Wired (3/1/26)
DURING HIS CAREER as a real estate mogul, Donald Trump repeatedly bankrupted casinos. In his second term as president, Trump continues to indulge his love of high-stakes gambits—and the war-entirely-of-personal-choice he launched over the weekend with Iran might be the biggest gamble yet of his entire political career. The apparent death of Iran’s supreme leader in the opening hours of the war only heightens the danger for Trump, his war partner Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the entire region, and the world beyond.
On the one hand, the events of the weekend so far seem all but foreordained. It was a war that almost everyone could see coming—the US military buildup has been underway for months and, in many ways, Trump’s been on this road since May 8, 2018, when he jettisoned the Iranian nuclear deal known as the JCPOA, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which had been carefully negotiated by the Obama administration to limit Iran’s path toward an atomic weapon. Similarly, the Iranian response to the war’s opening salvos—missiles and retaliatory strikes against other Gulf States, including Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan—had been widely foreseen and telegraphed.
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Al Jazeera
Washington, DC – United States President Donald Trump has said the plan for the Iran war initially “projected four to five weeks”, adding the US military has the “capability to go far longer than that”.
Speaking on Monday from the White House, Trump outlined his administration’s justification for going to war against Iran alongside Israel, saying that Iran posed “grave threats” to the US, even as he again claimed that US strikes on Iran in June of last year led to the “obliteration of Iran’s nuclear programme”.
Trump also said that Iran’s ballistic missile programme was “growing rapidly and dramatically, and this posed a very clear, colossal threat to America and our forces stationed overseas”.
“The regime already had missiles capable of hitting Europe and our bases, both local and overseas, and would soon have had missiles capable of reaching our beautiful America,” Trump said, repeating a claim his administration has repeatedly made in the run-up to Saturday’s attack, for which US government officials have not provided any evidence.
Al Jazeera
Spain says the United States is not using – and will not be using – joint military bases on its territory for operations against Iran, a mission condemned by Madrid.
“Based on all the information I have, the bases are not being used for this military operation,” Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told Spanish public television on Monday.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has condemned US and Israeli strikes on Iran that began on Saturday as an “unjustified” and “dangerous military intervention” outside the realm of international law, in another break from US policy.
“The Spanish government will not authorise the use of the bases for anything beyond the agreement or inconsistent with the United Nations,” Albares said, referring to the Rota naval base and the Moron airbase.
Deutsche Welle
Spain says the US and Israel have breached international law, Germany says it's no time to lecture allies. Even legal experts are split. Critics warn that reluctance to call out unlawful conduct could come back to bite.
Europe's streets were full of jubilant Iranians from the diaspora this weekend after US-Israeli strikes killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"The dictator is dead. This is the best day of my life," one man told DW as he danced through Brussels' cobbled streets.
Across town, EU officials are no less critical of the Iranian regime. They've slapped a slew of sanctions on Tehran over human rights abuses and issued sharp rebukes of its recent retaliatory strikes on Gulf states.
But they now find themselves facing a familiar diplomatic dilemma.
Were the US-Israeli strikes, which according to the Red Crescent have killed at least 555 Iranian civilians in addition to Khamenei, in line with international law and the rules-based order of which the EU so often claims to be a standard-bearer? EU spokespeople spent much of Monday's press briefing dodging that exact question from journalists.
x
Ossoff: "The president owes Americans a real explanation. 2am posts on Truth Social just aren't good enough when you're sending Americans into combat. He was dancing at his beach club the same night he ordered air crews to launch into combat & hours before our service members endured missile salvos"
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) March 2, 2026 at 7:16 PM
Deutsche Welle
Protests have erupted across Nigeria's Gombe, Niger, Kano, Bauchi, Yobe, and Sokoto states following the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, by an Israeli airstrike on Saturday during a joint US-Israeli military operation.
Nigeria is home to Africa's largest Shiite community, many of whom regard Khamenei as their spiritual guide.
Despite the unrest, the Nigerian government has adopted a cautious and balanced stance, avoiding alignment with either Iran or the US-Israeli coalition.
Abuja has instead emphasized de‑escalation, diplomacy, and warnings about the broader regional instability the conflict could trigger.
Nigeria, along with Kenya, voiced concerns over the potential spread of insecurity and the economic ripple effects the conflict may unleash. Both countries urged all sides to return to diplomacy rather than continue military exchanges.
The Guardian
Keir Starmer has issued his strongest rebuke yet of Donald Trump’s action in Iran, saying the UK did not believe in “regime change from the skies”.
The prime minister said the UK would not join offensive strikes by Israel and the US on Iran, but defended his decision late on Sunday to permit the US to conduct defensive strikes on Iranian missile sites from RAF bases, saying that was “the best way to protect British interests and British lives”.
