National and international media news & headlines compiled by CLG

Drone attack targets U.S. embassy in Baghdad, explosion heard | 18 March 2026 | A drone attack targeted ​the U.S. embassy in Baghdad ‌and an explosion was heard in the area, security sources ​said early on Wednesday, ​a day after a series of ⁠strikes. Security sources had said ​on Tuesday that rocket and ​drone attacks had targeted the embassy, triggering sirens with an explosion heard ​near the diplomatic compound. At ​least three explosive drones also targeted ‌a ⁠U.S. diplomatic facility near Baghdad International Airport, activating C-RAM air defence systems, the sources ​said on ​Tuesday.

Projectile hits near Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant, no damage or injuries reported | 17 March 2026 | A projectile hit an area near Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant ​on Tuesday evening, however it caused ‌no damage or injuries, Iran told the International Atomic Energy Agency. “The IAEA has been informed by Iran ​that a projectile hit the premises of ​the Bushehr NPP on Tuesday evening. No ⁠damage to the plant or injuries to ​staff reported,” the U.N. nuclear watchdog said ​on X. Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation ‌confirmed ⁠the strike earlier in the day, with the country’s Tasnim news agency saying the projectile hit the vicinity of the nuclear power ​plant in ​the port ⁠city of Bushehr at around 7 p.m. (1530 GMT). Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear energy ​corporation, condemned the strike on Tuesday, adding ​that ⁠radiation levels around the plant ​were normal.

Iran’s security chief killed in U.S.‑Israeli strikes, missile barrage hits Tel Aviv | 17 March 2026 | Iran confirmed the deaths of top security official Ali Larijani and Brigadier General Gholamreza Soleimani, the commander of the Basij paramilitary force, in U.S.-Israeli strikes on Tuesday. U.S. President Donald Trump earlier criticized NATO members and partner nations for not joining the war on Iran after a number of allies refused to heed his call to send warships to secure the Strait of Hormuz… Two people in their 70s were killed during Iranian missile strikes on Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv, on Wednesday morning, Israeli medical officials said. Some 12,000 housing units in Tehran have been destroyed or damaged by the U.S.-Israeli attacks since February 28, the Iranian capital’s governor has said.

Trump’s top counterintelligence official quits in protest over Iran as he issues blistering statement claiming Israel dragged U.S. into war | 17 March 2026 | Donald Trump’s top counterterrorism official has resigned in protest over the Iran war, accusing Israel of pressuring the U.S. into a conflict he says was built on lies. Joseph Kent, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said Iran posed no imminent threat and the war was started “due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” adding: “I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war.” Kent, who served under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, accused the President of reneging on the non-interventionist principles he campaigned on. Kent, who deployed to combat 11 times and lost his wife Shannon in what he calls a war manufactured by Israel, is closely aligned with the populist “America First” wing of the Trump administration, including Gabbard and Vice President JD Vance, who have both warned against new Middle East entanglements.

Trump says he’s ‘not afraid’ of Vietnam-style ground combat in Iran | 17 March 2026 | President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is “not afraid” to deploy U.S. ground troops within Iran, further emphasizing the lengths he is willing to go in the Middle East war. Speaking from the Oval Office alongside Ireland’s Taoiseach, Micheal Martin, the President fielded many questions about the Iran war. “Are you afraid that if you put boots on the ground in Iran, it could be another Vietnam?” one reporter asked. “No,” Trump shot back, adding, “I’m not afraid of anything.” The president has previously said that he would deploy ground troops if “necessary,” but he has offered few details on what scenario would prompt a boots-on-the-ground invasion. He also said during the sit-down with the Taoiseach that the U.S. has contemplated destroying Iran’s energy infrastructure.

Trump officials privately fear Iran war will grind on through September as 200 troops injured | 16 March 2026 | Donald Trump has given another timing update on the U.S.-Iran war, as oil tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has come to a standstill, though some are warning the war could last most of the year. The average gas price for a gallon of regular has risen to 3.72, according to AAA, up from 2.93 a month ago. Speaking to PBS News on Monday, when asked about how much longer the war will drag on, Trump said: “I don’t believe it will be long.” But three sources familiar with the matter told Axios that the Middle East could bleed into September, a much longer timeline than Trump has ever discussed publicly. Thirteen U.S. troops have been killed so far in the war, and 200 troops have been injured, including 10 “seriously,” Central Command spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins said Monday.

