A group of universities that oversee the country’s largest federal climate research center filed a lawsuit Monday challenging the Trump administration’s attempts to dismantle the lab.
The suit challenging the decision to break up the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) alleges the Trump administration is waging a “widespread and coordinated campaign of punishment and coercion” against the state of Colorado over ongoing tension between President Donald Trump and the state’s governor, Jared Polis.
It was filed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), a nonprofit research group made up of colleges and universities that operates the center, which is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, and is the country’s premier research institute for weather modeling and climate science. The Trump administration announced in December that it planned to break up the center.
“UCAR and NCAR are collateral damage,” the lawsuit says.
Trump’s disagreements with Polis stem from his concerns about mail-in voting in Colorado and the prosecution of a county clerk who was convicted on state charges of tampering with election equipment in the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost and has falsely claimed was rife with fraud. Trump had pushed for Polis to release the clerk and ban mail-in voting, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, describes “a campaign of retaliation” in which several federal agencies — including the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Commerce Department and the Office of Management and Budget — are alleged to have targeted NCAR as part of the larger fight.
Three of the federal agencies named in the UCAR lawsuit did not immediately reply to requests for comment, with the exception of the National Science Foundation, which said it does not comment on pending litigation.
The state of Colorado has sued over other aspects of the alleged campaign to punish the state.
A lawsuit alleges the Trump administration decided to move U.S. Space Command away from Colorado, terminated $109 million in transportation funds and added new requirements for its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as part of an effort to “punish” the state.
A district judge has ruled on only one element of the case so far: SNAP. The administration argued in court that benefits fraud in Colorado necessitated a pilot program, that the federal government had the ability to mandate such a program and that the state did not show the immediate, irreparable harm that would warrant a preliminary injunction.
The new UCAR lawsuit relies on arguments that are similar to the state’s.
It alleges that federal agencies have issued “gag orders” preventing NCAR employees from communicating with the public about the restructuring, terminated multimillion-dollar agreements to fund research into climate adaptation and mitigation and saddled NCAR and UCAR with new and unlawful reporting requirements. The federal government has also taken steps to move the center’s supercomputing facility in Wyoming out of UCAR’s control, according to the complaint.
“The Agencies’ ultimate apparent goal is to destroy NCAR entirely,” the lawsuit says, noting that the National Science Foundation in January sent out a public notice that it intended to restructure the agency and sought ideas for how to use NCAR’s Boulder campus for different public or private uses.
The lawsuit alleges that some of the federal government’s recent actions violated the Administrative Procedure Act. It asks the court to halt several of the actions, including the transfer of NCAR’s supercomputing facility and the cancellation of a key NOAA grant.
UCAR and NCAR together provide jobs to about 1,400 scientists, engineers and support staff members, according to the lawsuit. The center’s work focuses on hurricane forecasting, wildfire monitoring, weather prediction and space weather, among other areas. Notably, NCAR operates powerful supercomputers that researchers use for complex modeling work.
In a statement on its website, UCAR said the federal agencies named in the lawsuit took actions that “pose a direct threat to national security, public safety, and economic prosperity and risk setting back the country’s global leadership in weather and space weather modeling and forecasting.”
UCAR said it would not comment further until the lawsuit is resolved.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he is planning to delay a high stakes visit to China later in March by about a month because of the Iran war.
“We’ve requested that we delay it a month or so,” he told reporters at the White House, adding that it was important that he remained available to oversee the war.
The Chinese embassy in Washington told the BBC that it had seen the reports regarding the meeting but did not have any information to provide.
The Iran war has eclipsed most of Trump’s other foreign policy priorities, faced with an intensifying conflict and disruptions to the global oil supply, which has threatened to raise prices in the US.
Trump said he had proposed the delay solely to make sure he was around to manage the war.
“I’m looking forward to being with him,” he said, referring to Xi. “We have a very good relationship.”
“There’s no tricks to it either,” Trump added. “It’s very simple. We’ve got a war going on. I think it’s important that I be here.”
