Starmer’s slow start in the war against Iran could leave UK playing catch-up

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Prime minister’s initial refusal to help US could constrain Britain’s ability to protect its nationals in the Gulf and reassure allies

Britain knew that the US was considering attacking Iran from the moment Donald Trump told protesters that “help is coming” in the middle of January. It was obvious to the world that the White House was serious when the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group was sent to the Arabian Sea in late January.

But as Trump gradually built up his “massive armada”, reinforcing it with a second carrier strike group in mid-February, UK deployments were constrained and limited even though there was a recognition that it was likely allies and bases with British soldiers would be attacked in an Iranian retaliation.

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Blackout in Cuba leaves millions without power amid US oil chokehold

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Latest outage darkens island facing dwindling oil reserves and increasing pressure from Washington

A blackout hit the western half of Cuba on Wednesday, leaving millions of people in Havana and beyond without power in the latest outage to affect an island struggling with dwindling oil reserves and a crumbling electricity grid.

The government’s Electric Union confirmed the outage on social platform X, saying it affected people from the eastern town of Pinar del Rio to the central town of Camaguey.

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Trump’s War on Iran Could Screw Over US Farmers – WIRED

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  1. Trump’s War on Iran Could Screw Over US Farmers  WIRED
  2. ‘A big burden for farmers’: Gulf shipping crisis threatens food price shock  The Guardian
  3. Fertiliser disruption from Iran conflict prompts global food shortage warnings  Financial Times
  4. India Urea Producers Trim Output as Iran War Disrupts LNG Flows  Bloomberg.com
  5. Fertilizer Prices Have ‘Significant’ Rise After Attack on Iran  Farm Policy News
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The Iran war has been a stunning operational success – The Economist

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  1. The Iran war has been a stunning operational success  The Economist
  2. The Iran war has been a stunning aerial success  The Economist
  3. Iran’s barrage of attacks across the Persian Gulf shows regional chaos is key to its strategy  AP News
  4. How Iran fights an imposed war  Al Jazeera
  5. Iran’s Strategy: Expand the War, Increase the Cost, Outlast Trump - The New York Times  The New York Times
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Russia blames Ukrainian naval drones as tanker sinks in Mediterranean – BBC

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  1. Russia blames Ukrainian naval drones as tanker sinks in Mediterranean  BBC
  2. Russia LNG Tanker Halts in Mediterranean After Another Attacked  Bloomberg.com
  3. Putin accuses Ukraine of attacking gas tanker that exploded and sank off Libya  The Guardian
  4. Russia accuses Ukraine of drone attack as gas tanker sinks in Mediterranean  Al Jazeera
  5. Russian gas tanker sinks near Libya after explosions, maritime authority says  Reuters
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Starmer defends Iran response as Badenoch calls for more action – BBC

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  1. Starmer defends Iran response as Badenoch calls for more action  BBC
  2. ‘No Winston Churchill’: Trump opens new rift with Europe as leaders try to avoid being sucked into Iran war  CNN
  3. Starmer’s government hunkers down for ‘long-haul’ Iran conflict  politico.eu
  4. Hanging on to Trump’s latest words ‘is not the special relationship’, Starmer tells MPs  The Guardian
  5. Starmer breaks with Trump on Iran, says UK doesn’t support ‘regime change from the skies’  The Hill
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European Commission proposes ‘Buy EU’ plan to compete against China

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Plan, which aims to preserve jobs in clean tech and low carbon sectors, could include UK if there is reciprocal market access

The European Commission has proposed a “Buy EU” plan to boost domestic low-carbon industries and help the continent compete against China.

The commission published a draft regulation – called the Industrial Accelerator Act – on Wednesday, setting demands for EU-made and low-carbon content on bodies spending public money. The rules mark a major shift in economic thinking from Brussels, long a bastion of open markets.

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Labour MP says she had no reason to suspect her husband may have broken law after his arrest on suspicion of spying for China – as it happened

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Joani Reid asks for privacy after it was revealed her husband David Taylor was one of the three men arrested

Starmer begins PMQs by telling the Commons that his thoughts are with Sarah Everard “on this very painful anniversary” of her death.

He says the government is working hard to prevent boys and men from becoming abusers.

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Analysis finds urban areas in England where no one lives within 15-minute walk of nature

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Government says it is working to solve ‘postcode lottery’ of access to green or blue spaces

There are urban areas of England where no one lives within a 15-minute walk of nature, government data shows, as ministers scramble to meet their access to nature targets.

While the data shows 80% of people live within walking distance of green or blue spaces such as a river, park or woodland, it also reveals a disparity between rural and poorer urban areas.

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Head of carer’s allowance inquiry blames DWP ‘resistance’ for failure to fix crisis

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Liz Sayce tells MPs some civil servants tried to minimise extent of problems and deflect blame

The head of an official inquiry into carer’s allowance has criticised “forces of resistance” inside the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) that undermined ministerial attempts to fix longstanding problems with the much-criticised benefit.

Liz Sayce, whose review of carer’s allowance was published in November, said rather than owning the problems, some at the DWP had tried to “minimise” the extent of the department’s failures and sought to deflect blame for the crisis.

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Berlin film festival head to keep job after Gaza free speech row

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The German government convened a crisis meeting after several prize winners at this year’s event condemned Israel’s actions against Palestinians

The American head of the Berlin film festival, Tricia Tuttle, will keep her job after a free speech row over Gaza, but the event will have to consider a new code of conduct to “fight antisemitism”, the German culture ministry has said.

Tuttle’s position came under threat after an awards gala at the end of the 76th edition last month in which several prize winners condemned Israel’s actions against Palestinians from the stage.

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Hardline cleric Arafi joins wartime leadership as Iran juggles conflict, succession – Reuters

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  1. Hardline cleric Arafi joins wartime leadership as Iran juggles conflict, succession  Reuters
  2. Iran's power vacuum and Democrats dominate in flipping state seats: Morning Rundown  NBC News
  3. Iran Poised to Name New Supreme Leader With US Watching Closely  Bloomberg.com
  4. The start of the Iran war was determined by spying success  The Economist
  5. Opinion | We Are Finally Free From Khamenei’s Suffocating Gaze - The New York Times  The New York Times
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