Iran is riven with conflict. Donald Trump’s offer of talks won’t ease it

With internal politics at their most unstable for years, the risk of escalation is rising

The letter the US president, Donald Trump, says he sent to Iran’s leadership offering to reopen talks on the country’s nuclear programme comes at a point when Iranian domestic politics is at its most unstable for years.

In the past month, the conservative-dominated parliament has asserted its power over the broadly reformist president elected last June by impeaching and sacking the experienced economy minister, Abdolnaser Hemmati, while Mohammad Javad Zarif, the vice-president and most prominent reformist, has also been forced out.

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Covid, five years on: UK ‘still not ready to protect the population’

Scientific triumphs were made in the battle against the pandemic, but the memories and lessons are already in danger of being lost

On 9 March 2020, Martin Landray was studying the likely impact of Covid-19 as it started to sweep Britain. What was needed, he realised, was a method for pinpointing cheap, effective drugs that might limit the impact of the Sars-CoV-2 virus that was filling UK hospitals with ­dangerously ill patients.

Within 10 days, Landray – working with Oxford University colleague Peter Horby – had set up Recovery, a drug-testing programme that involved thousands of doctors and nurses working with tens of ­thousands of Covid-19 patients in UK hospitals.

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Grim Lessons From Phase One of the Israel-Hamas Deal – RealClearPolitics

  1. Grim Lessons From Phase One of the Israel-Hamas Deal  RealClearPolitics
  2. Ahead of Doha talks, Witkoff says ‘deadlines’ key for deal on ceasefire’s next phase  The Times of Israel
  3. The Gaza Cease-Fire Deal’s Future Is Uncertain. Here’s What to Know.  The New York Times
  4. Updates: Israel to send delegation to Doha amid Gaza ceasefire uncertainty  Al Jazeera English
  5. Water Supply in Central, South Gaza Reduced by 70% After Electricity Cut, Mayor Says  Haaretz
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Beijing to Roll Out AI Courses for Kids to Boost Sector’s Growth – Bloomberg

  1. Beijing to Roll Out AI Courses for Kids to Boost Sector’s Growth  Bloomberg
  2. China's top universities expand enrolment to beef up capabilities in AI, strategic areas  Reuters
  3. China's capital city is making AI education mandatory, even for elementary schoolers  Business Insider
  4. China's top universities to expand enrollment, prioritizing strategic talent development  Global Times
  5. China's six-year-olds are already being offered AI classes in school in a bid to train the next generation of DeepSeek founders  Fortune
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From Trump whisperer to trouble – angry Reform UK MPs turn on Farage

Internal row in party over ‘messianic’ leader becomes public amid competing members’ allegations of bullying and dirty tricks

Just a few short weeks ago, Nigel Farage’s Reform party was riding high. It was consistently polling above Kemi Badenoch’s Conservative party and in some surveys had even edged ahead of the Labour government.

Donors who had previously handed over large amounts to the Tories were switching sides, while Farage was relishing having the ear of US president Donald Trump, touting himself as a far better representative to the leader of the free world than Keir Starmer.

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Russian officials criticised for giving meat grinders to mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine

Members of Putin’s United Russia party in Murmansk said gifts were initiative of the women’s wing

Local officials from Russia’s ruling party have caused controversy by presenting mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine with gifts of meat grinders, an appliance widely used to describe Russia’s brutal tactics on the frontline.

The United Russia party in the northern Murmansk region posted photos on social media showing officials smiling as they visited bereaved mothers with gifts of flowers and boxed meat grinders for International Women’s Day on Saturday, which is widely celebrated in Russia.

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Twelve soldiers remain in Lismore hospital after army trucks rolled in northern NSW

Two personnel in serious condition after accident near city lashed by torrential rain brought by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred

Twelve soldiers remain in hospital – two in a serious condition – after two army trucks carrying troops rolled on a country road near Lismore on Saturday evening as ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred lashed the northern New South Wales coast and southern Queensland.

Thirty-two defence personnel were involved in the crash – members of the 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment, part of the 7th Brigade based at Gallipoli Barracks in northern Brisbane – just after 5pm on Tregeagle Road, 9km south-west of Lismore.

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Impeached South Korean president released from prison ahead of insurrection trial

Both supporters of Yoon Suk Yeol and those who backed his impeachment rallied in Seoul ahead of his release

South Korea’s impeached conservative president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has been released from prison, a day after a Seoul court cancelled his arrest to allow him to stand trial for insurrection without being detained.

After walking out of a detention centre near Seoul on Saturday, Yoon waved, clenched his fists and bowed deeply to his supporters who were shouting his name and waving South Korean and US flags. Yoon climbed into a black van headed to his presidential residence in the capital.

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NT police commissioner ousted amid jobs-for-mates scandal

Michael Murphy outed himself as subject of Icac investigation that found he had mismanaged a conflict of interest

The Northern Territory’s police commissioner has been given his marching orders after a jobs-for-mates scandal uncovered by a corruption watchdog.

Michael Murphy outed himself as the subject of an Independent Commissioner Against Corruption investigation that found improper and unsatisfactory conduct against an unnamed public official who had mismanaged a conflict of interest in the recruitment of a senior officer.

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