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A projectile strike near Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant has resulted in the death of one person, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The incident occurred amid escalating US-Israeli strikes on Iranian industrial sites, raising concerns over the safety of nuclear facilities. The IAEA confirmed that there was no increase in radiation levels after the attack on Saturday, citing Iranian authorities. The agency's Director General, Rafael Grossi, expressed deep concern about the incident, emphasizing that nuclear sites and nearby areas must never be attacked. Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, claimed that the Bushehr facility had been bombed four times since the war erupted on February 28, criticizing the lack of concern for its safety. The strike damaged an auxiliary building on the site, but the main sections of the power plant were not affected. The incident has sparked a renewed call for maximum military restraint to avoid the risk of a nuclear accident. The US and Israel have been escalating their targeting of Iranian industrial sites, including petrochemical plants in the southern Khuzestan region. The Bushehr plant, Iran's only operational nuclear power plant, is located in Bushehr city and is one of the country's most important industrial and military nodes. The plant's safety has been a concern, with 198 Russian staff evacuated following the attack, according to Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear company.

Israeli forces have launched a series of attacks on southern Lebanon, resulting in the deaths of at least two children and injuring 40 people, according to Lebanese health officials. The Ministry of Public Health reported that an Israeli strike on Habbush killed two girls and wounded 22 people on Saturday. In a separate incident, an attack on al-Hawsh near Tyre wounded 18 people, including a child, three women, and three paramedics. The strike also damaged a nearby major hospital, the Lebanese Italian Hospital, which despite the damage, will remain open to provide necessary medical care. The violence escalated as Israeli forces continued their ground invasion, blowing up houses in several southern front-line villages and towns, including Aita al-Shaab and Ramyah, and bombing bridges linking Samar with Mashghara, claiming they were being used by Hezbollah. The bombing of bridges and civilian infrastructure across southern Lebanon has been widely condemned, with rights groups warning that Israel appears to be trying to isolate the region. At least 1,368 people have been killed in Lebanon and 4,138 wounded in these attacks, which have also displaced more than one million people. Despite the continued offensive, experts believe that Israel is unlikely to achieve its stated goal of disarming Hezbollah. Hezbollah maintains depth in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon, and even if Israel manages to push the group out of these areas, it would not necessarily mean that it would have eliminated Hezbollah entirely.

Indonesia formally received the coffins of three United Nations peacekeepers who lost their lives in southern Lebanon as Israel intensified its invasion, a development that underscores the expanding regional fallout of the US‑Israel war on Iran. On Saturday, uniformed officers carried the bodies into a solemn ceremony attended by President Prabowo Subianto. Following the tribute, Foreign Minister Sugiono urged a comprehensive UN inquiry into the fatalities, stressing that "incidents like this should not happen" and calling for a security guarantee for peacekeeping troops. The three soldiers—Farizal Rhomadhon (28), Zulmi Aditya Iskandar (33) and Muhammad Nur Ichwan (26)—were members of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Rhomadhon was killed when a projectile, later attributed by a UN source to fire from an Israeli tank, detonated near his position. A day later, Iskandar and Ichwan perished in an explosion that struck a UNIFIL logistics convoy. Family members expressed deep sorrow. Iskandar’s father, Iskandarudin (60), told reporters from West Java that the loss was especially painful because the troops were deployed for peace, not combat. The government announced that the trio will be interred on Sunday and pledged financial assistance to their families, reflecting Indonesia’s commitment to support the bereaved. In a related incident, UNIFIL reported that three additional peacekeepers were wounded in a blast at a facility near Adeisse; the cause of that explosion remains unidentified, though the injured were confirmed to be Indonesian. Indonesia’s foreign ministry has called on the UN Security Council to convene an urgent meeting of troop‑contributing nations to review and strengthen protection measures for UNIFIL personnel. The tragedy occurs against the backdrop of a broader conflict: the US‑Israel offensive against Iran has spilled into Lebanon after Hezbollah, aligned with Tehran, launched rockets following the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on 28 February. Israeli forces have been bombarding Lebanon for weeks, aiming to establish a 30 km (≈18.6 mi) security zone along the border. Key takeaway: The loss of Indonesian peacekeepers highlights the heightened risks faced by UN missions in volatile theaters and intensifies calls for stronger international safeguards amid escalating Middle‑East hostilities.