Trump calls Zelensky the ‘last person we need help from’ | 15 March 2026 | U.S. President Donald Trump has dismissed Vladimir Zelensky’s offer to assist with countering Iranian drones in the Middle East, saying he is the “last person” Washington needs help from. Since the launch of U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran late last month, the Ukrainian leader has repeatedly signaled his readiness to get involved in the conflict, claiming that Washington has appealed for help defending American assets stationed in the Gulf against retaliatory attacks. On Friday, Zelensky reiterated the offer on X, arguing that without Ukrainian “expertise,” the U.S. will not be able to “stabilize the situation.” In a telephone interview with NBC News on Saturday, the U.S. president rejected the idea that Washington had requested or requires Ukrainian assistance. “We don’t need help,” Trump said, adding that Zelensky is the “last person we need help from.”

Top Iranian MP declares Ukraine a ‘legitimate target’ | 14 March 2026 | Ukraine has become a party to the war launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran, senior Iranian MP Ebrahim Azizi has said, threatening potential retaliation against Kiev. The head of the national security commission of the Iranian parliament took to X on Saturday, warning that Kiev’s decision to send anti-aircraft assets to the region to prop up the attackers gives Tehran the right to strike Ukraine in self-defense. “By providing drone support to the Israeli regime, failed Ukraine has effectively become involved in the war and, under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, has turned its entire territory into a legitimate target for Iran,” Azizi wrote.

UAE arrests 45 over Iran strikes videos | 14 March 2026 | Forty-five people of various nationalities have been arrested for sharing videos of Iranian missile and drone strikes on the UAE, police in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi have confirmed. Iran has extensively targeted American bases and other assets in the Gulf States since being attacked by the U.S. and Israel in late February… The publication of videos of Iranian attacks could provoke public concern and lead to the spreading of rumors within the community, the police said on Saturday. Legal and administrative measures have been taken against those responsible, it added. On Thursday, Detained in Dubai consultancy reported that 21 people, including a 60-year-old British national, have been charged in the UAE under the country’s cybercrime laws for filming the strikes.

Trump urges UK and other nations to send warships to Strait of Hormuz | 14 March 2026 | Donald Trump has urged the UK and other nations to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz to help secure the key shipping route out of the Middle East. The U.S. president said he hoped China, France, Japan and South Korea would also send ships to the passage, where a number of tankers are said to have been attacked since the U.S. and Israel mounted their war against Iran a fortnight ago. Responding to Trump’s comments, the UK Ministry of Defence said it was discussing “a range of options to ensure the security of shipping in the region” with allies. Tehran has said it will keep blocking the strait — the world’s busiest oil shipping channel through which about 20% of world oil supplies usually pass.

Iran threatens $200 oil barrels as U.S. prepares massive release of emergency petroleum reserves | 11 March 2026 | Iran warned the United States Wednesday that oil prices could soar to 200 a barrel as escalating U.S. and Israeli strikes against the country continue to rattle global energy markets. To prevent what could be one of the worst oil shocks since the 1970s, the U.S. announced that Washington, along with the International Energy Agency (IEA), will soon release a historic volume of oil from its emergency reserves. If oil prices reach such levels, average gas prices in the United States could surpass 5 a gallon, analysts predict. As of Wednesday, the national average price for regular gasoline stood at 3.57 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association.

Settler attack on Palestinian hamlet included brutal sexual assault – report | 16 March 2026 | An attack by extremist settlers on a Palestinian hamlet in the northern Jordan Valley over the weekend included a violent sexual assault, Haaretz reports, citing witness testimony. “They pulled down the Palestinian man’s pants, poured water all over him, and brutally beat him into the dirt,” an American activist who was on site during the attack in Khirbet Humsa tells Haaretz. “All he could do was curl into a fetal position and scream when they beat him with their clubs,” she recalls. “It was one of the worst things I’ve ever seen.”

CIA accused of ‘poisoning the sky’ with toxins as files expose secret weather control agenda | 17 March 2026 | Once top-secret CIA files have detailed America’s plans to control the world by manipulating the weather. The documents, declassified in 2003, discussed the controversial topic of weather modification, the tactic of launching rockets or using planes to dump chemicals into the atmosphere that alter the climate and local storm systems. Although the resurfaced documents from 1965 did not mention the specific chemicals used in the experiments, they did discuss the need for more funding of the weather modification projects that would soon be used as a weapon of war… “Conspiracy” theorists sharing the files have accused the CIA of using these projects to keep the world dependent on government by weaponizing storms, blocking sunlight and poisoning food supplies to intentionally make people sick. Those allegations focus on so-called “chemtrails,” the white streaks seen coming from high-flying jets on clear days, which appear to spread out and dissipate very slowly.

