Israel says it has launched a ‘broad wave’ of strikes on Iran. In a post on X, the IDF confirmed the offensive, saying a wave of “extensive strikes” had now begun targeting launch sites, defense systems, and additional Iranian infrastructure.
A bill to recognise English as an official language of New Zealand has cleared its first hurdle in parliament amid ridicule from opposition parties and linguists who say it is “unnecessary” and “cynical”. The bill seeks to give English, which is spoken by 95% of the country, the same official status as te reo Māori (Māori language) and New Zealand sign language. The bill said the status and use of the existing official languages would not be affected. Its introduction forms part of the coalition deal between the minor populist New Zealand First party and centre-right National party. On 3 March, the coalition, which also includes the minor Act party, voted in favour of the bill at the first reading, allowing it to move to select committee stage for public consultation and further readings in parliament. The timing is not clear but the bill has widespread support within the government and is likely to become law. During the debate, New Zealand First’s leader and foreign affairs minister, Winston Peters, said English had never been deemed official and the bill would “correct that anomaly”. He argued the use of Māori in public services was causing confusion. “This bill won’t solve the push of this virtue signalling narrative completely,” Peters said. “But it is the first step towards ensuring logic and common sense prevails when the vast majority of New Zealanders communicate in English, and understand English, in a country that should use English as its primary and official language.” Peters – who is Māori – has long opposed affirmative initiatives intended to advance Māori and criticised the use of Māori names for government departments. In 2025, a row erupted in parliament after Peters questioned why MPs were referring to New Zealand by its Māori name, Aotearoa, despite it being widely used, including on currency and passports. The National Party has said the legislation is not a priority, but they would support it as part of their coalition agreement, and MPs from National and Act spoke in its favour. Act’s Simon Court said it did not have to be a “culture war issue”, while National’s Rima Nakhle said making English official was “not the end of the world”. But the proposal has garnered little support outside the coalition. In advice to the government, ministry of justice officials recommended that lawmakers should not pass the bill, as there was “no evidence to support concerns about the use or status of English as an official language”. Māori and New Zealand sign language had become official to protect the status of linguistic minorities, justice officials said, and recognising English in the same way would “not change its status as the default language”. Very few English-speaking countries had made English an official language, the officials said, and where they had, it generally coincided with protecting another language – for example in Canada, where law established both French and English are to be used official contexts. The bill has prompted backlash from opposition parties and language experts. “It is scaremongering, it is cynical, and frankly we can do without it in this country,” Labour MP Kieran McAnulty said during the first reading. Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick noted English was “not under threat”. English was “literally beaten” into people, Swarbrick said, referring to the Native Schools Act 1867, which resulted in children being punished for speaking Māori. “This is a bill which is an answer to a problem that does not exist,” she said. “In plain English, for all members of this government, this bill is bullshit, and you know it.” Sharon Harvey, associate professor specialising in educational linguistics at the Auckland University of Technology, told the Guardian the bill was “vexatious” and “unnecessary”. The bill’s proponents were playing to a section of society who were uncomfortable with the visibility of Māori language and believed in the “spurious” argument it was diminishing the importance of English, Harvey said. “Already, this government had proven to be quite strong on being proponents of English first, or English only, in some spaces,” Harvey said, pointing to the government’s policies reducing the visibility of Māori in public services and removal of Māori words from some books for schoolchildren. “I wonder if we have this kind of legislation, whether it will give certain governments more encouragement to reduce the importance of other languages in this country.”
