Natural gas prices across the United Kingdom and Europe jumped sharply after attacks on major energy facilities in Qatar and Iran intensified concerns about global fuel supplies.
Wholesale gas prices initially surged by more than 25 percent in early trading before easing slightly, though they remain more than double the level seen before the conflict began.
The spike followed damage to the Ras Laffan complex in Qatar, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas facility, which state energy company QatarEnergy said suffered extensive damage.
Ras Laffan Industrial City processes a significant share of global LNG exports, making the site critical to international energy markets.
The escalation also includes strikes on Iran’s South Pars gas field, heightening fears of wider disruption across Gulf energy infrastructure and sending shockwaves through financial and commodity markets.
🇶🇦 Qatar’s Ministry of Interior confirms it is still “dealing with a fire in the Ras Laffan Industrial Area.”
Air New Zealand has extended its long-running travel partnership with the New Zealand Warriors through to the end of 2028, taking the relationship to 33 years since it began in the club’s inaugural 1995 season.
The airline supports the travel demands of the Warriors’ six teams competing across Australian-based rugby league competitions, with players and staff making 54 return trans-Tasman trips each season covering more than 237,000 kilometres.
Air New Zealand chief customer and digital officer Jeremy O’Brien said the Warriors unite the country each week and require more travel than any other NRL side, while Warriors chief commercial officer Glenn Harris said the airline’s support remains essential to managing the club’s extensive logistics across New Zealand and Australia.
Senegal has called for an independent international investigation after Confederation of African Football overturned the result of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final and awarded the title to Morocco.
Senegal had won the match 1-0 after extra time, but CAF later ruled the game a 3-0 forfeit in Morocco’s favour after Senegal’s players briefly walked off the field in protest over a stoppage-time penalty decision.
The Senegalese government described the ruling as deeply unjust and based on a flawed reading of tournament regulations, while the Senegalese Football Federation confirmed it will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Morocco’s football federation welcomed the decision, saying it reinforced respect for competition rules. CAF president Patrice Motsepe said the disciplinary ruling was necessary to protect the integrity and credibility of African football.
“This decision is a breach of trust that is not based on any rule of law,” FSF secretary general Abdoulaye Seydou Sow told Senegalese media.
“We felt that the jury wasn’t there to uphold the law, but to carry out an order.
“We will stop at nothing. The law is on our side. The fight is far from over. Senegal will defend its rights to the very end.”
PM Christopher Luxon says New Zealand is preparing for a prolonged impact from the Middle East conflict, warning fuel conditions could deteriorate over the coming weeks even though current supplies remain secure.
Speaking to legacy media alongside Nicola Willis, Luxon said the government was now planning for an extended disruption to global supply chains, with ministers and industry focused on the next eight to twelve weeks.
He said New Zealand currently has around seven weeks of fuel either in the country or en route, but acknowledged panic buying and local distribution pressures were already affecting some service stations.
Willis said officials were preparing response options under the National Fuel Plan and examining tax and transfer measures to ease cost pressures, while cautioning the government could not shield households from all global price impacts. Twice-weekly public fuel supply updates are expected to begin soon.
MI5 has apologised for providing false evidence after settling a woman’s claim over abuse by an informant.
The UK’s domestic intelligence agency, MI5, has agreed to compensate a woman abused by a neo-Nazi informant, admitting “mistakes” that prolonged her legal battle.
The woman, a British citizen known as ‘Beth’, was in a relationship with a man identified only as Agent X, a foreign national recruited by MI5 to infiltrate right-wing extremist networks. Video footage obtained by the BBC in an investigation published several years ago showed X attacking Beth with a machete, threatening to kill her, and using his intelligence service status as a tool of coercive control.
Beth previously told investigators that Agent X had boasted about his MI5 connections, warning her she could not report his violence because “he had men in high places who always had his back.” She claimed he sexually assaulted her, collected weapons, and forced her to watch videos of executions.
The case sparked a wider scandal after the BBC reported that MI5 had provided false evidence to three courts while defending its handling of the agent. The security service had claimed it adhered to its policy of neither confirming nor denying informants’ identities, despite senior officers having disclosed the man’s status to journalists in 2020 in an attempt to persuade the BBC to drop its investigation.
In a statement on Tuesday, MI5 Director General Ken McCallum said the agency had settled Beth’s legal claim before the Investigatory Powers Tribunal “without admission of liability.” The tribunal handles complaints against UK intelligence agencies.
“We sincerely apologise to Beth for the distress she has suffered because of MI5 mistakes in this litigation,” he said. “We relied on incorrect evidence and our record-keeping fell well short of the standard of professionalism that we expect, and to which Beth was entitled.”
