Pete Hegseth fires two more generals, David Hodne and William Green Jr., alongside Army Chief Of Staff Randy George — Reuters

The situation around Iran must be resolved as soon as possible, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu said at a meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty as he pushed for collective efforts toward that goal, involving countries outside the region, too.

"Of course, in the present-day situation, there is a need not only for regional countries to take collective action amid the situation on the negotiating track that changes by the day and even by the hour," Shoigu said.

According to him, everybody is extremely concerned about the situation in the Middle East. "Hopefully a solution, a way out will be found as soon as possible," the top Russian security official stated.

Gulf states seek #UN mandate for force to protect #Hormuz.

UNITED STATES - The secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) called Thursday for the UN Security Council to authorize the use of force to protect the Strait of Hormuz from Iranian attacks.

Iran has placed a stranglehold on the key shipping lane -- threatening fuel supplies and roiling the global economy -- in retaliation for U.S.-Israeli strikes that triggered the month-old Middle East war.

“Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz, prevented commercial vessels and oil tankers from transiting, and imposed conditions on some to pass through the strait,” said the GCC Secretary-General, Jasem Mohamed AlBudaiwi.

He was speaking in New York at the first Security Council meeting on cooperation with the GCC, which comprises Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman.

“We call upon the Security Council to assume its full responsibility and take all necessary measures to protect maritime routes and ensure the safe continuation of international navigation,” AlBudaiwi said.

Bahrain has proposed a draft resolution that would greenlight states to use “all necessary means” to assure free transit through the Strait of Hormuz.

However, the measure has divided the 15-member Security Council.

According to diplomatic sources, Russia, China and France -- who each hold veto privileges -- have voiced strong objections despite several modifications to the text.

“The use of force cannot bring peace. Political settlement is the fundamental way forward,” said Chinese Ambassador Fu Cong.

“Authorizing member states to use force would amount to legitimizing the unlawful and indiscriminate use of force, which would inevitably lead to further escalation of the situation and lead to serious consequences,” he added.

Russia, a long-time ally of Tehran, says it will not support what it calls one-sided measures that fail to address the root causes of the conflict.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron has said a military operation to free the strait is “unrealistic.”

A fifth version of the draft text, which the United States supports, was distributed to member states on Thursday and emphasizes any force would be “defensive in nature.”

“No country should be able to hold the world’s economies hostage to try to gain leverage in a dispute,” U.S. Ambassador Mike Walz told the Security Council.

Around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes through the Strait of Hormuz in peacetime.

Its near-total closure is impacting global supplies of important commodities including oil, liquefied natural gas and fertilizer. That has led to a sharp rise in energy prices.

This small city has the world’s worst air:
Last year, according to Swiss company IQAir, it had the world’s worst air quality.

Here, fumes from factories, exhaust from traffic and dust from construction produce a toxic mix that makes breathing an act of endurance for its 700,000 residents.

“Forget coughing, even breathing is difficult here,” said Manoj Kumar, 45, an e-rickshaw driver, who has lived in Loni his whole life.

Resident Mohammad Mohmin Khan said the pollution is so inescapable that he wears a mask every time he steps onto the city’s poorly paved roads.

“It’s here 24 hours a day,” he said. “No matter where you go.”

To determine the list of most polluted cities, IQ Air looked at fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, one of the smallest but most dangerous pollutants.

Last year, Loni’s average PM2.5 concentration was 112.5, according to IQ Air – 22 times the World Health Organization’s safe limit.

When inhaled, PM2.5 particulates travel deep into lung tissue where it can enter the bloodstream, and has been linked to asthma, heart and lung disease, cancer, and other respiratory illnesses, as well as cognitive impairment in children.

Dr. Anil Singh, who runs a clinic in Loni, said the number of patients he has seen with respiratory issues has increased in the last five years.

“I have particularly seen kids coming at a very young age with the symptoms of early asthma,” he said. “I can clearly say exposure to the environment is one of the prominent factors.”
World’s most polluted cities, 2025

Loni, India
Hotan, China
Byrnihat, India
Delhi, India
Faisalbad, Pakistan
Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan
Ghaziabad, India
Lahore, Pakistan
Sukkur, Pakistan
Ula, India

Source: IQ Air World Air Quality Report 2025
Increased sickness

Three of the world’s top five most polluted cities last year were in India, according to IQ Air, with New Delhi once again emerging as the world’s most polluted capital.

Buffett says he doesn’t regret his donations to the Gates Foundation despite Epstein scandal

TERMEZ , Republic of #Uzbekistan , April 1 . The negotiations to resolve the Ukrainian crisis are currently "on pause" amid US and Israeli aggression against Iran, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said in an interview with TASS on the sidelines of the Russia-Uzbekistan conference organized by the Valdai International Discussion Club and the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the Uzbek President.

"In recent months several rounds of trilateral talks between Russia, the United States, and Ukraine have been held to find ways to resolve the Ukrainian crisis politically and diplomatically. Currently, the negotiations remain on pause amid the US-Israeli aggression against Iran. We assume that we are ready to continue the discussions. However, it’s not just the regularity or frequency of the rounds that matters, but the substantive nature of the agenda is crucial," he said.

The Russian side has always been and remains open to finding ways to resolve the Ukrainian conflict politically and diplomatically through negotiations, Galuzin added.

#OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney is choosing his words carefully after the head of #Norad suggested advanced aircraft like the F-35 are not critical to continental defence.