An Australian schoolgirl has died while on a family holiday at a Japanese ski resort. Eight-year-old Chloe Jeffries from the Gold Coast in Queensland was riding a snowmobile in the Hakuba Valley, in the northwest of Nagano prefecture, on Saturday when it rolled, fatally injuring her. She was given first aid at the scene and transported to hospital by helicopter, but could not be revived, travel company Hakuba Lion Adventure said in a statement. “The snowmobile tour was conducted with a total of nine snowmobiles, including three guides,” the company said. “During the tour, near an uphill curve along a forest road, the snowmobile … rode up on to the embankment at the side of the trail.” “The vehicle subsequently overturned. As a result of the overturn, the passenger riding tandem on the snowmobile became trapped beneath the vehicle.” Sign up: AU Breaking News email The tour company said it would suspend all snowmobile and snowshoe tours until further notice as it conducts a review of its offerings and safety procedures. It said it is working closely with the police and other authorities to investigate the death. “We sincerely and deeply apologise for the great concern and distress caused to all parties concerned and to our customers,” the company said in a statement. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Wednesday morning it was providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian who died in Japan. “We send our deepest condolences to the family at this difficult time,” the agency said in a statement. The Hakuba Valley sits at the base of the northern Japanese Alps. The region hosted the 1998 Winter Olympic Games. The South Coast Netball Association paid tribute to Chloe on Tuesday afternoon. “Chloe was a very special part of our South Coast netball family. She was known for her beautiful nature, her cheeky, infectious smile, and the joy she brought simply by being herself. Chloe had a way of brightening the courts and the people around her,” the association said in a social media post. “Above all, Chloe was her big sister Hallee’s biggest supporter, always cheering from the sidelines, full of pride, encouragement and love.” Chloe’s is the fourth Australian death in Japan’s snowfields this year. In February, 27-year-old Melbourne man Michael Hurst died while skiing in Niseko. Queensland snowboarder, Brooke Day, died in January after her avalanche rescue backpack became caught in a chairlift. Earlier that month, Brisbane teenager Ryan Pribadi reportedly died while skiing in Niseko.
US military commanders have been invoking extremist Christian rhetoric about biblical “end times” to justify involvement in the Iran war to troops, according to complaints made to a watchdog group. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) says it has received more than 200 complaints from service members across all branches of the armed forces, including the marines, air force and space force. One complainant, identified as a noncommissioned officer (NCO) in a unit that could be deployed “at any moment to join” operations against Iran, told MRFF in a complaint viewed by the Guardian that their commander had “urged us to tell our troops that this was ‘all part of God’s divine plan’ and he specifically referenced numerous citations out of the Book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ”. “He said that ‘President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth’”, the NCO added. The NCO’s complaint was filed on behalf of 15 troops, including 11 Christians, one Muslim person and one Jewish person. The complaint was first shared by MRFF with Jonathan Larsen, an independent journalist. “Anytime Israel or the US is involved in the Middle East, we get this stuff about Christian nationalists who’ve taken over our government, and certainly our US military,” Mikey Weinstein, MRFF’s president, who is an air force veteran, told the Guardian. “Military members are not really able to stand up for themselves, because your military superior is not your shift manager at Starbucks,” he added. In a statement, Weinstein suggested the reports indicate an increase in Christian extremism in the military, noting that the complainants “report the unrestricted euphoria of their commanders” who perceive a “‘biblically-sanctioned’ war that is clearly the undeniable sign of the expeditious approach of the fundamentalist Christian ‘End Times’.” He said that the complaints show a clear violation of the separation of church and state. Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, is known for his embrace of Christian nationalism. He previously endorsed the doctrine of “sphere sovereignty”, a worldview derived from the extremist beliefs of Christian reconstructionism (CR). The philosophy calls for capital punishment for homosexuality and strictly patriarchal families and churches. In August 2025, Hegseth reposted a CNN segment on X focusing on pastor Doug Wilson, a Christian nationalist who co-founded the Idaho-based Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC). In the segment, Wilson says he does not believe women should hold leadership positions in the military or be able to fill high-profile combat roles. “I would like to see this nation being a Christian nation, and I would like this world to be a Christian world,” Wilson said. In response to a request for comment on the complaints, the Pentagon did not reply, instead sharing public clips of Hegseth discussing the operation in Iran.