Beth said she was grateful for the compensation but it “can never do anything to repair what I went through at the hands of X.” She added that she believes MI5 “are still protecting this violent misogynistic predator.”
Before taking on his MI5 role, the right-wing extremist “with a violent past” had reportedly abused his previous girlfriend abroad including threatening to kill her and her child. “He also engaged in fantasies about eating children,” according to the BBC.
“MI5 did not adequately assess the risks of giving that status to someone with X’s history and his disturbing attitudes to women,” said Kate Ellis of the Centre for Women’s Justice, who acted for Beth. “I hope that the state will reconsider using women as a collateral in covert operations,” she added.
The scandal comes as MI5 faces separate allegations of unlawfully spying for years on Irish journalist Vincent Kearney who had been critical of the agency’s actions in Northern Ireland.
One person has died and another has been injured after gunfire erupted at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, prompting a temporary lockdown at the military installation.
Military officials said the shooting happened on Tuesday evening near the base convenience store, with emergency alerts issued shortly after 5:30pm local time warning personnel of an active shooter situation. The injured person was taken for treatment while security teams secured the area.
Base authorities later said there was no ongoing threat, and emergency responders remained on site as investigations continued. The convenience store where the shooting occurred has been closed until further notice.
Officials have not yet released the identities of those involved or outlined what led to the incident.
Holloman Air Force Base is home to the 49th Wing and supports a range of US national security and combat readiness operations.
The shooting adds to a series of violent incidents reported at American military facilities in recent years, including fatal gunfire at Kirtland Air Force Base last year and a workplace shooting at Fort Stewart that injured five soldiers.
‼️ACTIVE SHOOTER HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE ‼️
UPDATE #1
UNCONFIRMED | CONFLICTING REPORTS 1x KIA | 1x WIA
OR
1x Injured From Self-Inflicted GSW | Suicide Attempt
A new national survey suggests growing numbers of Americans are worried that artificial intelligence is advancing faster than protections for workers, with many linking automation fears to worsening household financial pressure and distrust in how economic gains are being distributed.
Research released by Blue Rose Research, based on responses from 2,716 people surveyed earlier this month, found that 61 percent of respondents believe everyday life has become less affordable over the past year, while only a quarter said they feel secure about their financial future. Nearly two-thirds also said the economic system increasingly benefits elites rather than ordinary workers.
Concern over AI emerged as one of the fastest-growing public anxieties in the poll. Fifty-seven percent of those surveyed said artificial intelligence is developing too quickly, while 79 percent said they do not believe the federal government has a clear strategy to protect workers whose jobs may be displaced by automation.
The findings show concern extends beyond immediate job security. Seventy-nine percent said they fear younger generations entering the workforce will face fewer employment opportunities because of AI, and 77 percent believe whole sectors of the economy could disappear faster than replacement industries are created.
A majority of respondents said public policy should focus on helping people who lose jobs to automation, even if that slows profits for major technology firms. Fifty-eight percent backed worker protection over unrestricted innovation, while only one in five said technological progress should remain the priority even when it leads to domestic job losses.
More than half also said companies benefiting from AI should bear financial responsibility when automation leads to layoffs.
The poll comes as major US employers continue restructuring workforces while increasing investment in automation. Large-scale layoffs have been announced across companies including Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, Intel and UPS, with automation and AI increasingly cited as contributing factors.
Etienne Davignon took part in war crimes, including the “humiliating and degrading” treatment of the anti-colonial leader, prosecutors have said.
A Belgian court has ordered former diplomat Etienne Davignon to stand trial over his alleged role in the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s first prime minister and an anti-colonial figure, more than six decades ago.
Davignon, 93, is accused of participation in war crimes, including Lumumba’s “unlawful detention and transfer,” denying him a fair trial, and subjecting him to humiliating and degrading treatment, according to prosecutors.
The decision by the Council Chamber of the Brussels Court of First Instance, announced on Tuesday, also covers the killings of Lumumba’s allies Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito.
Davignon is the sole survivor among the ten Belgians accused by Lumumba’s family. He was not in court when the ruling was delivered, Reuters reported, adding that his lawyer declined to comment.
The former European commissioner was a junior diplomat at the time of Lumumba’s murder and has previously denied wrongdoing. He has two weeks to appeal and, unless the ruling is overturned, the trial is expected to begin in 2027.
Lumumba became prime minister when Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960, but was ousted within months and executed by firing squad in January 1961 at the age of 35. Although Congolese separatists carried out the assassination, questions have long persisted over Belgian and US involvement during the Cold War.
