March 4, 2026 - Daily News Digest
On this day in 1804, Irish convicts rose up in the Castle Hill Rising, Australia’s first rebellion. The uprising was suppressed by troops of the New South Wales Corps and Loyal Associations, leaving 15 dead and many wounded.
QotD: “The question is not if we are on the side of the ayatollahs — nobody is. The question is whether we are in favor of peace and international legality. You cannot answer one illegality with another, because that is how the great catastrophes of humanity begin,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in a televised addressed.
US/IRAN/MIL – US sub sinks Iranian warship off Sri Lanka, at least 80 dead.
A U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship off the southern coast of Sri Lanka, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday, dramatically widening Washington's pursuit of the Iranian navy.
Sri Lanka's deputy foreign minister said at least 80 people were killed in the attack on the frigate IRIS Dena, which was heading back to Iranfrom an eastern Indian port.
"An American submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters," Hegseth said at the Pentagon. "Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death".
The Iranian vessel had taken part in a naval exercise held in the Bay of Bengal from February 18 to 25, according to the drill's website.
Sri Lanka said it had launched a search-and-rescue operation to locate survivors after receiving a distress call, with 32 people rescued by its navy and treated at a hospital in the southern port city of Galle.
IRAN/POL – Khamenei’s son Mojtaba is alive and favored to succeed him, Iranian sources say.
Mojtaba Khamenei, the powerful son of Iran's slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, is alive and favoured to emerge as his father's successor, two Iranian sources told Reuters on Wednesday.
As new explosions rang out in Tehran, plans were in doubt for a funeral for the elder Khamenei, 86, killed by Israeli forces on Saturday in the first assassination of a nation's top ruler by airstrike. His body had been scheduled to lie in state in a vast Tehran mosque from Wednesday evening but state media reported the farewell ceremony was postponed.
The two Iranian sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters Mojtaba Khamenei, 56, was not in Tehran during the strike that destroyed the leader's compound and also killed the elder Khamenei's wife, another son and a number of senior military and leadership figures.
Iran said the Assembly of Experts that will select the new leader will announce its decision soon, only the second time it has done so since the Islamic Republic's founding in 1979.
Assembly member Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami told state TV the candidates had already been identified but did not name them.
Israel said it would hunt down whoever was chosen.
HORMUZ – Hormuz shutdown worsens after US hits Iranian warship; tankers stranded for fifth day.
The U.S.–Iran war widened on Wednesday after a U.S. strike hit an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka, deepening a crisis that has paralysed shipping through the Strait of Hormuz for a fifth day and choked off vital Middle East oil and gas flows.
At least 200 ships, including oil and liquefied natural gas tankers as well as cargo ships, remained at anchor in open waters off the coast of major Gulf producers including Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, according to Reuters estimates based on ship-tracking data from the MarineTraffic platform.
Hundreds of other vessels remained outside Hormuz unable to reach ports, shipping data showed. The waterway is a key artery for around a fifth of the world's oil and LNG supply.
The Maltese-flagged container ship Safeen Prestige was also damaged by a projectile as it sailed toward the northern end of the Strait of Hormuz earlier, prompting the crew to abandon ship, shipping sources said.
Qatar will fully shut down gas liquefaction on Wednesday and won't return to normal production and exports for at least a month, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Gas giant QatarEnergy declared force majeure on shipments of LNG after attacks on its production facilities.
Iraq cut its oil production as the country ran out of storage, unable to load it in tankers. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait were also struggling to load oil but it was not yet clear if they cut output.
ISRAEL/LEBANON/MIL – Israel sends troops into southern Lebanon as Hezbollah says it is ready for ‘open war’.
Israel sent troops into southern Lebanon on Tuesday and warned residents of more than 80 villages to evacuate as the Iran-backed militant Hezbollah group said it was ready for an “open war” with Israel in the wake of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
The development came after Hezbollah fired rockets and launched drones early Monday toward northern Israel. Israel retaliated with a wave of airstrikes that killed 50 people in Lebanon, including seven children as well as a Palestinian militant and a Hezbollah intelligence official in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
That death toll is a revised figure from an earlier one reported by the Health Ministry, which originally said Monday that 52 people died in the strikes. Lebanese Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine then on Tuesday reduced that number to 40, then later raised the toll to 50.