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that the meeting’s delay would not be due to Washington’s request that Beijing help in the Gulf, or any trade disagreements.
Bessent said: “The President wants to remain in DC to coordinate the war effort… Travelling abroad at a time like this may not be optimal.”
The latest development comes a day after Trump told the Financial Times that he might postpone the meeting if China did not help unblock the Strait of Hormuz – a critical waterway for the Gulf’s energy shipments.
He also called on other nations to help ships transit safely through the channel.
Trump’s remarks come as frictions between the world’s two largest economies have grown, fuelled by the Iran war.
Beijing is a major buyer of Iranian energy exports and has criticised the US and Israeli strikes against the country.
Representatives from the US and China have met in Paris in recent days for negotiations, such as over investments, tariffs and economic sanctions.
The sides reached consensus on some issues and will carry on with negotiations, Chinese trade representative Li Chenggang was quoted as saying in state media outlet Xinhua on Monday.
US representatives briefed their Chinese counterparts on changes to Washington’s tariff measures, said Li.
Chinese negotiators expressed “serious concern” about Washington’s plans to probe the country’s trade practices and urged the US to maintain economic stability, he said.
Trump says he’s talking to countries about ‘policing’ the Strait of Hormuzpublished at 05:03 GMT
On his flight back to Washington overnight, the US president said he had talked to “about seven” countries about “policing” the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump named China as one of those nations, emphasising that it is heavily reliant on shipments of oil which travel through the waterway.
Though he wouldn’t name any other countries he’d approached, he did reference the Nato alliance, as well as other countries he believes need to “defend their own territory”.
Earlier, he told the Financial Times that it is “only appropriate” for nations that benefit from the Strait of Hormuz to assist in re-opening it.
Trump warned that if there was no response from other nations, it could be “very bad for the future of Nato”, adding that the US has been “very sweet” to its European allies.
The president went on: “We didn’t have to help them with Ukraine. Ukraine is thousands of miles away from us . . . But we helped them. Now we’ll see if they help us. Because I’ve long said that we’ll be there for them but they won’t be there for us. And I’m not sure that they’d be there.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Tehran never sought a ceasefire with the US, and is ready for a long war.
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US and Israeli forces have continued to bombard Iran, hitting cities including Tehran, Hamadan and Isfahan, as Iranian counterattacks continue, with damage reported in several Israeli cities.
US President Donald Trump says Washington is talking to Iran, but Tehran is not yet ready to make a deal to end the war. He also demands that NATO allies help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route.
The US has started moving more than 2,000 marines from the Japanese island of Okinawa to the Middle East, according to media reports, soon after Washington began the redeployment of a missile defence system based in South Korea.
The redeployment of US military assets from north-east Asia has raised concerns over Washington’s commitment to the security of Japan and South Korea, amid increased Chinese naval activity in the East and South China seas, and North Korea’s development of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.
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Japan said on Monday it was beginning the release of its strategic oil reserves after the International Energy Agency indicated earlier that the release would begin in Asia and Oceania before other regions.
IEA members agreed on March 11 to tap oil stockpiles to cushion the surge in prices caused by the war in the Middle East – by far the largest-ever response of its kind.
Japan, which depends on the Middle East for 95% of its oil imports, said on Monday in a notice in its official government gazette that the level of oil reserves in the country “is being lowered”.
The AFP news agency also reports that the issuance of the notice compels managers of oil reserves to release part of their stockpile to meet the new standard.
Japan’s strategic oil reserves are among the world’s largest and stood at more than 400 million barrels as of December.
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Israel has said its military remains focused on thousands of potential targets in Iran, even as Tehran warned neighbouring nations against further involvement in the expanding regional war.
The stern warning from Iran coincided with reports from Rome that a base in Kuwait, housing both US and Italian personnel, was targeted in a drone strike. Tehran claims it has “ample evidence” that US military installations on neighbouring territory are being used as launch points for the ongoing campaign of airstrikes.
We still have thousands of targets in Iran, and we are identifying new targets every day.
