March 2, 2026 - Daily News Digest

On this day: in 1657, The Great Fire of Meireki begins in Edo (now Tokyo), Japan, causing more than 100,000 deaths before it exhausts itself three days later..

QOTD: ““A strengthening of our arsenal is indispensable,” Macron said in a speech at the Ile Longue submarine base in Brittany on Monday. “To be free one must be feared and to be feared one must be powerful.”

CANADA/INDIA/TRADE/URANIUM - Canada, India Strike $1.9 Billion Uranium Supply Agreement as They Firm Ties
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-02/france-to-increase-nuclear-arsenal-with-us-commitments-in-doubt?srnd=phx-politics

Canada has signed a string of agreements with India aimed at deepening ties in areas like critical minerals and energy as it seeks more alliances amid tensions with the U.S.

Canada and India struck a new energy partnership, including a deal worth 2.6 billion Canadian dollars, or US$1.91 billion, for Canadian firm Cameco to supply uranium to India for nuclear energy from 2027 to 2035, the office of the Prime Minister of Canada said Monday.

A new Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the two countries will be concluded this year, which aims to double two-way trade to C$70 billion by 2030, the statement said.

That came during a visit by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to India to thaw years of strained bilateral relations, and deepen commercial ties that could reduce Canada’s economic reliance on the U.S.

Carney has also traveled China, where he negotiated a trade detente with Beijing. Canada has said that it aims to double non-U.S. exports over a decade, generating C$300 billion more in trade.

Monday’s statement outlined other agreements signed with India were to boost cooperation on critical minerals and technology.

“Canada and India have immense strengths and growing ambitions in the technology sector, particularly in AI, quantum, and aerospace,” it said.

HCL Technologies, India’s third-largest IT services company, will expand its operations in Canada, increasing its workforce by 75% by 2030.

Carney and his delegation also met with business leaders across various sectors, and commercial deals worth over C$5.5 billion were signed during the visit that will create thousands of jobs in Canada, the statement said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Carney also agreed to advance bilateral cooperation on security and law enforcement.

After India, Carney is due to travel to Australia and Japan.

UKRAINE/EU - Ukraine to complete preparation in days to start EU accession talks, Zelenskiy says
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-complete-preparation-days-start-eu-accession-talks-zelenskiy-says-2026-03-02/

Ukraine ​will complete the technical work needed to open negotiations on all topics for its European Union ‌accession process within days, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday.

Zelenskiy reiterated his call on the EU partners to agree on a firm date for Ukraine to join the bloc, saying that would provide an important guarantee of the ​country's future security as Kyiv negotiates with Moscow to end the war.

"We are ready, but not all ​leaders of the European Union are... I mean, not everyone is ready to ⁠give Ukraine this opportunity," Zelenskiy told reporters in a WhatsApp media chat.

Ukraine became a formal EU ​candidate country in the early days after Russia's invasion in February 2022.

But so far, Kyiv’s progress ​through the existing EU process has been held up by Hungary, which has blocked the unanimous approval required to open formally each of the six so-called accession "clusters" of issues to be resolved.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has maintained the bloc's closest ties ​with Russia and is facing key elections in April, has also derailed the latest EU aid package to Ukraine, worth 90 ​billion euros over this year and next.

MALAYSIA/POL - Malaysia's parliament fails to pass bill limiting PM's tenure to two terms
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/malaysias-parliament-fails-pass-bill-limiting-pms-tenure-two-terms-2026-03-02/

Malaysia's lower house of parliament on Monday narrowly rejected a constitutional amendment that would limit the premiership to two terms, in a vote marked by high abstention, although without explicit 'nays'.

The proposed amendment, which sought to limit any individual's service as prime minister to 10 years, was part of the reform agenda of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's ruling coalition.

The bill was rejected as 146 lawmakers voting in favor fell just two short of the two-thirds majority required to pass the amendment.

Forty-four MPs abstained from voting while 32 were absent.

Law Minister Azalina Othman Said, speaking before the vote, rebutted opposition claims that the amendment could undermine the authority of the king, who has the constitutional power to appoint a prime minister.

Instead, she argued the term limit would bolster institutional integrity by preventing indefinite concentration of power at the executive level.

The failure to pass the bill comes amid growing discontent, including from within the ruling coalition, regarding the implementation of Anwar's reform plans. Anwar said in January his administration would press ahead with other reforms this year, including introducing an ombudsman law.

AF/PAK/GLAD WE SPENT ALL THAT MONEY ON BAGRAM - Afghanistan Says Pakistan Tried to Strike Prized Air Base
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/world/asia/pakistan-afghanistan-bagram-attack.html

Afghan officials said Sunday that Pakistan had conducted airstrikes on Bagram Air Base, its most prized military asset and one coveted by President Trump.

“This morning at around 5 a.m., several fighter jets belonging to Pakistan’s military regime attempted to carry out a bombing operation within the airspace of Bagram Air Base,” Fazal Rahim Meskinyar, a spokesman for the Parwan Province police, where Bagram is, said in a statement.