Authorities have put down a limited fire near the US consulate in Dubai due to a drone strike, with no injuries reported, according to Dubai’s media office on Tuesday. In a statement posted online, the media office said: “Dubai authorities have confirmed that a fire resulting from a drone-related incident near the US Consulate has been successfully contained.” It added that “emergency teams responded immediately”, and in a post about 45 minutes later, the media office said the fire had been “fully extinguished” with “no injuries reported”. “Dubai authorities reaffirm their commitment to ensuring everyone’s safety and security,” they wrote. A US official and Dubai’s government media office provided more details to the Wall Street Journal, telling the outlet that a drone had struck the parking lot of the consulate in Dubai. Video footage being shared on social media showed black smoke rising near the consulate. Iran’s state broadcaster, IRIB, reported that an Iranian drone had hit the US consulate in Dubai, according to the New York Times. The incident comes as the US embassy in Saudi Arabia was struck by two drones on Monday “resulting in a limited fire and minor material damage to the building”, according to the Saudi ministry of defense. The embassy has urged Americans in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dhahran to shelter in place. And on Tuesday, the US embassy in Kuwait also announced that it would be “closed until further notice”. Marco Rubio said later on Tuesday that the state department is working on helping Americans in the Middle East leave. “We have identified and continue to identify charter flights, military flight options and expanded commercial flight options, meaning working with the airlines to send bigger airplanes with more seats,” the US secretary of state told reporters in Washington DC. Rubio added that, in “a couple instances”, planes had been en route to the Middle East before the airspace shut down and were forced to turn around.
Iran has in effect closed the strait of Hormuz to oil and gas exports for the past four days with a mixture of drone strikes and fear that has halted commercial maritime traffic despite intense US attacks on Iran’s navy. At least four tankers have been struck and Lloyd’s List Intelligence reported that seaborne traffic had dropped by 80% on Sunday, with little sign of a return as key maritime insurers cancelled cover the next day. In an effort to ratchet up the threat, on Monday, Brig Gen Ebrahim Jabbari, a senior adviser to the commander-in-chief of Iran’s revolution guards, said: “We will attack and set ablaze any ship attempting to cross.” In fact the most recent reported incidents at sea were on Sunday, according to the UK’s Maritime Trading Organisation. An unknown projectile exploded “in very close proximity” to a vessel 40 miles west of Sharjah in the UAE on 1 March, it said, though no serious casualties were reported. Despite the rhetoric, Tehran’s capacity to attack ships is likely to be sharply reduced. The US Central Command (Centcom) has engaged in a sustained campaign to target Iran’s small navy, and said on Monday it had sunk or crippled all 11 of the ships the navy had operating in the Gulf of Oman to the east of the strait. They include the Shahid Bagheri, a container ship converted over two years to carry, launch and recover drones and helicopters, and, in theory, a means of extending and projecting military power deep into the region, with Iranian officials saying it could remain at sea for 12 months with facilities such as a hospital on board. Gen Dan Caine, the head of the US military, said in a briefing on Monday that the US attack on Iran began with strikes by Tomahawk cruise missiles which “closed in on Iranian naval forces” and were accompanied by “strikes across the southern flank in Iran”. Satellite imagery showed that Iran’s Bandar Abbas naval base was heavily targeted. While Israel has concentrated on attacking Tehran and politically important regime sites, a key part of the US military effort has been to secure the south of the country, controlling maritime routes and the airspace there. The US military also said it has seen no sign of Iran escalating by attempting to mine the two-mile-wide shipping lanes with the help of its small fleet of submarines. Though details were scant, Centcom said it had targeted the Iranian submarine fleet, also at Bandar Abbas. Nevertheless, tankers laden with oil, natural gas or other fossil fuel products have declined to risk the transit out of the Gulf, though there are reports that some are considering turning off their tracking transponders and risking a transit at night, even though they may not be insured. Conventionally, it is said, about a fifth of the world’s crude oil passes through the strait of Hormuz. But that masks considerable regional and country variations – while countries in the Americas import 12.5% of their oil via the strait, the proportion rises to 45.7% for China, according to the data agency Kpler. Iran’s strategy, meanwhile, has quickly evolved to bombing infrastructure and ships at port, with seemingly more effective results. Satellite imagery showed damage to two parts of the Saudi Ras Tanura oil refinery, the country’s largest. It shut down on Monday after two drones were intercepted over the site, their debris causing a fire. Qatar’s state-run energy firm halted liquefied natural gas production “due to military attacks” on Monday. A day later, a fire broke out at Fujairah in the UAE after a drone was intercepted in the city’s port area, a key oil storage and trading centre. The result so far is that oil and gas prices have soared. Brent crude, a global benchmark, surged to $83 a barrel, up 15% from its level on Friday. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is considering proposals for the US government to help oil tankers in the region obtain insurance to restore confidence after a war the US and Israel started.