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We are ready, in coordination with our US allies, with plans through at least the Jewish holiday of Passover, about three weeks from now. And we have deeper plans for even three weeks beyond that.
In response to the offensive, Iran has continued to threaten the vital strait of Hormuz. This escalating maritime crisis was a primary focus of a Sunday discussion between Donald Trump and British prime minister Keir Starmer.
Trump has called for an international coalition to secure the waterway, while Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi used a call with his French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot to urge other nations to “refrain from any action that could lead to escalation and expansion of the conflict”.
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Japan has said it will not send warships “at the moment” to help reopen the strait of Hormuz, after Donald Trump urged countries to join a “team effort” to protect vessels from Iranian strikes.
The strait has been all but closed since the start of the war, raising global energy supply fears, and the US president repeatedly pressed countries at the weekend to help secure this weekend.
Trump specifically named China, the UK, Japan, France and South Korea – and earlier warned that Nato faced a “very bad” future if its members failed to step up.
In the UK, ministers are drawing up plans to send minesweeping drones to the strait, my colleague Kiran Stacey reported earlier, amid concerns in Whitehall that complying with Trump’s demand to send ships could escalate the crisis.
Australia has also confirmed it will not send ships. “We know how incredibly important that is, but that’s not something we’ve been asked, or we’re contributing to,” transport minister Catherine King told the national broadcaster ABC.
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Hello and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the US-Israel war against Iran and the consequences for the region, the world and the global economy.
Donald Trump has warned that Nato faces a “very bad” future if US allies fail to assist in opening up the strait of Hormuz, the Financial Times has reported. He also said on Sunday that he has demanded about seven countries send warships to keep the strait of Hormuz open, but his appeals have brought no commitments as oil prices soar during the Iran war. The president declined to name the countries heavily reliant on Middle East crude that the administration is negotiating with to join a coalition to police the waterway where about one-fifth the world’s traded oil normally flows. Australia and Japan have declined to send their navies to the strait.
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Flights were temporarily suspended at Dubai’s airport, previously one of the world’s busiest, after a “drone-related incident” sparked a fire nearby, city authorities said on Monday. The incident impacted a fuel tank, the Gulf financial hub’s media office said, later adding authorities had extinguished the blaze that broke out. The office said no injuries had been reported.
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Israel said that its military remains focused on thousands of potential targets within Iran, even as Tehran issued a stern warning to neighbouring nations against further involvement in the rapidly expanding regional war.
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rises after airstrikes in Tehran amid the US-Israel war on Iran”,”caption”:”Smoke rises after airstrikes in Tehran in an image from a social media video released on Monday. “,”credit”:”Photograph: Social Media/Reuters”}},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
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Oil prices have climbed again amid mounting supply fears after the US struck Iran’s vital Kharg Island oil hub and Trump demanded allies help reopen the strait of Hormuz. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 1.8% to $104.98 per barrel during early trading on Monday. Another weekend of violence across the Middle East compounded concerns over the conflict, and its ramifications for global energy markets.
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British prime minister Keir Starmer discussed the need to reopen the strait of Hormuz to end disruption to global shipping with Trump, a Downing Street spokeswoman said on Sunday. Starmer also spoke with Canadian prime minister Mark Carney, with the leaders discussing the impact of the strait’s continued closure on international shipping, the spokeswoman told Reuters.
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Italy’s military said there had been a drone attack on the Ali Al Salem airbase in Kuwait hosting Italian and US forces, but said all its personnel were safe. “This morning, Ali Al Salem base in Kuwait was the target of a drone attack that hit a shelter housing a remotely piloted aircraft of the Italian Task Force Air (TFA), which was destroyed,” the chief of the defence general staff, Luciano Portolano, said in a statement.
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UN peacekeepers said they were fired upon “likely by non-state armed groups” in south Lebanon on Sunday, while a Hamas source said an Israeli strike killed an official from the Palestinian militant group.
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A rocket attack on Baghdad international airport in Iraq, which houses a US diplomatic facility, wounded five people, Iraqi authorities said. The Iraqi government’s security media cell said “five rockets targeted Baghdad International Airport and its surrounding area, injuring four airport employees and security personnel, and an engineer”.