Mr. Meskinyar said that Afghan antiaircraft weapons had repelled the missiles, and that there were no reported casualties.

A spokesman for the Taliban government, Hamdullah Fitrat, and the Afghan Ministry of Defense both said Sunday evening that Afghanistan had faced an “aerial aggression” at the base. Their statements did not say whether the attack had caused any damage.

US/FRANCE/NUKES - France to Boost Nuclear Arsenal With US Commitments in Doubt
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-02/france-to-increase-nuclear-arsenal-with-us-commitments-in-doubt?srnd=phx-politics

President Emmanuel Macron said France will boost its nuclear arsenal as US security commitments to Europe waver.

“A strengthening of our arsenal is indispensable,” Macron said in a speech at the Ile Longue submarine base in Brittany on Monday. “To be free one must be feared and to be feared one must be powerful.”

The address comes as European governments are tackling the most challenging security environment since the Cold War. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now in its fifth year, has shattered assumptions about continental stability. And President Donald Trump has raised questions about America’s commitment to NATO and Europe.

In the US’s national security strategy, Trump castigated European Union leaders as weak and said the bloc faced “civilizational erasure” due to mass migration and economic decline. He also said the US would cultivate “resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations,” viewed as a tacit offer of support for Europe’s far-right parties.

As the leader of the EU’s sole nuclear-armed country, Macron has faced mounting questions about whether he would extend France’s atomic defenses across the continent.

IRAN/UK/EU/MIL - Iranian-made drone hits British air base in Cyprus, causing limited damage
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/british-air-base-cyprus-hit-by-suspected-drone-strike-sky-news-reports-2026-03-02/

A drone strike hit a British air base in Cyprus overnight, causing limited damage and no casualties, Cypriot and British officials said on Monday, in a marked escalation effectively dragging an EU member state into the conflict surrounding Iran.

The threat continued into Monday when a government spokesman posted on X that two more "unmanned aerial vehicles" that were heading towards the British Royal Air Force base of Akrotiri were intercepted. Sirens sounded at the base after midday on Monday (1000 GMT) and Reuters witnesses saw aircraft taking off.

The overnight strike, which hit a runway at the base, shook the east Mediterranean island, a holiday hotspot and home to thousands of foreign companies. The base, used in the past for military operations in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, was last attacked by Libyan militants in 1986.

Britain had moved additional air assets to Akrotiri in anticipation of U.S. action against Iran in preceding weeks while saying British bases would not be used.

On Sunday, however, after the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain had accepted a U.S. request to use its bases for defensive strikes against Iranian missiles in storage depots or launchers.

IRAN/POL/THEY DON’T KNOW WHO THE NEXT AYATOLLAH WILL BE BUT THE US MEDIA WON’T STOP TALKING ABOUT THE FIVE CLERICS WHOSE NAMES THEY ARE PRETTY SURE THEY CAN SPELL – Khamenei's death brings Khomeini's grandson into focus
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/khameneis-death-brings-khomeinis-grandson-into-focus-2026-03-02/

A grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is likely to figure prominently in the deliberations of the clerics who will determine who replaces Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Supreme Leader.

The killing of Khamenei, 86, in a U.S.-Israeli attack has brought new urgency to the question of who will be the next Supreme Leader, a long-simmering issue over which there had been no clarity despite his age.

Hassan Khomeini is the most visible of the late Ayatollah's 15 grandchildren and is seen as a relative moderate within Iran's clerical establishment. He enjoys close ties to reformists including former presidents Mohammed Khatami and Hassan Rouhani, who both pursued policies of engagement with the West when in office.

Khomeini, 53, holds a symbolically important role in public life as custodian of his grandfather's mausoleum in southern Tehran. He has never served in government.

Some politicians inside Iran have seen him as a rival to hardliners who gained sway under Khamenei, notably his son, Mojtaba.

US/ISRAEL/IRAN - The C.I.A. Helped Pinpoint a Gathering of Iranian Leaders. Then Israel Struck.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/01/us/politics/cia-israel-ayatollah-compound.html

Shortly before the United States and Israel were poised to launch an attack on Iran, the C.I.A. zeroed in on the location of perhaps the most important target: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader.

The C.I.A. had been tracking Ayatollah Khamenei for months, gaining more confidence about his locations and his patterns, according to people familiar with the operation. Then the agency learned that a meeting of top Iranian officials would take place on Saturday morning at a leadership compound in the heart of Tehran. Most critically, the C.I.A. learned that the supreme leader would be at the site.

The United States and Israel decided to adjust the timing of their attack, in part to take advantage of the new intelligence, according to officials with knowledge of the decisions.

The information provided a window of opportunity for the two countries to achieve a critical and early victory: the elimination of top Iranian officials and the killing of Ayatollah Khamenei.

