Benjamin Netanyahu tried to dispel viral rumors of his death. Some social media users aren’t convinced. – NBC News

  1. Benjamin Netanyahu tried to dispel viral rumors of his death. Some social media users aren't convinced.  NBC News
  2. Wave of false AI claims about Israeli PM Netanyahu  BBC
  3. Netanyahu Posts ‘Proof of Life’ Video as A.I. Sows Doubts About What’s Real  The New York Times
  4. Netanyahu denies death rumours in video falsely branded AI  Euronews.com
  5. 'We’re watching from above': Amid AI and death rumours, Netanyahu emerges in war room to wish Iranians on Nowruz, prove he’s alive  WION
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IDF strikes Hezbollah financial, military sites; Lebanese authorities report 14 dead – The Times of Israel

  1. IDF strikes Hezbollah financial, military sites; Lebanese authorities report 14 dead  The Times of Israel
  2. A Lebanese Cafe on the Edge of Destruction  The New York Times
  3. Beirut photographer puts himself in the firing line to capture Israeli strikes  NBC News
  4. Israeli air raids devastate southern Lebanon, dozens killed in two days  Al Jazeera
  5. IDF says it will bomb bridges on Litani River in coming hours  The Times of Israel
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Hezbollah ignites blowback from its base as over 1 million flee war with Israel – The Washington Post

  1. Hezbollah ignites blowback from its base as over 1 million flee war with Israel  The Washington Post
  2. The sum of all fears for Lebanon  Financial Times
  3. Lebanon war leaves a classroom of children hurt or dead every day, UN says  Reuters
  4. Fearing Israeli strikes, a Druze village screens for Hezbollah militants among Lebanon’s displaced  France 24
  5. Fear and defiance in southern Lebanon city as Israel-Hezbollah war intensifies  BBC
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The EU’s Hungary problem won’t be solved even if Viktor Orbán is ousted

The bloc’s foremost troublemaker could lose April’s election, but the headaches he’s caused will not necessarily disappear with him

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How do you solve a problem like Viktor Orbán? By crossing your fingers and hoping it disappears in just over three weeks’ time. But even if the European Union’s disruptor-in-chief is ousted in elections next month (which is far from certain), Europe’s Hungary problem is unlikely to vanish overnight.

EU leaders will gather in Brussels on Thursday and Friday for yet another summit that will be at least partly hijacked by Orbán, Hungary’s illiberal prime minister.

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Looking for leverage: China keeps close eye on US politics after summit delay

Beijing seeks to decipher effect of Iran war on US midterms and best way to apply pressure when Trump meets Xi

The White House said on Wednesday that China had agreed to postpone Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing, as war in the Middle East rages on, complicating the US president’s position at home and abroad.

China has not yet commented on the delay to the highly anticipated trip, in which Trump and the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, will meet in person for the first time since October. Trump previously said he hoped to delay the trip, originally scheduled to run from 31 March to 2 April, for “five or six weeks”.

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Trump said the U.S. would “run” Venezuela and sell its oil. Now it’s starting to happen – Fortune

  1. Trump said the U.S. would “run” Venezuela and sell its oil. Now it’s starting to happen  Fortune
  2. US extends protection of Venezuela-owned Citgo from creditors  Reuters
  3. News Wrap: U.S. eases sanctions on Venezuela's state-owned oil company  PBS
  4. U.S. eases Venezuela oil sanctions as Trump seeks to boost oil supply during Iran war  NBC News
  5. US relaxes sanctions on Venezuela’s PDVSA amid global energy squeeze  Financial Times
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Prosecutors seek more than seven years in jail for son of Norway’s crown princess

Marius Borg Høiby accused of 39 offences, but denies the most serious charges of four rapes

Marius Borg Høiby, the son of Norway’s crown princess, should receive more than seven years in prison if he is found guilty of 39 offences, including four rapes and assaults, according to prosecutors.

On Wednesday, the penultimate day of the more than six-week-long trial at Oslo district court, the prosecution said it believed that Høiby was guilty of 39 of the 40 offences with which he was charged, which, as well as rape and domestic abuse, include multiple breaches of restraining orders, assault, drug and driving offences.

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