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US energy secretary Chris Wright said that there was “a very good chance” gas prices could drop below $3 a gallon by summer, though that is contingent on the Iran conflict’s end. Wright told NBC’s Meet the Press that while US drivers “are feeling it right now” at the pump and “will feel it for a few more weeks”, once the Iran war is over “we’ll go to a world more abundant” and “more affordable” in energy.
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Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a brief video to mock viral social media rumours suggesting he had been killed. Taking a sip from a steaming cup at a cafe near Jerusalem, he jokingly posted to his official X account, “I’m dead for coffee,” utilizing a Hebrew slang term that equates being “dead” for something with loving it.
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The World Health Organisation said on Sunday it had released $2 m from its Contingency Fund for Emergencies (CFE) to support the health response in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria amid the Middle East crisis.
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Key events
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Pictures have come in after Dubai authorities announced a temporarily suspension of flights at the city’s international airport after a fire in the area.
A “drone-related incident” incident impacted a fuel tank, the media office in the Gulf financial hub said on Monday, adding later that authorities had extinguished the blaze that broke out.
The office said no injuries had been reported.
Smoke rising from Dubai international airport is seen through the windshield of a vehicle in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Monday. Photograph: Reuters
Smoke from the Dubai airport. Photograph: Reuters
Justin McCurry
Continued from previous post:
Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has said she has no immediate plans to send her country’s maritime self-defence forces to help protect tanker traffic in the strait of Homuz.
She told MPs on Monday:
We have not made any decisions whatsoever about dispatching escort ships. We are continuing to examine what Japan can do independently and what can be done within the legal framework.
Japan can deploy its military overseas to support an ally if it believes its own security is threatened, but any military involvement in the war against Iran would be politically and legally hard for Tokyo to justify, as well as unpopular among voters.
Takaichi, who will discuss the Iran conflict when she meets Donald Trump in Washington this week, added:
I would like to engage in solid discussions based on Japan’s views and position regarding the need for early de-escalation.
US moving troops from Japan to Middle East – reports
Justin McCurry
The US has started moving more than 2,000 marines from the Japanese island of Okinawa to the Middle East, according to media reports, soon after Washington began the redeployment of a missile defence system based in South Korea.
The marines are reportedly aboard the amphibious assault ship, the Tripoli, whose home port is in Sasebo, south-western Japan.
The troops belong to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit in Okinawa, which hosts more than half the 50,000 US military personnel based in Japan.
The Tripoli, equipped with F-35 fighter jets, is expected to take one to two weeks to reach the Middle East.
The redeployment of US military assets from north-east Asia has raised concerns over Washington’s commitment to the security of Japan and South Korea, amid increased Chinese naval activity in the East and South China seas, and North Korea’s development of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.
The North test-fired around 10 ballistic missiles at the weekend in protest at the start of joint US-South Korea military drills.
Continued next post
Kiran Stacey
British ministers are drawing up plans to send minesweeping drones to the strait of Hormuz amid concerns in Whitehall that complying with Donald Trump’s demand to send ships could escalate the crisis.
The government is considering dispatching aerial minesweepers to help clear the vital waterway of mines in an attempt to allow the flow of oil exports to resume. However, officials said that sending ships, as requested over the weekend by the US president, could worsen the situation given the volatile nature of the war.
Keir Starmer will announce tens of millions of pounds to support Britons feeling the impact of higher energy prices at a Downing Street press conference on Monday, where he will also emphasise the importance of de-escalating the crisis.
The prime minister is to say:
We will continue to work towards a swift resolution of the situation in the Middle East. Because there is no question that ending the war is the quickest way to reduce the cost of living.
Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, said:
It is very important that we get the strait of Hormuz reopened … There are different ways that we could contribute, including with mine-hunting drones.
He added:
All of these things are being looked at in concert with our allies … Any options that can help to get the strait reopened are being looked at.