A Belgian parliamentary inquiry in 2001 found that Belgium bore “moral responsibility” for his death, a finding later acknowledged by the government in an official apology. Lumumba had sought Soviet support during Congo’s post-independence crisis, and the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN) was named after him as a symbol of African independence.
In 2022, Belgium returned a gold-capped tooth – the only known remains of Lumumba – to his family.
In a press release, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights said the Lumumba family has welcomed the latest court decision as the start of a long-awaited reckoning with Belgium’s responsibility for acts committed “in the name of colonial rule.”
“What we ask of this court is simple: the truth, spoken aloud, in the open, on the record of justice and history,” it stated.
West Jerusalem is doing nothing to prevent settler violence against Christian communities in the West Bank, Jason Jones has told RT’s America First.
Unabated settler violence, along with Israel’s continued settlement policy, could spell doom for the remaining Christian communities in the Holy Land, Jason Jones, founder of the Vulnerable People Project, has told RT’s America First.
Israel has allegedly approved the demolition of thousands of homes in the West Bank belonging to Christian communities and is encroaching on the territory of some of the oldest Christian populations in the area, particularly around Bethlehem, as well as villages such as Taybeh, Jones claimed.
The settlement of Shtema located at the site of a former Israel military base just east of the town of Bethlehem “will be the end of the Christian community in the Holy Land,” Jones said. “It will be the end of the oldest Christian community in the world,” he added, referring to a settlement legalised by West Jerusalem last year.
The NGO founder, whose organisation operates in the West Bank and other territories, warned that local Christian communities are being attacked by settlers. “There is direct physical violence. There is separating the communities,” Jones added.
Neither West Jerusalem nor Washington is willing to act, with the US choosing to be “on the side of the oppressor,” Jones believes. Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, is “just ignoring it,” according to Jones. Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, “was not man enough to rise to the occasion and speak truth,” Jones said.
The country is preparing for a new era of technological and strategic competition.
Every spring, China’s Two Sessions – the combined annual plenary sessions of the National People’s Congress and of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference – provide a window into the country’s political priorities.
This year’s gathering delivered a particularly clear signal: In a world of growing geopolitical turbulence, Beijing is placing security and military modernization firmly at the center of its long-term strategy.
The 2026 sessions unfolded against a complicated economic backdrop. China’s economy continues to grow, but at a slower pace than in previous decades. Yet the meetings made clear that economic caution does not mean strategic hesitation. Instead, the leadership is doubling down on the idea that development and security must reinforce each other.
President Xi Jinping underscored this point by placing the modernization of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at the core of China’s future planning. The military, in fact, is expected to play a substantial role in the country’s 15th Five-Year Plan, which will guide development from 2026 to 2030.
This plan reflects a fundamental shift in China’s strategic thinking: The alignment of economic policy with national security priorities. At the heart of this approach is technological self-reliance – especially in sectors linked to defense, advanced manufacturing, and AI.
For the PLA, the next stage of modernization is already taking shape. Chinese strategists describe it as ‘intelligentization’, the integration of AI, autonomous systems, and advanced data networks into military operations. The concept represents the third phase of China’s military transformation, following earlier stages of mechanization and informatization.
In practical terms, intelligentization means using AI-driven technologies to accelerate battlefield decision-making, improve command and control systems, and give military commanders greater situational awareness. The aim is to achieve “decision-making dominance” – the ability to process information faster and act more effectively than potential adversaries.
This vision also reflects how Beijing sees the future of warfare. Conflicts are no longer expected to unfold solely on traditional battlefields. Instead, they may span multiple domains simultaneously, blending physical, virtual, and cognitive spaces. Chinese analysts increasingly refer to these future conflicts as ‘meta-wars’, where cyber operations, information warfare, AI, and psychological influence combine with conventional military power.
To prepare for this environment, the PLA has been instructed to focus on a series of cutting-edge technologies. AI sits at the center of the agenda, alongside quantum computing, hypersonic weapons, and advanced surveillance systems. Together, these capabilities are expected to help China secure the strategic high ground in a world defined by intensifying technological competition.
One of the key tools for achieving this transformation is military-civil fusion. The concept – long promoted by the Chinese leadership – seeks to break down barriers between civilian innovation and military research. By integrating universities, private companies, and state-owned industries into defense development, Beijing hopes to accelerate technological breakthroughs while strengthening the country’s broader industrial base.
