showed that people from Northern Europe already had been moving south into this region in small groups during the long twilight of the imperial period and living separately from the broader Roman population, many perhaps as agricultural labourers. At the time, outsiders could be granted land under conditions such as marriage restrictions with Romans.

“They have lived there for generations, marrying almost exclusively within their own group - preserving their northern genetic heritage,” Burger said.
Intermarriage and integration

The Roman military and civilian population was found to be genetically diverse, composed of people with ancestry from various parts of the empire. They were genetically distinct from the outsiders who were trickling into the area from Northern Europe including locales as distant as Britain, as well as from the Balkans and even Asia.

The genomes reflected intermarriage between the two groups after the imperial demise and a peaceful integration of peoples that eventually formed a new early-medieval society.

“While we do detect north-to-south movement of people across the former imperial frontier, the majority of this migration occurred generations before the pivotal horizon” of the empire’s end, Burger said, and began in the third and fourth centuries.

“Crucially, this influx was not driven by large, ethnically homogeneous tribal blocs or major clans, but rather by small kinship groups and even isolated individuals. This pattern directly contradicts the traditional narrative of a ‘mass barbarian invasion’ following Rome’s collapse,” Burger said.

Long before Romulus Augustulus was toppled, the sprawling Roman Empire had been divided into east and west. While the Western Roman Empire dissolved after a protracted period of instability and military setbacks, the Eastern Roman Empire, later called the Byzantine Empire, centered on Constantinople - modern Istanbul - continued to thrive.

The genome data imparted the demographics of the population studied, with life expectancies of about 40 years for women and 43 years for men and high infant mortality in a society in which nearly a quarter of children lost at least one parent by age 10.

Christianity already was entrenched as the Roman state religion. The genome data indicated families were monogamous nuclear units, widows did not remarry within their husband’s family and there was strict avoidance of close-kin marriages like cousin unions.

“All these traits reflect Christian norms from Late Antiquity,” Burger said.

The data suggests additional people from the north arrived in the region in the centuries after the empire fell, with a new genetic profile emerging by about the seventh century - “one that closely resembles the genetic profile we observe today in central Europe,” Burger said.

(Reporting by Will Dunham in Washington; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

#Ukraine says it shot down 33,000 Russian drones in March, a monthly record.

Meanwhile, #Ukraine’s domestically developed long-range attack drones struck a Russian oil refinery and terminal on the Black Sea for the third time in less than two weeks, prompting the evacuation of local people as a precautionary measure.

Ukraine has developed cutting-edge and battle-tested drone technology that has proved essential in holding back Russia’s bigger army and has drawn military interest from around the world.

Interceptor #drones as part of a comprehensive air defense system are now being sought by Middle East and Gulf countries amid the Iran war, according to Ukrainian officials.

Ukraine is scaling up supplies of interceptor drones to thwart Russian aerial attacks, and its military has introduced a new command within the air force to boost the country’s capabilities, Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said in a post on Telegram late Monday.

Ukraine’s offensive capabilities have also improved, with the Defense Ministry saying Tuesday that the country’s forces have more than doubled the range of their deep-strike capabilities since Russia’s February 2022 invasion.

At that time, Ukrainian forces were able to hit military targets about 630 kilometers (400 miles) away, it said. They are now striking targets as far as roughly 1,750 kilometers (1,100 miles) behind enemy lines, the ministry said in a statement.

That improvement has allowed Ukraine to hit Russian oil installations that provide crucial revenue for Moscow’s war effort. It has also targeted manufacturing plants that supply Russia’s armed forces.

Ukraine struck a Russian oil refinery at the Black Sea port of Tuapse for the third time this month in a coordinated operation involving multiple branches of the country’s defense and security services, Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces said Tuesday

The two strikes earlier this month destroyed 24 oil storage tanks and damaged four others, it said.

Independent verification of the claims was not possible.

People who live near the Tuapse refinery were being evacuated Tuesday, Krasnodar Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev said. He didn’t provide any details about how many people were being evacuated or for how long.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday its air defenses overnight intercepted 186 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions, the annexed Crimea and the Black and the Azov seas.

In the Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine, three people were killed and three more were wounded in a drone attack, Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

Russian drone attacks on Ukraine, meanwhile, killed three civilians and wounded five others, Ukrainian authorities said.

Two people were killed in the city of Chuhuiv in the northeastern Kharkiv region, according to the head of the regional military administration Oleh Syniehubov.

A 40-year-old man died and five other men sustained injuries in Kryvyi Rih, the home town of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Another Russian attack on Konotop, in #Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, knocked out the city’s power and water supply.

Hanna Arhirova, The Associated Press

The Israeli intelligence agency Mossad conducted a ground operation in Iran last night, the Al Arabiya TV channel reported, citing sources.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has claimed that it is "too late" to negotiate with Iran.

TASS has summed up reports on the latest developments in the Middle East.
Ground operation

The Israeli intelligence agency Mossad conducted a ground operation in Iran last night, the Al Arabiya TV channel reported, citing sources.