See the full story here:
Japan starts release of strategic oil reserves
Japan said on Monday it was beginning the release of its strategic oil reserves after the International Energy Agency indicated earlier that the release would begin in Asia and Oceania before other regions.
IEA members agreed on March 11 to tap oil stockpiles to cushion the surge in prices caused by the war in the Middle East – by far the largest-ever response of its kind.
Japan, which depends on the Middle East for 95% of its oil imports, said on Monday in a notice in its official government gazette that the level of oil reserves in the country “is being lowered”.
The AFP news agency also reports that the issuance of the notice compels managers of oil reserves to release part of their stockpile to meet the new standard.
Many Japanese media interpreted the notice as confirmation the release had already begun.
Minoru Kihara, top spokesperson for the government, said on Monday the country would release 15 days’ worth of private-sector petroleum reserves.
Japan’s strategic oil reserves are among the world’s largest and stood at more than 400 million barrels as of December.
Israel says it still has thousands of targets in Iran
Israel has said its military remains focused on thousands of potential targets in Iran, even as Tehran warned neighbouring nations against further involvement in the expanding regional war.
The stern warning from Iran coincided with reports from Rome that a base in Kuwait, housing both US and Italian personnel, was targeted in a drone strike. Tehran claims it has “ample evidence” that US military installations on neighbouring territory are being used as launch points for the ongoing campaign of airstrikes.
Israeli military spokesperson Brig Gen Effie Defrin said on Sunday, as the sustained US-Israeli operations entered their third week:
We still have thousands of targets in Iran, and we are identifying new targets every day.
We are ready, in coordination with our US allies, with plans through at least the Jewish holiday of Passover, about three weeks from now. And we have deeper plans for even three weeks beyond that.
In response to the offensive, Iran has continued to threaten the vital strait of Hormuz. This escalating maritime crisis was a primary focus of a Sunday discussion between Donald Trump and British prime minister Keir Starmer.
Trump has called for an international coalition to secure the waterway, while Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi used a call with his French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot to urge other nations to “refrain from any action that could lead to escalation and expansion of the conflict”.
Nick Visser
The captain of the Iranian women’s football squad has left Australia after withdrawing her claim of asylum.
Zahra Ghanbari became the fifth member of the football cohort to change her mind after initially taking up an offer to stay in the country following the Asian Cup.
The office of home affairs minister Tony Burke confirmed on Monday that another team member had left late on Sunday night.
Ghanbari’s decision to join fellow players in Malaysia was reported by Iranian state news agency Irna, which has seized on the about-face from all but two members of the cohort as a propaganda coup for the nation’s under-siege regime.
Iran captain Zahra Ghanbari, left, during the Women’s Asian Cup. Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP
Australia initially granted asylum to seven members of the party, including one from the support staff, last week while they were in the country for the Asian Cup.
Burke said on Sunday, after three of the women decided to return to Iran, that the players were given repeated chances to talk about their options after telling Australian officials they had made this decision.
Iran’s foreign minister has claimed Israeli strikes on fuel depots across Tehran amount to “ecocide”, citing the impact on the health of the Iranian capital’s residents.
“Israel’s bombings of fuel depots in Tehran violate international law and constitute ecocide,” Abbas Araghchisaid on X.
Residents face long-term damage to their health and well-being. Contamination of soil and groundwater could have generational impacts.
Israel “must be punished for its war crimes”, he added.
Japan and Australia not planning to send ships to help secure strait of Hormuz
Japan has said it will not send warships “at the moment” to help reopen the strait of Hormuz, after Donald Trump urged countries to join a “team effort” to protect vessels from Iranian strikes.
The strait has been all but closed since the start of the war, raising global energy supply fears, and the US president repeatedly pressed countries at the weekend to help secure this weekend.
Trump specifically named China, the UK, Japan, France and South Korea – and earlier warned that Nato faced a “very bad” future if its members failed to step up.
Japan’s defence minister Shinjiro Koizumi told the country’s parliament:
In the current Iran situation, we are not at the moment considering issuing a maritime security operation.