The remarkably swift removal of Iran’s supreme leader reflected the close coordination and intelligence sharing between the United States and Israel in the run-up to the attack, and the deep intelligence the countries had developed on Iranian leadership, especially in the wake of last year’s 12-day war. The operation also showed the failure of Iran’s leaders to take adequate precautions to avoid exposing themselves at a time where both Israel and the United States sent clear signals that they were preparing for war.

The C.I.A. passed its intelligence, which offered “high fidelity” on Ayatollah Khamenei’s position, to Israel, according to people briefed on the intelligence.

IRAN/IN MEMORIAM - Which Iranian Leaders Have Been Killed and Who Survived?
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/u-s-and-israel-exact-heavy-toll-on-irans-leaders-8320addf?mod=world_lead_pos5

The U.S. and Israel have killed a large number of Iran’s top leaders in the military campaign that began Saturday, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Here’s a look at the Iranian leaders who have died in the assault, and those who have survived.

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IRAN/US/GULF/ENERGY/MIL - Attacks in Qatar, Saudi Arabia Drag Energy Sector Into Mideast Conflict
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/saudi-oil-facilities-get-pulled-into-mideast-conflict-1607e138?mod=world_lead_story

Iran’s paralyzation of tanker traffic through a key waterway and drone attacks on critical energy facilities in Saudi Arabia and Qatar have brought the Mideast conflict to the energy industry, raising the risk of disruption to energy supplies and the global economy.

Qatar said it halted production of liquefied natural gas after it intercepted two Iranian drones targeting an energy facility in Ras Laffan Industrial City. The area houses a major LNG hub for Qatar, one of the world’s top biggest exporters of the fuel. 

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz—a critical chokepoint that handles roughly a fifth of global oil consumption—has ground to a near-halt as a result of the fighting. An attack on Saudi Arabia early Monday caused a fire and forced state oil company Saudi Aramco to halt operations at a refinery in the Ras Tanura oil complex, which houses a large offshore oil-export facility.

The attacks mark a dangerous inflection point in the conflict. Having previously exercised strict restraint to prevent a broader war—including denying its airspace to U.S. warplanes—Saudi Arabia is now pushed closer to direct military retaliation against Tehran after this threat to its economic core.

The attack adds to global oil supply jitters. Brent crude futures jumped by over 8% in Monday trading, a price surge that if sustained could boost inflation and put more pressure on consumers already stressed by high prices. Natural-gas prices in Europe, a big customer of Qatari LNG, shot up by around 40%.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had set attacks on the kingdom’s oil facilities as a red line, Saudi officials said. The attack on the kingdom’s energy facilities comes against the backdrop of growing Saudi budgetary pressures and threatens to set back the crown prince’s multitrillion-dollar plan for investments to diversify the economy away from oil.

It isn’t clear whether Saudi Arabia would directly retaliate against Tehran. Some in the crown prince’s inner circles believe the kingdom should maintain a policy of neutrality, officials said. The kingdom hasn’t decided whether to lift its restrictions on the U.S. using its airspace for attacks on Iran. 

“Iran is deliberately targeting the Gulf states’ economic centers of gravity, the foundations of their prosperity, and this could become increasingly existential,” said Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King’s College London. “Saudi Arabia therefore needs to re-establish a credible level of deterrence to reduce the risk of further strikes against its oil facilities.”

The Saudi government said it intercepted and destroyed two drones as they tried to attack the Ras Tanura refinery. The level of any damage wasn’t clear and petroleum supply wasn’t affected, but the incident led to the shutdown of several units at the refinery.

ISRAEL/LEBANON/IRAN/SEC - Lebanese PM bans Hezbollah’s military activities after attack on Israel
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/2/lebanese-pm-nawaf-salam-announces-ban-on-hezbollah-military-activities

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has issued a statement saying Hezbollah’s military and security activities are banned, hours after Israel responded to the Iran-linked group’s rocket and drone attacks by launching air raids on southern Beirut.

“We announce a ban on Hezbollah’s military activities and restrict its role to the political sphere,” Nawaf said.

“We declare our rejection of any military or security operations launched from Lebanese territory outside the framework of legitimate institutions.”

The prime minister said all Hezbollah activities were “illegal” and called upon the security forces to “prevent any attacks originating from Lebanese territory”.

“We declare our commitment to the cessation of hostilities and the resumption of negotiations,” he added.

The Iran-allied Lebanese armed group said earlier on Monday that its attack was in retaliation for the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, “in defence of Lebanon and its people” and “in response to the repeated Israeli aggressions”.

Israel responded by bombing Lebanon’s capital and killing more than 30 people and injuring 149, according to the state-run National News Agency.

In a statement on Monday, the Israeli army said an overnight strike in Beirut had killed Hussein Makled, described as the head of Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters.

It claimed Makled was responsible for compiling intelligence assessments on Israeli forces and coordinating with senior Hezbollah commanders to plan attacks against Israel and said operations against the group would continue.