Federal Court Blocks ACIP Meeting, Changes to Childhood Vaccine Schedule | 16 March 2026 | A federal court in Boston today blocked a key government vaccine advisory committee from holding its scheduled meeting this week, and paused changes the committee made to vaccine recommendations under U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy. HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told The Defender in a statement that it “looks forward to this judge’s decision being overturned just like his other attempts to keep the Trump administration from governing.” U.S. District Judge [nominated to the bench by Joe Biden] Brian E. Murphy’s 45-page ruling also stayed the appointment of 13 new ACIP members appointed between June 2025 and January 2026. The ruling also stays the changes U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made in January to the CDC’s recommended childhood immunization schedule. Those changes reduced the number of diseases for which children would receive recommended routine vaccinations from 17 to 11.

First case of severe mpox disease reported in major city: ‘Life-threatening’ | 16 March 2026 | The first case of severe mpox (formerly monkeypox) has been identified in New York City, according to an advisory issued by the NYC Health Department. One resident has tested positive for mpox clade I, one of the two main genetic groups (clades) of the mpox virus, which causes the illness. “Clade I causes more severe symptoms and can be life-threatening,” Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, told Fox News Digital. The New York City patient recently traveled out of the country, the advisory states. “This appears to have come here from travel and has not spread locally,” Siegel noted.

Obama-appointed judge orders release of MS-13 gang member with history of rape, robbery, attacked ICE officers| 17 March 2026 | A federal judge has ordered federal immigration authorities to release an illegal immigrant gang member with multiple unlawful entries into the United States and whose criminal history includes rape and robbery, Fox News Digital has learned. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson, an Obama appointee, ordered the release of Carlos Antonio Flores-Miguel, an MS-13 gang member from El Salvador, from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said. “This activist, Obama-appointed judge RELEASED Carlos Antonio Flores-Miguel, a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador and MS-13 gang member, from ICE Custody,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis. “Releasing violent criminals is inexcusably reckless and now this criminal will be able to perpetrate more crimes against innocent Americans.” Flores-Miguel was released into the United States under the Biden administration in 2022, DHS said.

NJ man released with ticket in NYC subway assault that turned fatal – as cause of death remains unclear | 16 March 2026 | The New Jersey man charged with assault for punching a fellow Penn Station straphanger — who died hours later — has been released as investigators probe the exact cause of death and circumstances surrounding the clash. Nassadir Tate, 21, was arrested and charged Sunday with third-degree assault over the scuffle with a 55-year-old man that unfolded on the downtown C/E subway platform at 34th St-Penn Station, according to the NYPD and law enforcement sources. He was soon released with an order to appear in court on April 1, according to cops. By law, the misdemeanor assault charge qualifies to be handled in that manner.

Migrant who shoved 2 onto NYC subway tracks was deported 4 times, previously arrested for violent crimes – feds| 12 March 2026 | The illegal Honduran migrant accused of shoving two Manhattan subway riders onto the tracks is a “serial criminal” who had been deported four times before his alleged attack, federal officials said Thursday. Bairon Hernandez’s rap sheet includes at least 15 criminal charges, including for aggravated assault, possession of a weapon, and domestic violence, according to the Department of Homeland Security. He also faced previous charges of simple assault, drug possession, and obstruction of police, the feds said. Hernandez was arrested Tuesday after he allegedly pushed 83-year-old Air Force veteran Richard Williams and Jhon Pena, 30, onto the roadbed at the Lexington-63rd Street station on the Upper East Side on Sunday.

2 Williston schools close after Wednesday night electric school bus fire –The Champlain Valley School District superintendent said there’s no reason to suspect foul play. | 12 March 2026 | (Williston, VT) Two Williston schools closed on Thursday after a late night fire totaled four electric school buses in the Champlain Valley School District’s fleet. The Allen Brook School and Williston Central School were closed to clean up nearby debris from the fire in the Allen Brook parking area. The Williston Fire Department, in a press release, said custodial staff at the school Wednesday night discovered several buses on fire in the Allen Brook School’s parking lot on Talcott Road and called 911. The four electric buses, among the 60 school buses in the district’s fleet, were docked and charging at the time of the fire, school officials said.