Taybeh, a small hilltop town in the heart of the West Bank, is one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. After increasing attacks from Israeli settlers it now feels itself under siege and is fighting for its very existence.The town’s ancient Greek name was Ephraim where, according to the gospels, Jesus hid with his disciples from the Jewish religious hierarchy, the Sanhedrin, before making his final fateful trip to Jerusalem.A church was built here in the fifth century, and the entirely Christian community survived the crusaders, conquest by Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub or Saladin, the Ottoman empire, the British empire, and three Arab-Israeli wars, but its inhabitants say its long-term future is in question.There are four substantial Israeli settlements around Taybeh, and countless unofficial outposts have also sprung up on the steep hills overlooking the Jordan valley. They have been set up by messianic Jews who send their young people, the “hilltop youth”, to harass and intimidate local Palestinians in the surrounding countryside.The relentless land grabs and intimidation is a pattern repeated up and down the West Bank in a campaign the UN has called ethnic cleansing, which has been driven by hardline members of the ruling coalition, the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, and the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir.“First they kicked the Bedouin out in the last three years and put up their caravans and bring their cows and sheep. They are using the land without any permission from the owners and from ourselves,” said Fr. Bashar Fawadleh, the parish priest of Christ the Redeemer church.Over the past year, the pressure has been turned up further. In July last year, settlers set fire to the grounds of the fifth–century Byzantine church, St Peter’s. Since then, bands of hilltop youth have raided the town four times, setting fire to cars, slashing tires and smashing windows.The church, part of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, supports small business ventures to provide jobs and builds affordable housing, but the community is still haemorrhaging. Fifteen families have left in the past two years, leaving the current population at about 1,100.After the attack on St Peter’s church in July, the US ambassador, Mike Huckabee, visited the town to condemn what he called “an act of terror” and to appeal for prosecutions.No prosecutions have been reported, and Huckabee has not spoken out over any of the subsequent attacks on Taybeh. A Southern Baptist minister, the ambassador is a fervent supporter of Israel’s territorial claims to the West Bank and beyond, which he argues are divinely ordained.In the West Bank however, the Christian population has shrunk from 5% of the total population in 1967 to roughly 1% today, about 45,000 people.The fierce religious nationalism that the Israeli government has cultivated in recent years has largely been directed at Palestinian Muslims but there has been a rising tide of anti-Christian incidents.Jad Isaac, the director general of the Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem, which tracks the Israeli takeover of land and resources on the West Bank, said: “When Netanyahu says we are the only country which is taking care of the Christians, he’s a liar. He said that in Palestinian Christian communities in the West Bank “the strategy is to make life intolerable”.

The conflict between Iran, the US, and Israel has reached a critical juncture on day 36 of the war. Iran has claimed responsibility for shooting down two US warplanes, a F-15E Strike Eagle and an A-10 Warthog, in a significant escalation of the conflict. Two American crewmembers were rescued, while one airman remains missing after the incidents over the Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad provinces and the Gulf. Iranian officials have celebrated the downing of the aircraft as a major military success, demonstrating Tehran's capability to confront US and Israeli forces. The incidents have sparked a major crisis, with search and rescue operations underway for the missing US crewmember. A US Black Hawk helicopter involved in the search was also hit by Iranian fire but managed to remain airborne. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has questioned the US's sincerity about diplomacy, accusing Washington of hypocrisy. The conflict has also had a significant impact on the region, with simultaneous conflicts in Iran, Gaza, and Lebanon costing Israel an estimated $112bn. The war has resulted in at least 2,076 people killed and 26,500 wounded in Iran since the start of the conflict on February 28. The international community remains on high alert, with Iran launching missile attacks on southern Israel and Israel destroying two critical bridges in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.

AI‑Driven Power Race The AI boom is prompting the biggest wave of power‑infrastructure investment since the early days of cloud computing. Companies are scrambling to lock in natural‑gas supplies and build on‑site generators, a move that could reshape electricity markets in the southern United States. Scale of the Projects Microsoft is partnering with Chevron and Engine No. 1 to construct a natural‑gas plant in West Texas that could reach 5 GW of capacity. Google has confirmed a collaboration with Crusoe for a 933 MW plant in North Texas. Meta is adding seven more plants to its Hyperion data‑center complex in Louisiana, bringing total on‑site capacity to 7.46 GW—enough, the company notes, to power the entire state of South Dakota. Combined, these projects exceed 13 GW, roughly equivalent to the average electricity demand of a mid‑size U.S. state. Supply Constraints and Cost Pressures Wood Mackenzie warns that turbine prices have surged 195% versus 2019 levels. If a 2020 turbine cost $1 million, the same unit now costs about $2.95 million, inflating the equipment share of a plant’s budget from 20% to up to 30%. The consultancy also notes a six‑year lead time for turbine delivery, meaning new orders cannot be placed until 2028. This bottleneck could delay the rollout of additional capacity precisely when AI workloads are accelerating. Resource Availability and Market Risks The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that a single gas‑rich region holds enough supply to power the entire United States for 10 months. While abundant, production growth in the three leading shale basins—responsible for three‑quarters of U.S. output—has slowed, tightening the long‑term outlook. Natural gas accounts for about 40% of U.S. electricity generation (EIA). Consequently, any spike in gas prices reverberates through wholesale electricity markets, raising the cost of power for all consumers, not just data‑center operators. Strategic Risks for Tech Companies Behind‑the‑meter gas plants allow firms to claim “self‑supply,” but they merely shift demand from the public grid to the gas grid, potentially driving up wholesale gas prices. Industrial users—petrochemical plants, fertilizer manufacturers—cannot easily substitute gas with renewables, so they may push back against large‑scale data‑center consumption. Extreme weather, such as the 2021 Texas freeze, can curtail wellhead output, forcing a choice between keeping AI workloads online or supplying heat to households. In sum, the AI‑driven rush for natural‑gas power plants highlights a fundamental physical constraint: the digital economy still depends on finite, market‑sensitive energy resources. Betting heavily on a commodity that can swing dramatically in price may prove costly if AI growth plateaus or if gas supply tightens.