In the UK, ministers are drawing up plans to send minesweeping drones to the strait, my colleague Kiran Stacey reported earlier, amid concerns in Whitehall that complying with Trump’s demand to send ships could escalate the crisis.
Australia has also confirmed it will not send ships. “We know how incredibly important that is, but that’s not something we’ve been asked, or we’re contributing to,” transport minister Catherine King told the national broadcaster ABC.
Donald Trump is said to be working to build a coalition of countries that will attempt to reopen the strait of Hormuz.
The US president hopes to unveil the list later this week, Axios reported, citing four unnamed sources.
Over the weekend, Trump claimed that “many countries” would send warships to the region – before publicly urging a string of countries to do so. The response has been muted, my colleague Hannah Ellis-Petersen hs reported from Dubai.
A fifth of the world’s oil supply normally passes through the strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway on Iran’s southern coast. Iran’s effective closure of it in retaliation for US-Israel attacks has been catastrophic for global energy and trade flows, causing soaring global oil prices amid what’s been called “the largest oil supply disruption in history”.
Welcome summary
Hello and welcome to our continuing live coverage of the US-Israel war against Iran and the consequences for the region, the world and the global economy.
Here are the latest developments:
Donald Trump has warned that Nato faces a “very bad” future if US allies fail to assist in opening up the strait of Hormuz, the Financial Times has reported. He also said on Sunday that he has demanded about seven countries send warships to keep the strait of Hormuz open, but his appeals have brought no commitments as oil prices soar during the Iran war. The president declined to name the countries heavily reliant on Middle East crude that the administration is negotiating with to join a coalition to police the waterway where about one-fifth the world’s traded oil normally flows. Australia and Japan have declined to send their navies to the strait.
Flights were temporarily suspended at Dubai’s airport, previously one of the world’s busiest, after a “drone-related incident” sparked a fire nearby, city authorities said on Monday. The incident impacted a fuel tank, the Gulf financial hub’s media office said, later adding authorities had extinguished the blaze that broke out. The office said no injuries had been reported.
Israel said that its military remains focused on thousands of potential targets within Iran, even as Tehran issued a stern warning to neighbouring nations against further involvement in the rapidly expanding regional war.
Smoke rises after airstrikes in Tehran in an image from a social media video released on Monday. Photograph: Social Media/Reuters
Oil prices have climbed again amid mounting supply fears after the US struck Iran’s vital Kharg Island oil hub and Trump demanded allies help reopen the strait of Hormuz. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 1.8% to $104.98 per barrel during early trading on Monday. Another weekend of violence across the Middle East compounded concerns over the conflict, and its ramifications for global energy markets.
British prime minister Keir Starmer discussed the need to reopen the strait of Hormuz to end disruption to global shipping with Trump, a Downing Street spokeswoman said on Sunday. Starmer also spoke with Canadian prime minister Mark Carney, with the leaders discussing the impact of the strait’s continued closure on international shipping, the spokeswoman told Reuters.
Italy’s military said there had been a drone attack on the Ali Al Salem airbase in Kuwait hosting Italian and US forces, but said all its personnel were safe. “This morning, Ali Al Salem base in Kuwait was the target of a drone attack that hit a shelter housing a remotely piloted aircraft of the Italian Task Force Air (TFA), which was destroyed,” the chief of the defence general staff, Luciano Portolano, said in a statement.
UN peacekeepers said they were fired upon “likely by non-state armed groups” in south Lebanon on Sunday, while a Hamas source said an Israeli strike killed an official from the Palestinian militant group.
A rocket attack on Baghdad international airport in Iraq, which houses a US diplomatic facility, wounded five people, Iraqi authorities said. The Iraqi government’s security media cell said “five rockets targeted Baghdad International Airport and its surrounding area, injuring four airport employees and security personnel, and an engineer”.