At the same time, the Two Sessions highlighted the importance of discipline and oversight within the military itself. Addressing a plenary meeting of the PLA and People’s Armed Police delegation at the National People’s Congress on March 7, Xi stressed the need for strict supervision of military projects and financial flows during the upcoming planning cycle.
The message was unmistakable: Modernization requires accountability. Xi called for tighter monitoring of major military programs, stricter control over the use of funds, and stronger oversight of military-civil integration projects. In his words, there must be “no place” in the armed forces for corruption or political disloyalty.
The remarks come amid the most significant reshuffling of China’s senior military leadership in decades. Over the past several years, dozens of high-ranking officers have been removed from their posts or stripped of political positions following disciplinary investigations.
Official figures show that since the Communist Party’s 20th Congress in 2022, at least 36 senior officers have lost their status as delegates to the National People’s Congress. Some analysts estimate that more than 100 senior PLA officers may have been investigated or purged during the same period.
While corruption charges have often been cited, the campaign reflects broader strategic objectives. Since coming to power in 2012, Xi Jinping has made military reform one of his central priorities. Corruption, in his view, undermines operational effectiveness and slows the modernization process.
Equally important is political cohesion. Unlike many national militaries, the PLA is formally loyal not to the state but to the Communist Party. Ensuring ideological discipline within the officer corps is therefore seen as essential to maintaining stability and unity during a period of rapid transformation.
Despite the scale of these changes, there is little evidence that they have disrupted the military’s operational capabilities. Instead, they appear aimed at ensuring that the officers responsible for implementing China’s modernization agenda are both capable and politically reliable.
Alongside internal reform, China’s defense budget continues to expand at a measured pace. For 2026, Beijing announced military spending of roughly 1.9 trillion yuan – around $278 billion – representing an increase of around 7%. This follows three years of similar growth.
While China’s share of Asia’s military expenditure has risen significantly – reaching nearly 44% in 2025 – the country’s defense spending remains modest compared with that of the United States. Washington’s military budget stands at around $1.01 trillion, more than three times China’s.
Relative to the size of its economy, China allocates around 1.26% of GDP to defense, far below the roughly 3.5% spent by the US. The country’s defense spending remains moderate, transparent, and economically sustainable.
The emphasis is not on building a global military presence comparable to that of the US, which maintains hundreds of overseas bases. Instead, Beijing’s priority is to ensure credible deterrence and protect national sovereignty while maintaining stability in its surrounding region.
Much of the new funding will go toward advancing the PLA’s technological capabilities. Investments are expected to support the development of advanced missiles, next-generation naval platforms, submarines, and sophisticated surveillance systems, while also accelerating the integration of smart technologies into military operations.
In other words, China’s defense strategy increasingly prioritizes quality over quantity – leveraging innovation to enhance strategic effectiveness without dramatically expanding overall spending.
The broader context for these decisions lies in the rapidly changing global security landscape. Chinese policymakers see the international system moving away from a unipolar order dominated by a single superpower toward a more complex multipolar arrangement.
Insights into this worldview were recently articulated by China’s minister of state security, Chen Yixin. In remarks outlining the country’s broader security outlook, Chen argued that the decline of unipolar dominance and the rise of multipolarity – particularly with the growing influence of the Global South – are reshaping global politics.
At the same time, he warned that this transition is generating instability. Geopolitical rivalries are intensifying, technological competition is accelerating, and economic fragmentation is deepening. In this environment, securing key technologies, strategic resources, and industrial supply chains has become a national security priority.
China’s leadership has therefore embraced what it describes as a comprehensive approach to security. The concept, sometimes summarized as building an “impenetrable Great Wall of national security,” emphasizes the integration of economic resilience, technological innovation, social stability, and military strength.
Within this framework, Taiwan remains a central concern. Chinese officials consistently describe national reunification as essential to the country’s long-term development goals, even as Beijing continues to emphasize peaceful reunification as its preferred path.
At the same time, China is increasingly focused on protecting the overseas interests that accompany its role as the world’s largest trading nation. From maritime trade routes to infrastructure projects abroad, safeguarding economic connectivity has become an important dimension of national security.
Taken together, the signals from the 2026 Two Sessions reveal a leadership focused on long-term strategic preparation. China is not simply expanding its military capabilities – it is reshaping the relationship between security, technology, and development.
China’s answer to the existing challenges appears to be a strategy of calibrated strength: Investing in advanced technologies, strengthening national security institutions, and maintaining steady – but restrained – defense spending.
In an increasingly uncertain world, Beijing’s message is clear. Security and development are no longer separate ambitions. They are two sides of the same strategic coin.
