Tropical Cyclone Narelle to make landfall in far north Qld on Friday as category four storm, bringing 200km/h winds

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Massive storm tracking a path to Queensland coast, which intensified offshore Thursday morning to category five, fuelled by warm waters in Coral Sea

Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle is expected to make landfall in far north Queensland on Friday morning as a monster category four storm, bringing destructive wind gusts in excess of 225km/h, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

The severe cyclone rapidly intensified over the past 48 hours and on Thursday morning had built to a category five storm that was barrelling west, sitting about 500km east of the small town of Coen.

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Hong Kong apartment fires: hearings to begin into Wang Fuk blaze that killed 168 people

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Independent committee to investigate safety standards and whether building practices contributed to worst residential fires in decades

Public hearings in Hong Kong begin on Thursday into a devastating fire that ripped through a housing complex last year, killing 168 people.

A judge-led independent committee will investigate whether fire safety standards were inadequate, if construction practices contributed to the fire, and if there were failures on the part of government officers or contractors.

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New York high school student released after 10 months in ICE facility

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The detention of Dylan Lopez Contreras, 20, of Venezuela, a freshman in the Bronx, sparked national outrage

A New York high school student who was detained at an immigration courthouse in May last year, sparking national outrage, was released on Wednesday.

Dylan Lopez Contreras, 21, of Venezuela was a freshman at Ellis Prep academy, a Bronx public school dedicated exclusively to students who have recently arrived in the US. It was the first widely known instance of a public school student being arrested by federal immigration agents.

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Senate votes down measure aiming to limit Trump’s war powers by 53-47 vote

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Republicans block resolution to take up the measure, which Democrats vow to bring up ‘again and again and again’

Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked a measure that aimed to rein in Donald Trump’s power to wage war against Iran without congressional authorization.

The 53-47 vote against taking up the measure fell almost completely along party lines, with no movement from earlier this month when Republicans blocked Democrats’ bid to limit Trump’s war-making power in the days after the joint US-Israeli strikes, known as Operation Epic Fury, began across Iran.

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Ban corporate donations to UK political parties to protect elections, says thinktank

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CenTax warns bill under debate in parliament has ‘easily exploitable’ loopholes and will not prevent foreign interference

Political donations by companies should be banned to protect UK elections from foreign interference, a thinktank has warned.

In the first big overhaul of election funding in 26 years, ministers have pledged to “keep British democracy safe” by closing a loophole that allows individuals not eligible to vote in Britain to donate to political parties through UK-registered companies.

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Crossbreed dogs show more behavioural problems than pure breeds, study suggests

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Research finds cockapoo, cavapoo and labradoodle dogs display more undesirable behaviours than breeds they derive from

The UK has oodles of doodles but a study might offer paws for thought: researchers have found some of these designer crossbreed dogs show more behavioural problems than the pure breeds from which they derive.

Crosses between poodles and other dog breeds have become increasingly popular in the UK, with research suggesting the trend is – at least in part – driven by the expectation such dogs will be hypoallergenic, healthy and good with children.

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Seoul raises terror alert as it prepares to host BTS comeback concert

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Thousands of police prepare to deploy to South Korea’s capital ahead of K-pop’s most anticipated comeback

Seoul has stepped up security ahead of BTS’s huge comeback concert on Saturday, which more than a quarter of a million fans are expected to attend, with authorities raising the terror alert in the area and preparing to deploy thousands of police to the capital.

South Korean president Lee Jae Myung warned at a cabinet meeting this week that “the issue is safety” and urged heightened vigilance by the interior ministry and emergency services to prepare for every possibility. He described the concert as an important occasion to reaffirm the country’s global cultural standing.

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Sadiq Khan urges Labour to campaign on rejoining EU at next election

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Mayor of London says returning to EU now more desirable because of economic instability caused by Donald Trump

Labour should go into the next general election promising to rejoin the EU, Sadiq Khan has said.

The mayor of London has repeatedly made the case for joining the customs union and single market, but went much further on Wednesday night by suggesting the party should promise full membership at next ballot.

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Oil and Gas Prices Surge as Iran Attacks Major LNG Plant – Bloomberg.com

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  1. Oil and Gas Prices Surge as Iran Attacks Major LNG Plant  Bloomberg.com
  2. Iran missile attack on Qatar causes 'extensive damage' to facility housing huge gas plant  CNBC
  3. Strikes Deliver Another Blow to Iran’s Domestic Energy Sites  The New York Times
  4. Oil prices climb again after strikes in crucial Iranian gas field  The Washington Post
  5. Reported attack hits South Pars natural gas field, an energy lifeline for Iran  AP News
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Live Updates: Iran launches deadly missile attacks on Israel, Gulf states as war spirals – CBS News

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  1. Live Updates: Iran launches deadly missile attacks on Israel, Gulf states as war spirals  CBS News
  2. Iran fires missiles, drones across Gulf, region remains in war crosshairs  Al Jazeera
  3. Live updates: Over 100 children in Lebanon killed by Israeli strikes as Iran war intensifies  AP News
  4. US-Israel-Iran War News Highlights: Iran launches barrage of missiles towards Israel; explosions heard in Dubai  The Times of India
  5. One killed in Abu Dhabi as Iran keeps up strikes on beleaguered Gulf states  The Times of Israel
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Two men charged over alleged spying on Jewish community in London for Iran

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Metropolitan police say men were arrested and detained as part of an investigation into alleged surveillance of locations

Two men have been charged with spying for Iran over alleged surveillance of the Jewish community in London, police said.