US energy secretary Chris Wright said that there was “a very good chance” gas prices could drop below $3 a gallon by summer, though that is contingent on the Iran conflict’s end. Wright told NBC’s Meet the Press that while US drivers “are feeling it right now” at the pump and “will feel it for a few more weeks”, once the Iran war is over “we’ll go to a world more abundant” and “more affordable” in energy.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a brief video to mock viral social media rumours suggesting he had been killed. Taking a sip from a steaming cup at a cafe near Jerusalem, he jokingly posted to his official X account, “I’m dead for coffee,” utilizing a Hebrew slang term that equates being “dead” for something with loving it.
The World Health Organisation said on Sunday it had released $2 m from its Contingency Fund for Emergencies (CFE) to support the health response in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria amid the Middle East crisis.
While most winners and presenters at the 2026 Academy Awards kept their speeches apolitical, there were a few who used their opportunity with the microphone to call out politicians, gun violence and wars happening around the globe.
Before revealing that Sentimental Value won the Oscar for best international feature film, Javier Bardem — who was also wearing a 2003 Iraq War protest pin — began with, “No to war and free Palestine.”
After, once the filmmaker for the Stellan Skarsgård-led film took the stage, he also concluded his acceptance speech slamming politicians. “I want to end by paraphrasing the wonderful American writer James Baldwin, who makes us remember that all adults are responsible for all children, and let’s not vote for politicians who don’t take this seriously into account,” Joachim Trier said.
Backstage, the filmmaker expanded on his reason for paraphrasing a quote from Baldwin, telling press, “I think the world is at the moment when we are getting more information than ever about the wrongdoings made towards children in several wars going on. And I feel, personally — I have two small kids — me and most people around me have been at times, crying daily and feeling incapable of doing stuff because we’ve seen Palestinian children suffer, children from Ukraine suffer, from Sudan suffer, and there doesn’t seem to be any accountability at the moment.”
Trier added, “I’m not a politician, but I do believe that we need to go, as they say in the United States, across the aisle to be more collaborative about how we protect children in conflict situations, but also society in general.”
Earlier in the night, both winners in the documentary categories also didn’t hold back, given the focus of their respective projects.
All the Empty Rooms, which won the Oscar for best documentary short, followed correspondent Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp as they embarked on a seven-year-long project to document the empty bedrooms of children killed in school shootings.
During his acceptance speech, All the Empty Rooms director Joshua Seftel took a moment to remember the four children who were killed in school shootings, whose empty rooms were featured in the documentary: Hallie, Gracie, Dominic and Jackie.
Jackie’s mother, Gloria Cazales, shared a few words after. “My daughter Jackie was 9 years old when she was killed in Uvalde,” she said. “Since that day, her bedroom has been frozen in time. Jackie is more than just a headline; she is our light and our life.”
Cazales continued, “Gun violence is now the number one cause of death in kids and teens. We believe that if the world could see their empty bedrooms, we’d be a different America.”
While speaking with press backstage, Seftel added of the doc, “We’ve reached a point in our country where school shootings are so common, there’s more than 100 per year, and if we focus on the children who are gone, we’re more likely to remember these things that are fading so quickly from our minds.”
As for the winner of the best documentary feature category, Mr. Nobody Against Putin centered on a Russian teacher who secretly documents his small town school’s transformation into a war recruitment center during the Ukraine invasion, revealing the ethical dilemmas educators face amid propaganda and militarization.
David Borenstein, who co-directed the film, said in his speech, “Mr. Nobody Against Putin is about how you lose your country. And what we saw when working with this footage, it’s that you lose it through countless small, little acts of complicity. When we act complicit, when a government murders people on the streets of our major cities, when we don’t say anything, when oligarchs take over the media and control how we can produce it and consume it. We all face a moral choice, but luckily, even a nobody is more powerful than you think.”
Pavel Talankin, the film’s main subject, who also co-directed alongside Borenstein, also took a moment to demand that all the wars happening in the world end now.
“For four years, we look at the sky for a shooting stars to make a very important wish. But there are countries where instead of shooting stars, they have shooting bombs and shooting drones,” he said, via a translator. “In the name of our future, in the name of all of our children, stop all of these wars now.”