According to the sources, the operation was carried out by Mossad operatives with the support of special forces.
US plans concerning Iran

US President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platforms that it is "too late" to engage in talks with Iran.

He said in an interview with the RealClearPolitics news outlet that does not plan to request official war powers from lawmakers.

According to Trump, the United States has literally unlimited weapons stockpiles and is not afraid of running out of weapons in the course of the conflict with Iran.

Trump intends to continue the operation in Iran until four concrete goals are achieved, BCS News said, citing an unnamed US administration official.

According to Trump as quoted by CBS, they include "destroying Iran's missile capabilities", "annihilating their Navy," ensuring Iran cannot "obtain a nuclear weapon," as well as "arm, fund and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders."
How long the US operation may last

The US military operation against Iran will be conducted in several stages, NBC News said, citing a source.

According to the source, Washington has already carried out two phases of the operation so far: the first involved the use of Tomahawk missiles and precision-guided munitions to destroy the Islamic Republic’s air defenses and weaken its offensive potential.

In the second phase, the US military deployed B-1 and B-2 strategic bombers and heavy aerial bombs to strike fortified targets in Iran, including missile silos and ballistic missile sites.

The military does not disclose the number of stages.

The United States has not yet attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities, which may become the next target, the TV channel said.
Details of preparations for attack on Iran

The United States attempted to establish contacts with some members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ahead of the operation in Iran to determine whether forces willing to cooperate could come to power, Politico reported, citing sources.

According to one of the sources, there is "no coordinated or breakaway group inside the regime that the Americans view as a new government they would welcome."

In addition, the United States’ partners never received a clear set of objectives for the operation. According to an unnamed Western diplomat, Washington has so far "failed to spell out a long-term plan for Iran and the region."
Protests

Protests against the US and Israeli strikes on Iran took place in nearly 40 US cities, the ABC-7 television channel reported.

The protests were organized by an informal coalition of 30 groups.

According to the TV channel, these groups have different objectives and priorities but share the opinion that the US and Israel’s operation in Iran is a mistake.

Protesters promise to continue demonstrations as long as it takes.
Risks for Trump

By authorizing a military operation against Iran, US President Donald Trump has taken a huge gamble on his presidency, The New York Times correspondent Tyler Pager said.

He claims that such US actions may lead to a rise in oil prices, as well as the conflict propagation to the entire Middle East region.

Apart from that, according to Pager, Trump is risking "his own political standing."

He emphasized that the US leader had repeatedly violated his promise to voters to "end, not start, wars," having sanctioned seven military conflicts in different parts of the world since taking office.

The author pointed out that according to #Trump, most of his supporters still back him. However, some #MAGA supporters and US allies are privately condemning the US decision to start a military operation against Iran.

By Striking Its Neighbors, Iran Has Deepened the Gulf’s Resolve to Fight Back
Diplomats and analysts say Tehran miscalculated with its attacks on Dubai, Doha and Bahrain.

“Iran is coming to the countries and people of the Gulf and saying: ‘You know, I am actually your number-one threat.’ This has long-term implications, regardless of whoever is actually in power in Iran,” Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the United Arab Emirates president, said in an interview. “Targeting Gulf states is completely irrational, and very shortsighted.”

Iran has struck all six of the oil-rich Gulf Arab states, including Oman, which had mediated nuclear talks between Tehran and the Trump administration. It also hit Jordan, Iraq and Israel. At first, all the Gulf states publicly opposed the U.S.-Israeli assault on the Iranian regime, which has already resulted in the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the killing of many Iranian military and intelligence commanders.

The mood changed quickly once the brunt of the Iranian response targeted cities such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the U.A.E., Doha in Qatar, and Manama in Bahrain, inflicting widespread damage to infrastructure and civilian casualties. In the U.A.E. alone, Iran killed three people and injured 58 after firing 165 ballistic missiles and 541 drones, most of which have been intercepted, according to the Defense Ministry.

Classified Report Finds Kristi Noem Created Security Vulnerabilities at Airports. Noem’s handling of issue related to allowing travelers to keep shoes on at checkpoints fits pattern of incidents that has alarmed some national-security officials.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for months failed to appropriately respond to the findings of an internal watchdog that one of her biggest changes to airport security—allowing passengers to pass through screening checkpoints with their shoes on—is creating “significant” security risks, according to a letter from the inspector general reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and officials familiar with the matter.

In July, she announced the change with great fanfare, granting the shoes-on policy to passengers even if they weren’t enrolled in the Transportation Security Administration’s precheck program. The announcement to eliminate what millions of travelers view as a nuisance was one of Noem’s most politically popular moves to date.

But a classified November report by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general, the agency’s top watchdog, found that some of the TSA full-body scanners that most airline passengers pass through can’t scan shoes, according to people familiar with the report’s contents. The report determined Noem’s policy move had inadvertently created a new security vulnerability in the system. Some White House officials have been made aware of the report.

When the secretary’s office was briefed on the report, officials there gave it a higher level of classification and blocked it from being publicly released, people familiar with the matter said. A spokeswoman for the department disputed the inspector general’s claims and said Noem had appropriately responded to the findings.