Nematollah Shahsavani, 40, a dual Iranian and British national, and Alireza Farasati, 22, an Iranian national, have both been charged with engaging in contact likely to assist a foreign intelligence service between 9 July and 15 August last year.

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US eases Venezuela oil sanctions as Trump seeks to boost world oil supply during Iran war – AP News

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  1. US eases Venezuela oil sanctions as Trump seeks to boost world oil supply during Iran war  AP News
  2. US broadly authorizes transactions with Venezuela's oil company PDVSA  Reuters
  3. Trump said the U.S. would “run” Venezuela and sell its oil. Now it’s starting to happen  Fortune
  4. US relaxes sanctions on Venezuela’s PDVSA amid global energy squeeze  Financial Times
  5. Venezuela Oil Exports to US Double on Easing Trade Restrictions  Bloomberg.com
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Israel strikes Iran’s South Pars gasfield hours after forces kill intelligence minister

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Death confirmed of Esmail Khatib, the third senior Iranian figure killed in 24 hours, as Israel also launches intense airstrikes on Lebanon

Israel struck Iran’s giant South Pars gasfield on Wednesday, marking a major escalation of the war, hours after Israeli forces killed the regime’s intelligence minister and launched some of the most intense airstrikes in Beirut for decades.

The attack on the Pars site in the Persian Gulf, which Iran shares with Qatar and constitutes the world’s largest natural gasfield, prompted Tehran to warn neighbouring states that their energy infrastructure could be targeted “within hours”, and triggered furious rebukes from Qatar and other nations in the region.

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China Gains an Edge From Trump’s War With Iran, Officials Say – Bloomberg.com

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  1. China Gains an Edge From Trump’s War With Iran, Officials Say  Bloomberg.com
  2. Opinion | A prolonged war in Iran could hand China the commodity it prizes most  The Washington Post
  3. Can Trump Beat China by Winning In Iran?  Hudson Institute
  4. Opinion | China Has a Lot to Lose in the U.S.-Israel War on Iran  WSJ
  5. Can China stay friendly with Gulf states and Iran as fighting escalates?  South China Morning Post
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UK says it remains in talks over escorting ships through strait of Hormuz

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Officials say military planners liaising with US Central Command but situation remains too dangerous for anything to happen soon

Britain has said it remains involved in discussions with the US and European allies over escorting merchant shipping through the strait of Hormuz but the situation remains too dangerous for it to happen soon.

Iran is still considered to pose a threat and to have a wide range of weapons available – from cruise missiles to sea drones – despite 19 days of US-led bombing of its navy and coastal sites.

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Damaged Russian tanker carrying natural gas floats into Libyan waters

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Fears of ecological disaster as vessel continues to drift after being struck by suspected drone attack

A severely damaged Russian tanker carrying liquified natural gas that has been adrift in the Mediterranean for two weeks, raising concerns of an ecological disaster, has floated into Libyan waters, Italy’s civil protection agency said on Wednesday.

The Arctic Metagaz was part of a Russian “shadow fleet” used to circumvent sanctions imposed on the country’s oil and gas after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It was struck in a suspected drone attack close to Maltese waters earlier this month, causing a huge hole. The crew is believed to have been rescued between Malta and Libya.

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Canada in push for joint G7 and Middle East effort to de-escalate Iran war

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Foreign minister Anita Anand says she has drafted principles to reduce risk of regional spillover and wider shocks

Canada 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 the 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.

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As Trump shows lack of direction on Iran, even Badenoch distances herself

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Steady UK opposition to the war and the US president’s insults mean MPs are finding it easier to point out the obvious

When is a U-turn definitely a U-turn? To the consternation of politicians through the ages, this is rarely something within their control, but decided instead by the herd. And thus it is with Kemi Badnoch over Iran and Donald Trump.

The Conservative leader would very much like it to be known that she had not changed her stance on the US-Israeli attacks on Iran, or on the US president.

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America’s friends must help extricate it from an unlawful war – The Economist

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  1. America’s friends must help extricate it from an unlawful war  The Economist
  2. For U.S., Unmet Expectations in Iran Fit a Familiar Pattern in the Region  The New York Times
  3. The US-Israeli strategy against Iran is working. Here is why  Al Jazeera
  4. The Israel Lobby’s Responsibility for the Iran War  Foreign Policy
  5. Who wants what from the Iran war?  BBC
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