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Alternative supply routes emerge as Iran war tests Gulf food security  CGEP

Chief executive Gavin Slark said events over the last few weeks had already been affecting prices for the industry.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the Iran conflict cannot be resolved militarily and must be resolved politically.

Taliban says hundreds killed in Pakistani air strike on Kabul hospital MEE staff on Tue, 03/17/2026 - 10:37 Islamabad rejects claim that 400 people were killed in attack on drug rehabilitation facility A Taliban security officer patrols the site of a Pakistani attack on Kabul on 17 March (AFP/Wakil Kohsar) Off A Taliban official has accused Pakistan of killing at least 400 people at a drug rehabilitation facility in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul. Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy spokesman for the Taliban government of Afghanistan, said the 2,000-bed Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital was attacked late on Monday evening. Images taken by the AFP news agency showed Afghan members of the Red Crescent removing bodies from the rubble.  Surviving patients were also pictured gathered in a holding area near the ruins of the targeted building. "As a result of the attack, large sections of the hospital have been destroyed, and there are serious concerns about a high number of casualties," Fitrat wrote on X. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); "Unfortunately, the death toll has so far reached 400, while around 250 others have been reported injured." Pakistani denial Islamabad has rejected the claim, with an official calling it “false and aimed at misleading public opinion”. Pakistan insists that only a military facility was targeted. Pakistan's information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said: "All targeting has been done with precision only at those infrastructures which are being used by Afghan Taliban regime to support its multiple terror proxies including Fitna Al Khawarij and Fitna Al Hindustan."  Tarar was referring to two armed groups that have attacked Pakistani military and civilian targets in the Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regions.  Pakistan’s growing ties to Bangladesh raise alarm bells in India Read More » Islamabad accuses India and Afghanistan of funding, training and harbouring such groups. Tensions have been high between Pakistan and the Taliban since the latter’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 following the US retreat from the region and consequent collapse of the government it supported. The former allies have been in open conflict since February.  Pakistan says it has killed hundreds of Taliban fighters in air strikes and skirmishes along the 2,640km border it shares with Afghanistan. The Taliban also claims to have killed hundreds of Pakistani soldiers. While there is no accurate tally of civilians killed, both sides regularly accuse the other of targeting non-combatants. The Taliban is largely made up of members of the Pashtun ethnic group, who also have a large population in Afghanistan. Around 40 million of Pakistan's estimated population of over 200 million are ethnic Pashtuns. Afghanistan News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

The Iran war throws Trump's China trip into doubt, but Beijing doesn't seem to mind waiting  NBC News

Qatar says it intercepted second wave of missiles Qatar’s Ministry of Defence says its armed forces intercepted a second wave of missiles aimed at the country. In a brief statement, the ministry said Qatari air defences successfully engaged the incoming projectiles. تعلن وزارة الدفاع القطرية عن تصدي القوات المسلحة لموجة صاروخية ثانية استهدفت دولة قطر. pic.twitter.com/i5bN58mn0l March 17, 2026

March 17 (Reuters) - Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan flared this week after the Afghan Taliban government accused its neighbour of attacking a drug rehabilitation centre and killing more than 400 people - a charge denied by Islamabad. Amid fears of a sharp escalation in the conflict, here is a look at how the militaries of the allies-turned-foes compare, according to data from the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. OVERVIEW

Sub-4% mortgages have met a rapid demise as the Middle East crisis causes global economic uncertainty

The U.K. government says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due in London