It took months for the Bush administration’s falsehoods about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to come to light, after an invasion, regime change, an investigation, and then, finally, the truth. For the Trump administration’s warnings of an imminent threat from Iran, it took an afternoon. On Capitol Hill on Monday, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, swiftly undercut the Trump administration’s claims that Iran was planning a preemptive strike by adding a key piece of information: Israel was planning to strike first. “We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” Rubio said on Tuesday. There were two corollaries from that bombshell behind the largest US military intervention in a generation. First, that senior US officials had misled the public on Saturday when they warned of intelligence about Iran’s plans to launch a preemptive strike. And second, that Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu played a far larger role in prompting the US to launch strikes against Iran than was previously admitted. Democrats, predictably, were apoplectic. “There was no imminent threat to the United States of America by the Iranians,” said Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, who had received classified briefings from Rubio. “There was a threat to Israel. If we equate a threat to Israel as the equivalent of an imminent threat to the United States, then we are in uncharted territory.” “I think secretary Rubio inadvertently told the truth here that this was driven by Benjamin Netanyahu and here we are in a major conflict,” said senator Angus King as he grilled Elbridge Colby, a Pentagon official in charge of policy planning. The administration has been understandably prickly about the accusation that Netanyahu lobbied Trump into this latest war. (His press secretary Karoline Leavitt retweeted an article with the helpful headline: No, Marco Rubio Didn’t Claim That Israel Dragged Trump into War with Iran). “I think they were going to attack first, and I didn’t want that to happen. So, if anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand,” Trump said while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office. “We were having negotiations with these lunatics, and it was my opinion that they [Iran] were going to attack first.” Since Trump began mustering his “armada” in the Middle East in the largest buildup since the Iraq war, the administration has run through a number of justifications for the attack on Iran. And it still doesn’t seem to have settled on why the US is now at war. It began with Trump’s claims that he was sending warships to the Middle East because of Iran’s crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, which he said had killed 35,000 people (other estimates have been more conservative). Then it was the Iranian nuclear programme, which US special envoy Steve Witkoff claimed had reconstituted itself since it was “obliterated” last summer and could allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon within a week. Then it was Iran’s ballistic weapons programme, which Trump claimed could soon deliver a strike not just against US interests in the region, but also against the US itself. He didn’t provide evidence, and US intelligence estimates had said the opposite: that Tehran wouldn’t have that capability for at least a decade. Most recently, it was the warning that Iran was planning for an imminent strike, which Trump said was not linked to the negotiations at all.
