BIG Wrap

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Pakistan has ordered sweeping emergency austerity and fuel conservation measures after a disruption in oil and gas supply caused by the United States-Israel war on Iran and an escalating Middle East conflict. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the measures in a televised address to the nation on Monday night, warning that disruptions to maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz – a vital waterway for traded oil – had placed Pakistan’s economy...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia is ready to conditionally supply oil and gas to Europe as the US-Israeli war on Iran brings shipments through the Strait of Hormuz to a halt. The Russian president said in televised comments on Monday that Moscow was ready to work again with European customers, which largely stopped buying from his country in a bid to stop funding its war on Ukraine, if they wanted to return...

(New York Times) When United States President Donald Trump issued an abrupt order last month compelling the production of glyphosate, the controversial weedkiller known as Roundup, he angered health activists who have long campaigned to ban the product for its links to cancer. But largely overshadowed in the furor was the order’s mention of something contentious in another way: the manufacture of munitions used by the United States military. Bayer, which makes glyphosate, is also the only company...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Bahrain has said an Iranian drone attack caused material damage to a water desalination plant in the country, marking the first time a Gulf nation has reported targeting any such facility during the eight days of the war between Iran and the US and Israel. The attack on Sunday comes a day after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island in southern Iran was attacked...

(New York Times) Israeli airstrikes pounded the southern outskirts of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, late on Thursday and into the early hours of Friday morning, collapsing buildings and sending residents fleeing. The Israeli military said late Thursday that it was striking Hezbollah infrastructure in the Dahiya, a densely populated commercial and residential area in the Beirut area that is a stronghold of the Lebanese militant group. A series of violent strikes then rocked the city, the most...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Russia and China, Tehran’s two most powerful diplomatic partners, have labelled the US-Israeli war on Iran that has killed more than 1,000 people a clear violation of international law. President Vladimir Putin called the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday a “cynical violation of all norms of human morals”. China’s Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi told his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Saar, that “force cannot truly solve problems” as he urged all sides to...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) The United States government has announced it is collaborating with Ecuador to combat “terrorists” in the South American country. On Wednesday, US Southern Command, the military unit overseeing operations in Central and South America, posted that joint efforts had already begun in Ecuador. “On March 3, Ecuadorian and US military forces launched operations against Designated Terrorist Organizations in Ecuador,” General Francis Donovan said. “The operations are a powerful example of the commitment of partners in...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) US President Donald Trump has said his administration’s war against Iran “successfully knocked out” the country’s air force and navy. “We’re doing very well,” Trump said on Tuesday, during a news conference at the White House with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz before their meeting. “They have no navy; it’s been knocked out. They have no air force; it’s been knocked out. They have no air detection – that’s been knocked out,” Trump said. Trump’s comments...

(CNN) Israeli troops are intensifying their push in southern Lebanon, the military announced Tuesday, seizing more positions on the ground as Israel escalates its offensive against the militant group Hezbollah. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has held five positions in southern Lebanon for months now, using them as a means of observing the border area between the two countries. Now, as Israel intsensifies its strikes against what it sees as Hezbollah targets in Beirut and...

(Al Jazeera Media Network) Pakistan has called in the military and imposed a three-day curfew in some areas following deadly protests over the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a joint United States-Israeli attack on Saturday. At least 24 people were killed and dozens injured in clashes between protesters and security forces across the country on Sunday, prompting authorities to tighten security around the US embassy and consulates. The curfew was imposed before dawn Monday...