Backstage in the press room, Borenstein also spoke about the parallels between Russia and the U.S. currently. “One interesting thing about working with a team of Russians throughout this process has been my desire as an American to constantly compare the situation in America to Russia. But a lot of my Russian colleagues and friends always said no, it’s not the same situation. It’s actually happening quicker in America than it’s been happening in Russia. [Donald] Trump was moving a lot quicker than [Vladimir] Putin moved in his early years. So that’s all I have to say to that.”
Jimmy Kimmel, who is known to get political and for his ongoing feud with President Donald Trump, also made an appearance at one point during the night to present the honors for best documentary short and best documentary feature. And the late-night host dropped a few pointed jokes during his short time on stage Sunday.
“We hear a lot about courage at shows like this, but telling a story that could get you killed for telling it is real courage. As you know, there are some countries whose leaders don’t support free speech. I’m not at liberty to say which. Let’s just leave it at North Korea and CBS,” he said, jabbing at David Ellison, who now owns Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS.
Kimmel continued, “Fortunately for all of us, there is an international community of filmmakers dedicated to telling the truth, oftentimes at great risk to make films that teach us, that call out injustice, that inspire us to take action. And there are also documentaries where you walk around the White House trying on shoes,” he quipped, referencing the Melania Trump doc, Melania.
Later, before revealing the nominees for best documentary feature, specifically, he added, “Oh man, is he gonna be mad his wife wasn’t nominated for this,” alluding to Donald Trump.
At the beginning of the Sunday night ceremony, host Conan O’Brien had warned that “things could get political,” including with his own jokes and commentary.
“I should warn you, tonight things could get political. So there’s an alternate Oscars hosted by Kid Rock at the Dave and Busters down the street,” the host quipped during his opening monologue, referring to the right-wing Super Bowl counter-programming last month.
At the end of his monologue, O’Brien also got a bit serious. “Yes, tonight is an international event. If I can be serious for just a moment, everyone watching right now, around the world, is all too aware that these are very chaotic, frightening times,” he said. “It’s at moments like these that I believe that the Oscars are particularly resonant — 31 countries across six continents are represented this evening, and every film we salute is the product of thousands of people speaking different languages, working hard to make something of beauty. We pay tribute tonight, not just to film, but to the ideals of global artistry, collaboration, patience, resilience and that rarest of qualities today — optimism.”
Brent crude tops $106 a barrel as markets see no end in sight to the halt of traffic through the critical waterway.
Oil prices are continuing to rise as markets see no end in sight to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude, the most important benchmark for global prices, rose as much as 3 percent on Sunday to top $106 a barrel, before easing slightly early on Monday.
Brent stood at $104.63 a barrel as of 04:30 GMT, up nearly 1.5 percent.
The latest rise came after US President Donald Trump called on other countries to help Washington reopen the Strait, which usually transports about one-fifth of the global oil supply.
Trump’s proposal has received a muted response so far, with none of the countries he appealed to by name – including China, Japan, France and the UK – publicly committing to deploying their navies to secure the strait.
In an interview with The Financial Times on Sunday, Trump said that NATO would face a “very bad” future if his proposal received “no response, or if it’s a negative response”.
Japan and Australia on Monday both said they had no plans to send ships to the critical waterway.
Iran has brought shipping in the strait to a standstill in retaliation for the US and Israel’s strikes on the country, resulting in what the International Energy Agency has called the largest disruption to global energy supplies in history.
Global oil prices have risen more than 40 percent since the start of the war, pushing up fuel prices and heightening fears of a slowdown in the global economy.
According to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) centre, no more than five ships have passed through the strait each day since the start of the war, compared with a historical average of 138 daily transits.
At least 16 commercial vessels have been attacked in the region since the war began on February 28, according to the UKMTO.
Trump has repeatedly said he is willing to deploy the US Navy to escort commercial shipping through the strait, which is bordered by Iran, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, if necessary.
Trump administration officials have said that warships will not be deployed to the waterway until Tehran’s military capacity has been further degraded, but that they expect such operations to begin soon.