Mike Babayan was in a hookah lounge when he heard the explosion on Saturday night. Dubai – a gilded playground for the ultra-rich and oligarch class, billed as one of the safest places on Earth – had been attacked by Iranian missiles. Phones lit up with emergency messages urging residents to take shelter. But Dubai is resilient, at least when it comes to partying. “Everyone just went back to their hookah and food a minute later,” said Babayan. Still, as a precaution, that night Babayan moved from his main home in the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building and the anchor of the Dubai skyline, to a residence further from the city center. There, he could hear the explosions much clearer – one every 20 to 30 minutes, he said. “But everyone is just having coffees, walking around like there’s no care in the world. It’s pretty insane.” Babayan is 23 and originally from Los Angeles. He moved to Dubai, the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, in 2020 to work in finance. He now documents his life as a day-trader and flexes the trappings of influencer life (BMWs, million-dollar apartment) to his nearly 150,000 TikTok followers. Over the weekend, he shifted his focus to commentating on the Dubai strikes in the direct-to-camera style typical of influencers, the city’s night skyline shimmering behind him. He felt a responsibility to combat misinformation; when he saw an AI-generated video of the Burj Khalifa burning, he told his followers it was fake. But he couldn’t resist showing off a little, too. In one clip, Babayan said he felt that Dubai remained safer than New York, Los Angeles and London, even amid the war. Where else, he asked, could he walk around at night wearing his $60,000 watch undisturbed? “I feel like that’s more important, not having to look over my shoulder every two seconds, compared to the chances of a drone hitting me, which I feel is not as likely,” he said. Iran began targeting neighboring Gulf states with missiles and drones in retaliation for US-Israeli attacks that have killed more than 700 Iranians, including 168 people at a girls’ elementary school, according to Iranian state media. Caught by surprise, influencers living in Dubai responded in the way most natural to them: by flooding the information void with scenes from a life of luxury interrupted by war. Will Bailey, a British travel influencer with nearly 500,000 followers, witnessed the missiles fall from his perch at a beach club. The DJ did not stop playing thumping beats as Bailey and others posted videos of themselves staring at the nearby Fairmont The Palm hotel engulfed in smoke. (Sample response in his comment section: “Why is everyone still partying?”) Another visiting travel influencer posted his vantage point of the attack, from the deck of a yacht party. One British entrepreneur visiting Dubai became the face of entitlement after she complained that the conflict grounded her flight, saying in a since deleted video: “It’s really annoying actually because we have got events, we’ve got meetings, probably going to have to cancel them.” “Influencers give the impression that they are more douchey in the way they portray life,” said Babayan. “That does piss people off, and now they’re saying that [the chaos] is well deserved.” Dr Sreya Mitra is an associate professor of mass communication at the American University of Sharjah who studies south Asian influencers based in Dubai. (The UAE is overwhelmingly populated by expatriates, the largest demographic being Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.) Indian television news channels face what some have called a “credibility crisis”, and Mitra says Indians living in Dubai felt the need to reassure friends and family back home. “Indian social media influencers are trying to counteract and factcheck the hyperbole of Indian news channels,” Mitra said. “[These influencers] are reinforcing a narrative of normalcy. They’ll say, ‘Hey, it’s 2am and I’m here in the Ramadan market or downtown Dubai, and it’s safe.’” The UAE has reported three deaths and 68 injuries since the war started – far less than those reported by Lebanon and Israel, and more than Qatar and Bahrain, according to Al Jazeera. The UAE said it destroyed or intercepted most of the missiles and drones launched at it by Iran; the Fairmont hotel and airports in Dubai and Abu Dhabi sustained damage, and on Tuesday a drone strike reportedly hit the US consulate’s parking lot in Dubai, causing a fire but no injuries. Some influencers downplayed the strikes. “We are calm. We are protected. We are in safe hands,” a Ukrainian influencer captioned her video montage of Emirate leaders. “There’s no place I’d rather be,” wrote another Dubai-based content creator over clips of picturesque sunsets and bike rides along the beach. The influencer facade The influx of content from the Gulf has brought into focus the strange interplay between state repression and the uninhibited lifestyle that influencers show on their socials. Dubai is known as the influencer capital of the world, playing host to an ecosystem of content creators, agents, producers