Lebanon also said 335 people were wounded and that tens of thousands were displaced.
The U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday that 30,000 displaced people were staying in collective shelters in Lebanon, “while many others slept in their cars, on sides of the roads as they could not yet find safe shelter.”
US/CONGRESS – US lawmakers set to vote on war powers as Iran conflict widens.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-lawmakers-set-vote-war-powers-iran-conflict-widens-2026-03-04/
Lawmakers in the U.S. Senate were set to begin voting on Wednesday on a bipartisan war powers resolution aiming to stop the military campaign against Iran and require that any hostilities against it be authorized by Congress.
The latest effort by Democrats and a few Republicans to rein in President Donald Trump's repeated troop deployments, sponsors describe it as a bid to take back Congress' responsibility to declare war, as spelled out in the U.S. Constitution.
"I do think it's really important to put every member of Congress on the record about this," Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, a lead sponsor of the resolution, told a telephone press conference ahead of the afternoon's vote.
"If you don't have the guts to vote 'Yes' or 'No' on a war vote, how dare you send our sons and daughters into war where they risk their lives?"
Trump's fellow Republicans hold slim majorities in both the Senate and House of Representatives, and have blocked previous efforts for resolutions seeking to curb his war powers.
Republicans accused Democrats of playing politics with national security and said Trump had ordered only limited operations, such as the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January, not full-scale wars.
The U.S.-Israel war on Iran, which began five days earlier, is already more extensive, leading to damage in Iran, Israel and throughout the Middle East, and claiming its first U.S. casualties.
The House vote on the measure is expected on Thursday.
DPRK/NUKES – US strikes on Iran reinforce North Korea’s nuclear resolve.
A day after the U.S. and Israel started bombing Iran, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un strolled through a cement factory draped with red banners that hailed the “great era” of his leadership.
Clad in a black leather trench coat, the 42-year-old dictator twirled a cigarette as he reviewed lines of factory employees. He told the workers that he felt invigorated by the “high spirit of the powerful working class.”
Years ago, a U.S. military operation seeking to pummel another country’s nuclear facilities and military assets and decapitate its leader would have badly shaken Kim, who has aggressively expanded his arsenal of atomic weapons in defiance of the U.S. and other larger powers.
Instead, Kim’s strikingly relaxed factory visit underscored the difference in how President Trump has treated adversaries that possess nuclear weapons. In addition to Iran, the Trump administration has targeted other nonnuclear states, such as Venezuela—where the U.S. toppled Nicolás Maduro—and Cuba, where it is seeking regime change by year’s end.
By contrast, Pyongyang has long viewed its nuclear weapons as an insurance for regime survival. At a key political meeting that ended last week, Kim reiterated that trading away the country’s nuclear weapons remained off the table. Future talks with Trump hinge on the U.S. accepting North Korea as a nuclear state.
US/ECUADOR/MIL/DRUGS – US, Ecuador launch joint anti-drug operation.
https://www.dw.com/en/us-ecuador-launch-joint-anti-drug-operation/a-76213849
The United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said it started joint operations with Ecuador on Tuesday to combat drug trafficking being carried out by "designated terrorist organizations."
"The operations are a powerful example of the commitment of partners in Latin America and the Caribbean to combat the scourge of narco-terrorism," SOUTHCOM said in a post on X.
In a statement, Ecuador's Defense Ministry confirmed the operations were taking place, but did not share further "classified" details.
In September, the US designated the Ecuadorian drug gangs Los Choneros and Los Lobos as "foreign terrorist organizations."
The operations with Ecuador come as the US continues to crack down on illicit drug production originating in Latin America, which has included strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific.
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, an ally of US President Donald Trump, said on Monday that Ecuador was "embarking on a new phase in the fight against narco-terrorism."
Noaba made the remarks after holding talks in the Ecuadorian capital, Quito, with SOUTHCOM's leadership.
Since right-wing Noboa came to power in 2023, the US and Ecuador have taken steps to boost security cooperation.
Noboa's office said in a statement that the meeting with SOUTHCOM officials included plans for information sharing and operational coordination at airports and seaports.
Ecuador is seen as a transit country for cocaine produced in neighboring Colombia and Peru, which is smuggled through ports into the US and Europe. The drug trade has also unleashed a violent turf war in Ecuador between rival smuggling groups.