Many homeland-security officials said Noem’s handling of the inspector general report fits a pattern in which she has ignored or played down national-security concerns. In another instance, her office published photos of a secret government facility, publicizing a site meant to house the president in emergencies, officials said. Officials across the department have complained that Noem places priority on her public image and political standing in a way that jeopardizes her sprawling department’s core mission.

In recent weeks, DHS has come under scrutiny, following two shootings of U.S. citizens by immigration agents. The Journal detailed earlier this month how Noem has attempted to burnish her personal stardom, staging a headline-grabbing immigration crackdown while retaliating against rivals and dissenters.

#Iranians Under Attack Are Afraid, Angry Or Joyful. The U.S.-Israeli military action set off a rush for food, water and safety; some were cheered by the reported death of the country’s leader.

In Iran’s capital, panicked Tehranis rushed to grocery stores to stockpile food and water as explosions sounded across the city. Schools closed, workers rushed home, long lines formed at gas stations, and roads across the country were gridlocked.

“People are really scared,” said a retired oil executive who packed his bags and fled for his villa on the Caspian Sea after watching missiles flying over Tehran.

But as news spread that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was likely killed, many rejoiced.

“I’m happy. I’m crying. Another dictator is gone,” said an Iranian who participated in January’s mass protests, during which he witnessed regime forces killing demonstrators.

The attack was expected for weeks but still came as a shock when the missiles began landing, coming in the morning hours of the first day of the workweek in a country where Thursday and Friday are the weekend. It also came after sunrise, just as practicing Muslims began the daylong fast during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

With a near-total internet blackout, Iranians were cut off from the outside world and even each other as their government came under existential attack from American and Israeli warplanes.
People running for cover after an explosion in Tehran.

U.S. and Israeli officials said the airstrikes targeted regime leaders as well as military and government buildings. Iran’s state-linked Fars News agency said 108 schoolgirls were killed and many more injured in a strike that hit a primary school in Minab, a town in Iran’s southern province of Hormozgan. Hormozgan, which faces the strategic Strait of Hormuz, is home to key Iranian naval bases.

The human toll caused by the war means that even many who want the Islamic Republic to collapse are opposed to the foreign military intervention.

A woman who works in the film industry, traumatized by Israel’s 12-day war in June, said that nothing good can come from war. The only way for Iranians to achieve political change, she said, was on their own.

“People are saying: ‘America won’t hurt people.’ I don’t believe that. They don’t care about people,” said the woman.

Another Tehran resident said there were mixed feelings.

“Some are happy because they think it will be short, like the 12-day war, and they don’t see another way to confront the government,” the resident said. “Others are worried.”

Amid the fear, the strikes also stirred a cautious hope among the Islamic regime’s opponents that a new future was possible. On Saturday night, people took to the streets in some major cities to celebrate the attacks on their country’s tyrannical leaders.

A man in the northern city of Karaj told The Wall Street Journal that the streets filled up with people, cheering and whistling. “Everyone is joyful, it is one of the best days of probably 95% of Iranians’ lives.”

Before long, however, the man said he heard gunshots and people quieted down and dispersed.

The U.S. is striking Iran at a time when the regime is especially vulnerable. Popular discontent with Iran’s theocratic rulers is higher than it has ever been, fueled by a worsening economic crisis and by longstanding resentment of the Islamic Republic’s political and social restrictions.

The killing of thousands of people during mass antigovernment protests in January fueled another wave of anger. President Trump called on Iranians to rise up and topple their government.

After the killings of protesters in January, many Iranians concluded that—so long as the government has the monopoly over the use of force—popular unrest alone can’t lead to regime change. That is why some government opponents in recent weeks decided foreign-military intervention could help achieve long-awaited political change.

A doctor in northern Iran said he was “cautiously hopeful” about the strikes. “There was no other way,” said the doctor, who treated protesters who were injured during January’s rallies.

CAIRO, February 28. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is directing military operations from headquarters, Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen TV channel reported.

According to its source, Khamenei "is at the crisis headquarters and personally directing military operations, as he did during the war in the summer of 2025."

#UNCHIEF today

#US and Israel use Iran's nuclear issue to exert pressure — Kosachev. The Deputy Speaker of the Russian Federation Council lamented that little had changed over 46 years,

#Washington and Tel Aviv are groundlessly using allegations about Iran’s development of nuclear weapons to interfere in the country’s internal affairs and carry out strikes on its territory, Deputy Speaker of the Russian Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev said on his Telegram channel.

"Little has changed over 46 years. Iran has not created a nuclear bomb, as this was not and is not part of its plans. Both Israel and the United States continue to use this ploy to brazenly interfere in Iran’s internal affairs, ranging from nurturing and encouraging foreign opposition to conducting countless military aggressions," he wrote.

Kosachev said that the United States had dismantled the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran’s nuclear program, which had been endorsed by a UN Security Council resolution. He also recalled strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities that, according to him, the International Atomic Energy Agency had certified as compliant with obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.