Hegseth says US won’t get ‘bogged down’ in Iran – but doesn’t rule out sending troops

Defense secretary refuses to establish timeline for how long operation will continue in first public remarks since strikes

The US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, has called the joint US-Israeli strikes in Iran the “most lethal and precise air power campaign in history”, indicated the US did not plan to effect a democratic transition in Iran – and refused to establish a clear timeline for how long the US operation will continue.

In the first public remarks by an administration official since the war began on Saturday, Hegseth also said that the US did not have “boots on the ground” in Iran but that he wouldn’t speculate what “we will or will not do”. He also said that four US service members had been killed by a ballistic missile that managed to penetrate allied air defenses.

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A rap star might just beat a former PM - what this says about Nepal's Gen Z election

Many hope the vote could bring change after protests last year, and shatter decades of political paralysis.

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Celebrations around the world after strikes on Iran

People in the UK, Spain and the United States celebrated on Saturday following news of the strikes.

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Trump says Iran leadership agrees to talks after US and Israel strike Tehran

‘They should have done it sooner, they waited too long,’ says Trump but he doesn’t say when talks would take place

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Donald Trump said on Sunday that Iran’s political leadership have agreed to talks, a day after the US and Israel began to target the country’s military and political infrastructure, killing the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several top officials.

“They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them,” Trump told a reporter for the Atlantic magazine on Sunday. “They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long.”

Reuters contributed reporting

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Man arrested in shooting of prominent muslim leader in Utah during Ramadan

Imam Shuaib Din was not hit by multiple shots fired by Abdul Raouf Afridi, who ambushed him outside his home

A man has been arrested for recently shooting a gun at prominent Muslim leader Imam Shuaib Din in Utah, the police department in the city of Sandy said Saturday.

Din’s suspected attacker was identified as Abdul Raouf Afridi. Police said the man was arrested on 12 counts of aggravated assault, including felony discharge of a firearm, possession of a controlled substance, dangerous discharge of a weapon from a vehicle and possession of a dangerous weapon as a prohibited person.

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Nasa announces Artemis III mission no longer aims to send humans to moon

Plans to return humans to the moon will come in later mission as agency grapples with delays and glitches

Nasa announced on Friday radical changes to its delayed Artemis III mission to land humans back on the moon, as the US space agency grapples with technical glitches and criticism that it is trying to do too much too soon.

The abrupt shift in strategy was laid out by the space agency’s recently confirmed administrator, Jared Isaacman. Announcing the changes on Friday, he said that Nasa would introduce at least one new moon flight before attempting to put humans back on the lunar surface for the first time in more than half a century, in 2028.

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Moment cooling tower is demolished at German power plant

Onlookers watched as the cooling tower of the decommissioned Frimmersdorf power plant in Germany collapsed.

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Average long-term mortgage rate falls below 6% in time for spring home-buying season

Benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 5.98% from 6.01% last week, the lowest level since September 2022

The average long-term US mortgage rate slipped this week below 6% for the first time since late 2022, good news for home shoppers as the spring home-buying season gets rolling.

The benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 5.98% from 6.01% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said on Thursday. One year ago, the rate averaged 6.76%.

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FBI raids Los Angeles school district headquarters and superintendent’s home

Federal officials search district chief Alberto Carvalho’s home, but allegations being examined remain unclear

The FBI on Wednesday raided the Los Angeles unified school district’s headquarters and the superintendent’s home.

Federal officials served the warrants as part of an ongoing investigation, according to a person familiar with the investigation, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the inquiry. The nature of the investigation and what allegations were being examined was not immediately clear.

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Farmers in England face losses under new cap on sustainable farming payments

Environment secretary says payments will be limited to £100,000 per farm so ‘more farmers can benefit’

Some farmers will lose money by opting into environment schemes under new plans to cap payments available for sustainable farming.

Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, said the new system is “fairer”, adding: “Too much of our most productive land was removed from conventional farming.” Farmers will be disincentivised from taking large amounts of their land out of food production and rewilding it for nature, under her plans.

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