Israel's ongoing attacks on Lebanon have led to a significant deterioration of the country's healthcare infrastructure. In the past month, 53 medical workers have been killed, 87 ambulances and medical centers destroyed, and five hospitals forced to close, according to Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health.The attacks have resulted in the displacement of 1.2 million people, putting an enormous strain on the already struggling Lebanese healthcare system. Experts and analysts say that Israel's actions are part of a broader strategy to force people out of southern Lebanon.“Israeli strikes and blanket evacuation orders are cutting people off from care and shrinking the space for health services to function,” said Luna Hammad, Lebanon medical coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF). MSF has documented a pattern of attacks affecting healthcare.The destruction of healthcare infrastructure has also led to a significant increase in emergency room admissions. Healthcare facilities are under higher strain than before, with many patients needing treatments like chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and dialysis being transferred further north.Direct attacks on healthcare workers and facilities have been documented by Human Rights Watch (HRW), which has noted repeated, apparently deliberate attacks on medical workers in Lebanon. Medical workers and healthcare facilities are protected under international humanitarian law, and Israel's attacks on medics in 2024 were described as an apparent war crime by HRW.The attacks on healthcare infrastructure during times of war are not new. Forensic Architecture has documented systematic targeting of hospitals and healthcare workers in Gaza. Experts warn that such attacks have compounding effects, including treatable injuries getting worse, war wounds not healing properly, and long-term consequences.Experts and analysts say that the attacks are unlikely to cease as long as the pattern of impunity continues. Lebanon's government has a responsibility to ensure accountability and to give jurisdiction to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate and prosecute war crimes.

Three United Nations experts have urged for a thorough and independent investigation into Israel's recent killing of three journalists in Lebanon, condemning the incident as 'another egregious attack on press freedom by Israeli forces.'The UN special rapporteurs, Irene Khan, Morris Tidball-Binz, and Ben Saul, emphasized that journalists carrying out their professional duties in armed conflict are civilians and must not be targeted or made the object of attack.They stated that the deliberate killing of journalists not directly participating in hostilities constitutes a serious violation of international human rights and humanitarian law and a war crime. The experts also stressed that working for media outlets affiliated with an armed group does not mean journalists are directly participating in hostilities under international law.The Israeli military killed Al Mayadeen journalist Fatima Ftouni, her brother Mohamad Ftouni, and Al-Manar's Ali Shoaib in a targeted strike on their car in southern Lebanon on March 28. Israel accused Shoaib of being a fighter with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, but provided no evidence and was rejected by Shoaib's colleagues and the UN experts.The UN experts warned that Israel's killing of Lebanese journalists is part of an effort to silence reporting on Israel's military action in Lebanon and shut down news coverage of war crimes, similar to what occurred in Gaza. They also noted that Israel was responsible for two-thirds of all killings of journalists in 2024 and 2025, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).At least 1,345 people have been killed and 4,040 wounded in intensified Israeli attacks across Lebanon since early March, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

Former Iranian foreign minister Kamal Kharazi has been seriously wounded in an apparent assassination attempt that killed his wife, as US-Israeli strikes continue to pound Iran for a fifth week.Iranian media on Thursday reported that Kharazi's home in Tehran was targeted the previous day in an air strike. The official was hospitalised with serious injuries, according to newspapers Shargh, Etemad and Ham Mihan.“We have seen what looks like an assassination attempt against the former foreign minister, Kamal Kharazi … We don’t know why he’s been targeted. He has been gravely wounded, and his wife was killed,” said Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall, reporting from Tehran.Air strikes were reported on Thursday across Iran, including in Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz. Four people were reported killed in Larestan, in southern Iran.Meanwhile, the spokesperson of the armed forces’ unified command said Tehran will press on with the Middle East war until the US and Israel face “permanent regret and surrender”, the semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported.Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson of the Khatam al-Anbiya central headquarters, said US and Israeli assessments of Iran’s military capabilities were “incomplete” and that Tehran would step up its military actions, with “more crushing, broader and more destructive” attacks in store for its adversaries.The threat followed comments by US President Donald Trump that Washington would hit Iran “extremely hard” within weeks, although Iran was “essentially decimated” and the US was on track to achieve its military objectives.More than 1,340 people have been killed in Iran since the US and Israel launched joint air strikes on February 28. At least 24 people have been killed in Israel, as well as 13 US soldiers in the region.