CUBA/US/SPEEDBOAT INCIDENT – Cuba charges 6 with terrorism over speedboat shootout.
https://www.dw.com/en/cuba-charges-6-with-terrorism-over-speedboat-shootout/a-76207233
Prosecutors in Cuba on Tuesday charged six Cuban nationals with "crimes of terrorism" and accused them of entering Cuba with a US-flagged boat packed with weapons to stir unrest in the country.
Their boat was intercepted by Cuba's coast guard as it entered Cuban waters last week, resulting in a shootout. Four of the Cuban nationals aboard the speedboat were killed in the incident and six others were wounded.
Last Wednesday, Cuba's Interior Ministry accused the Cuban exiles of opening fire on a border guard vessel, and said they came from the United States with the intent to target military units on the Communist-ruled island.
Cuban officials said the boat was carrying firearms of various calibers, including 14 rifles, 11 pistols and nearly 13,000 rounds of ammunition.
The firefight began when the coast guard vessel approached the speedboat to demand identification, and they responded by opening fire.
The officials also showed pictures of the vessels, which had bullet holes from the shootout they said took place at a range of 20 meters (66 feet).
Cuban forces returned fire and took the six survivors into custody, they said.
At least two of those taken into custody had prior record of being accused of terrorism, Cuba said.
If convicted, they could face prison terms of up to 10 to 15 years for the lesser offenses and 20 to 30 years — or even the death penalty — for the more serious charges, Prosecutor Edward Robert Campbell said.
Miami-owned speedboat tied to Cuba 'terror' incident
CHINA/POL – China to unveil five-year roadmap at “Two Sessions” annual political conclave.
China began the first of its "Two Sessions" political meetings on Wednesday, a grand political theatre during which it will outline its annual growth target and defence budget, as well as its roadmap for the next five years.
Analysts, however, fear Beijing will not veer far from its current path despite the need for reform.
President Xi Jinping is overseeing a week of political meetings in Beijing's Great Hall of the People that will effectively rubber-stamp decisions already made by the Chinese leader and the ruling Communist Party.
China's 15th Five-Year Plan will be the showpiece of the annual Two Sessions political gathering, which opened on Wednesday with the start of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a political advisory body.
Premier Li Qiang will open the second of the two meetings – the National People's Congress (NPC) – on Thursday, during which he will outline key growth targets for the world's second-largest economy.
There are pressing issues that need to be addressed, not least among them sluggish domestic consumption and a shrinking and ageing population.
China's leaders have vowed to "create new demand through new supply and provide strong innovative measures", but sceptical analysts will be made subordinate to Xi's safety-first path and entrenched power.
CHINA/EU/INDUSTRY – China in the crosshairs as EU launches sweeping plans to save its industrial future.
The European Union unveiled a sweeping raft of policies on Wednesday aimed at kick-starting its sluggish industry and protecting its critical infrastructure.
A common thread through each is that the screws will be turned ever tighter on Chinese firms in Europe.
Combined, the proposals reveal anxiety over the bloc’s ability to compete with cut-price and increasingly high-quality Chinese products, the heightened security fears connected to Chinese investments, and a new-found urgency to do something about both.
The Industrial Accelerator Act, which was proposed to great fanfare, is a political bombshell that blows away decades of adherence to free trade and laissez-faire economics.
It aims to increase manufacturing’s contribution to the EU economy from 14.3 per cent in 2024 to 20 per cent by 2035. Production volumes are estimated to have fallen by almost 20 per cent since 2019, much of it lost to China.
Stephane Sejourne, the EU’s industry chief, underscored the drastic shift.
“What I’m talking to you about isn’t just a change in our modus operandi – it’s actually a change in doctrine. This is something that was unthinkable even just a few months ago,” Sejourne said at a press conference in Brussels.
The European Commission estimates that if urgent action is not taken, 600,000 jobs could be lost in Europe’s automotive sector in the next decade.
Half the batteries and inverters used in the EU are made in China, as are 94 per cent of solar panels, a dependence officials describe as unsustainable.
“If we do nothing, then it’s quite clear that very soon, 100 per cent of clean technology will be produced in China in the coming years. It’s quite possible that our cement, steel industries will be offshored completely in the next few years,” Sejourne said.
Comments (2)
I think it’s “Wales” in NSW
Compulsory reading for western leaders