The fraught path for Iran war funding  Punchbowl News

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Damascus authorities ban alcohol sales in non-Christian areas Alex MacDonald on Tue, 03/17/2026 - 09:12 Officials say restrictions come after complaints from locals and crackdown on 'practices contrary to public morals' An employee of Arados brewery works on the production line at the company's plant in the northwestern Syrian town of Safita on November 15, 2017 (AFP) Off Authorities in the Syrian capital Damascus have announced a city-wide ban on alcohol with the exception of a number of Christian neighbourhoods. In an announcement issued on Monday, the city of Damascus announced that "the sale of alcoholic beverages is prohibited in restaurants and nightclubs throughout the city". It cited "numerous" complaints and requests from locals and said the new ban was aimed at "eliminating practices contrary to public morals". It added that the sale of alcohol would be permitted in the Christian neighbourhoods of Bab Touma, Qassaa, and Bab Sharqi, and then only in establishments specifically designated for the purpose by a commercial building permit and only "sealed" for takeaway. Any businesses still selling alcohol must also be located at least 75 metres from mosques, churches, schools, and cemeteries, and at least 20 metres from police stations and administrative buildings. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); They have three months to comply with the new regulations. Since overthrowing Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, the government led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa – whose now liquidated group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham was a former al-Qaeda affiliate – has largely refrained from imposing social restrictions on the population. However, a number of recent announcements, including a January ban on female public sector employees wearing make-up and mandatory full-body swimsuits on public beaches last year, have raised concerns that this could be changing. Although the majority of Syria is composed of conservative Sunni Muslims who largely refrain from drinking alcohol for religious reasons, many secular Sunnis and other religious and ethnic minorities see an alcohol ban as a threat to civil liberties. Some also criticised the exemptions made for Christian neighbourhoods as entrenching a sectarian approach to the city's communities. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); "The decision effectively segregates between Muslims and Christians. It implies that Christians should stay in their areas and Muslims in theirs," wrote Syrian analyst Jihad Yazigi on X.  "Even during the late Ottoman period, this type of segregation was starting to disappear." Post-Assad tensions The transitional government has struggled to contain unrest and violence at home, attacks by Israel, and managing relations with erstwhile allies and enemies. Australian families released by SDF forced to 'head back' to camp in Syria Read More » In October, the government held parliamentary elections in which Sharaa hand-picked a third of the seats, while the remaining two-thirds were chosen by local committees made up of government appointees. The process bypassed the Druze-majority Sweida province and the country's Kurdish-held northeast with their 32 seats remaining empty.  According to a temporary constitution announced in March, the parliament will exercise legislative functions until a permanent constitution is adopted and new elections can be held at the end of a five-year transitional process. The new interim authorities say popular elections are unworkable in the wake of Syria's 13-year war, which saw hundreds of thousands killed and millions displaced both internally and externally. But the selection process dismayed many Syrian pro-democracy campaigners who had hoped for change after the ousting of Assad. Inside Syria News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

Energy UK said latest projections from suppliers suggested customers could face an increase of as much as £250 on their annual bill.

GENEVA, March 17 (Reuters) - A U.N. inquiry has started investigating a fatal strike on a primary school on the first day of U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, one of its members told reporters on Tuesday. The attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh School consisted of two missile strikes in quick succession that killed 168 children, mostly girls, Iranian officials said in Geneva on Monday.

BEIRUT, March 17 (Reuters) - Five Lebanese soldiers were wounded, two critically, in an Israeli air strike in the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese army said on Tuesday, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah. The soldiers, struck while travelling by car and motorcycle, were taken to hospital, it said in a post on X. The strike comes amid intensifying Israeli attacks across Lebanon, which have killed more than 880 people and displaced over a million, according to Lebanese authorities.

JERUSALEM, March 17 (Reuters) - Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that Iran's security chief Ali Larijani had been killed in an Israeli strike. There was no confirmation from Iran. (Reporting by Mayaan Lubell, Writing by Ahmed Elimam, Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

March 17 - More than 400 people were killed and 265 injured in an air strike by Pakistan on a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul, the Afghan Taliban government said on Tuesday, a charge Islamabad denied and said it had targeted a military camp and "terrorist infrastructure". Here is a timeline of the recent clashes between the South Asian neighbours who were close allies years earlier. 2025

BRUSSELS, March 17 (Reuters) - Kaja Kallas, the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, told Reuters on Tuesday there is no appetite among the bloc's countries to return to business as usual with Russia as energy prices soar in the wake of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Kallas, who serves as the EU's top diplomat, also said that the EU has started taking into account the unpredictability of the United States under President Donald Trump, and pointed towards diplomacy over military means to keep the Strait of Hormuz open.

A building in the northern Israeli city of Nahariyya caught fire on Monday after a rocket attack launched from Lebanon.

If confirmed, death would make Larijani the most senior Iranian figure to be killed since Ali Khamenei on first day of war Middle East crisis – live updates Israel says it has killed the Iranian national security chief, Ali Larijani, in overnight strikes, a claim that if confirmed would make him the most senior Iranian figure to die in the war since the supreme leader Ali Khamenei was killed on its first day. Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said a separate strike killed the Basij paramilitary force commander, Gholamreza Soleimani, along with other senior Basij figures. Continue reading...