and luxury brands ready to tap into the talent pool. Professional posters are required to obtain an operating license that can cost up to $4,000. They are ordered by the UAE’s media council to “respect” the state, its politics, and “the divine and Islamic beliefs, as well as all other religions and beliefs” in their posts. The “safest place in the world” moniker often touted by influencers comes at the expense of a migrant working class subject to abuse and suppression, and an advanced system of civilian surveillance. “Dubai and the UAE in general have very strategically used the idea of creators and influencers to promote the country, not just to the west but to the global south,” said Dr Zoe Hurley, an associate professor of media at the American University of Sharjah and author of the 2023 book Social Media Influencing in the City of Likes: Dubai and the Postdigital Condition. “They strategically deploy digital assets to hold up a mirror to the world and provide a place of affordable destination as an alternative to the American dream.” Hurley describes the mood among UAE-based influencers now as one of shock and vulnerability. “People are attracted to living here because previously, it was this safe oasis in this region. That idea has been shattered,” she said. “I’m someone who questions authenticity in my writing, but I’m seeing quite authentic responses to this situation.” She notes that news coverage and commentary painting influencers as “selfish” does not take into account the full story. “People pay $20 US dollars to go to a beach club and look like they’re living in an Instagrammable place, but that’s kind of the facade,” Hurley said. “It’s really a city and a place of contradiction.” Bailey, the influencer who shared videos of missiles from his beach club, has defended himself from commenters who called his posts sensational and misinforming. “All I’m doing is I’m documenting what’s happening,” he said in a video posted on Monday. “I’ve had thousands of messages from people who are grateful for the videos I’m putting out.” But no TikTok can fully encapsulate a conflict that was decades in the making and the result of more than 70 years of US and Israeli entanglement with Iran. Influencer dispatches from the Gulf’s biggest cities are inherently “ahistorical”, said Peter Loge, an associate professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University. “These content producers are saying, ‘Hey, here’s a quick video, it’s exploding, it’s scary.’ But you can’t do more. [That] is not what social media is built for, and that’s not what people are on TikTok to learn about.” Users across the globe are eagerly scrolling through “POV” war content. Loge likened the feed to the next evolution of “disaster tourism”, a uniquely western phenomenon where travelers visit recent catastrophes sites (such as monied tourists visiting the ruins of Pompeii in the 1700s, or bus tours descending on New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward after Hurricane Katrina). Of course, Dubai’s influencer class did not realize they were about to witness disaster themselves. Nevertheless, they were in prime position to film, caption and post as it happened. “Whenever anything big happens, we try to make sense of what happened,” Loge said. “It’s meaning-making, this is what we do all the time as human beings. These influencers are part of the meaning-making ecosystem.” Mia Plainer, 23, is a social media planner for a fashion and beauty-themed social media channel in London. She and a friend found themselves in Dubai this weekend on “a little break” from the corporate grind. They were on a boat when the missiles started falling. The coast guard brought them back to shore, and they ended up sheltering in their hotel’s garage for the night, sleeping on sun lounges brought in from the pool deck. Plainer filmed their experience, which she called a “juxtaposition” of war and luxury, for her family and followers. “There’s this narrative of ‘Oh look at all these influencers crying about how war’s going on and they’re not used to it,’” she said. “But I think it opens your eyes to how anyone and everyone is in the same situation, no matter your status.” Plainer says she has empathy for people in war zones such as Gaza and Ukraine, many of whom have shared their experiences on TikTok. “I’m always shocked that these people have to live this reality,” she said. “This is their day to day, and I’ve just come out for a trip, it’s just a few days of my life.” By Tuesday, the vacation had returned to normal. Plainer and her friend hope to fly home on Thursday afternoon; the UK is preparing to evacuate citizens in the Gulf, and the US urged Americans to leave 14 countries in the Middle East including the UAE. However, flight availability and air travel remains uncertain as the war escalates across the region. For Plainer, “the plan is just, life goes on, and to enjoy ourselves as much as possible as we can while we’re here”. This article was amended on 3 March 2026 to include mention of a drone strike reportedly hitting the US consulate’s parking lot in Dubai.