Asked about the fighter jet contract at a news conference today, Carney said his government is still considering a range of factors in its review of plans to purchase a fleet of F-35s.

Those include Canada’s defence requirements, interoperability, value for money and broader economic benefits.

U.S. Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot inadvertently contributed to the political debate in Canada over the fighter jet procurement when he told a congressional panel earlier this month that fifth-generation fighter jets like the F-35 are “frankly” not needed to defend North America’s borders.

The Norad commander said such advanced stealth fighters are better suited to attacking targets overseas.

The prime minister didn’t say if he has read his own government’s F-35 review report, and did not offer any hints on a timeline for completing the procurement review he ordered last year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 31, 2026

#BREAKING: #Cuba is set to receive a humanitarian oil shipment from Russia as early as this week.

Iran threatens strikes on Israeli and U.S. universities

Iran warned of escalation after Israeli airstrikes hit several universities, including ones that Israel claimed were used for nuclear research and development. Concerns over Iran’s nuclear program are at the heart of tensions.

The paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said Iran would consider Israeli universities and branches of U.S. universities in the region “legitimate targets” unless offered safety assurances for Iranian universities, state media reported.

“If the U.S. government wants its universities in the region spared, it should condemn the bombardment” of Iranian universities by midday Monday, the Guard said.

U.S. colleges have campuses in Qatar and the UAE, including Georgetown, New York and Northwestern universities. The American University of Beirut moved classes online and called it a precautionary measure.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said Saturday that dozens of universities and research centres have been hit, among them the Iran University of Science and Technology and Isfahan University of Technology.

Both sides in the war have threatened to attack civilian facilities, which critics have warned could be a war crime.

#Iran warns U.S. ground troops would be ‘set on fire’ as regional diplomats meet on the war. “Pakistan is very happy that both Iran and the U.S. have expressed their confidence in Pakistan to facilitate the talks. Pakistan will be honored to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides in the coming days,” Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said after top diplomats from Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia met in Islamabad.

Pakistan later said the diplomats had departed for their home countries. The talks were originally scheduled to continue Monday.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry did not answer questions and Iran’s mission to the United Nations declined to comment.

Islamabad has emerged as a mediator, having relatively good ties with Washington and Tehran, after what Pakistani officials call weeks of quiet diplomacy.

Earlier, Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, dismissed the talks in Pakistan as a cover after some 2,500 U.S. Marines trained in amphibious landings arrived in the Middle East. He said Iranian forces were “waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever,” according to state media.

Iran also threatened to attack homes of U.S. and Israeli “commanders and political officials” in the region. A spokesperson for the Iranian military’s joint command, Ebrahim Zolfaghari, cited the “targeting of residential homes of the Iranian people in various cities” and other “malicious actions,” state media reported.

“We don’t know at what moment our homes could be targeted,” said Razzak Saghir al-Mousawi, 71, describing relentless airstrikes as Iranians crossing into Iraq urged the United States to end the war. “I am definitely afraid.”

Meanwhile in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military will widen its invasion of Lebanon, expanding the “existing security strip” in that country’s south while targeting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group. No details were released.

Over 1 million Lebanese have been displaced in the war. One of them, Mohammad Doghman, called Israel “an expansionist state.”
Fleeing Iranians urge U.S. to end war

The war has threatened global supplies of oil, natural gas and fertilizer and disrupted air travel. Iran’s grip on the strategic Strait of Hormuz has shaken markets and prices. Now the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels ' entry into the war could threaten shipping on another crucial waterway, the Bab el-Mandeb strait to the Red Sea.

Israel’s military said that its air force had intercepted two drones launched from Yemen very early on Monday morning.

Late on Sunday, Israel’s military said that over the past 24 hours its fighter jets had dropped more than 120 munitions in Tehran, targeting sites used for weapons research, development and production. Around the same time, Iran’s state television said power was back in areas of Tehran that had experienced outages after attacks on electricity facilities.

The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for launching their first attack in the current war -- a missile fired at Israel, which was also intercepted -- early on Saturday morning.

More than 3,000 people have been killed in the war that began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran that triggered Iranian attacks against Israel and U.S. military assets and other sites in neighboring Gulf Arab states. The war continues on the digital front as well.
Egypt says meetings aim for `direct dialogue’

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said the meetings in Pakistan are aimed at opening a “direct dialogue” between the U.S. and Iran, which have largely communicated through mediators. The war began with U.S. and Israeli strikes during indirect talks. Pakistan said the foreign ministers met Sunday without U.S. or Israeli participation.

Iranian officials have rejected a U.S. 15-point “action list” as a framework for a possible peace deal and publicly dismissed the idea of negotiating under pressure. But Iran’s state broadcaster has reported that Tehran drafted its own five-point proposal reportedly calling for a halt to killing Iranian officials, guarantees against future attacks, reparations and Iran’s “exercise of sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.”

Iran has eased some restrictions on commercial ships in the strait, agreeing late Saturday to allow 20 more Pakistani-flagged vessels to pass through. It “sends a clear signal that Iran remains open for business with the world, provided the United States abandons coercion,” said Asif Durrani, Pakistan’s former ambassador to Iran.

An adviser to the United Arab Emirates, Anwar Gargash, called for any settlement to the war to include “clear guarantees” that Iranian attacks on neighbors will not be repeated. He said Iran’s government has become “the main threat” to Persian Gulf security, and called for compensation for attacks on civilian infrastructure.