As MPs urged Starmer not to allow the UK to be dragged further into the conflict, Starmer suggested he had qualms about the US action and plans in place for the aftermath of the strikes.
“We all remember the mistakes of Iraq, and we have learned those lessons. Any UK actions must always have a lawful basis, and a viable thought-through plan,” he said. “That is the principle that I applied to the decisions that I made over the weekend.”
The Guardian
Leave it to Pete Hegseth, the ex-Fox News host now leading the Pentagon, to reframe the massive US-Israeli military operation in Iran as an act of resistance against political correctness: the first based regime-change war of the Maga era.
In a combative press conference at the Pentagon on Monday, Hegseth brought his anti-PC ethos to defend exactly what Donald Trump has said he did not want: to embroil the US in a major intervention in the Middle East with no clear timeline for exit.
But this won’t be like the last generation’s wars, Hegseth insisted. Operation Epic Fury was being fought “on our terms, with maximum authorities”, and without our “traditional allies who wring their hands and clutch their pearls hemming and hawing about the use of force”.
AfricaNews
With full military pomp, Ethiopia has marked the 130th anniversary of the historic Battle of Adwa, celebrating its 1896 victory over invading Italian forces, a triumph that ensured the country was never colonized and remains a powerful symbol of national pride.
But beneath the parades and patriotic displays, tensions are simmering. The government is invoking the legacy of Adwa as it mobilizes support amid growing strains with neighboring Eritrea over access to the sea.
Participants at the celebrations voiced mixed views. Zebenay Tadesse warned against conflict, saying war “results in the shedding of blood, the loss of lives, and the devastation of nations,” and called for dialogue and shared use of port resources.
Others framed the issue as a modern struggle. Mulatwa Wolde described securing port access and national prosperity as “a contemporary Adwa,” urging Ethiopians to unite peacefully to restore access to the sea.
x
Chris Murphy: "It's just so disgusting to listen to the president be waxing poetically about the drapes he's buying while there are six Americans who are dead. There are six families who are about to bury their children because of a war of choice that no one in this country wanted, an illegal war."
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) March 2, 2026 at 6:17 PM
AfricaNews
Zimbabwe on Monday began releasing nearly 4,000 inmates who were granted presidential amnesty in a bid to ease overcrowding in prisons.
The cabinet announced the amnesty in February on the same day it approved sweeping changes to the constitution as part of a plan to extend 83-year-old President Emmerson Mnangagwa's term till 2030. "The nation should note that the release of the 3,978 beneficiaries begins today," Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said at a press conference in the capital Harare. Zimbabwe's prisons held just over 24,000 inmates in the second quarter of 2025, according to recent available national data.
A total of 4,305, including 223 women, will eventually be released, Ziyambi said, with the scheme "focusing on vulnerable groups and those who have demonstrated significant progress in their rehabilitation".
Kyiv Independent
France will increase its nuclear warhead stockpile for the first time in decades and may temporarily deploy nuclear-capable aircraft to partner nations, President Emmanuel Macron announced on March 2, outlining what he called a necessary adaptation to a more dangerous security environment.
Speaking at the L’Ile Longue military base in northwestern France, home to the country’s ballistic missile submarines, Macron argued that Europe must take greater responsibility for its own defense as Russia continues its full-scale war against Ukraine and uncertainty grows around future U.S. security commitments.
"To be free, one needs to be feared," Macron said. "To be strong in our nuclear deterrence, we must be strong in our conventional capabilities in all their dimensions. It is on these two pillars that our defense is based, and I emphasized their importance as early as 2020. But recent years have clearly shown the glaring lack of support capabilities in Europe. And this situation is untenable. "
Kyiv Independent
As markets opened on March 2, Russian officials were quick to frame the escalating Middle East crisis as an economic opportunity for the Kremlin.
Within hours of the first U.S. and Israeli strikes, Russian Envoy Kirill Dmitriev quickly posted on X about crude potentially hitting "$100+" per barrel.
Brent crude futures on the London ICE exchange initially had risen 13.04%, peaking at $82.37 per barrel — the highest level in over a year. Prices later eased to $79.38.
The spike followed Iran's March 1 announcement that it would suspend trade through the Strait of Hormuz in response to the strikes. Roughly 20% of global oil and up to 30% of liquefied natural gas flows transit the narrow waterway.
Against that backdrop, economists say the beneficiary is clear.
"Russia is very likely to benefit from the conflict," Oleksandr Talavera, professor of financial economics at the University of Birmingham, said.
NPR
The Supreme Court on Monday intervened in New York's redistricting process, blocking a lower court decision that would likely have flipped a Republican congressional district into a Democratic district.
At issue is the midterm redrawing of New York's 11th congressional district, including Staten Island and a small part of Brooklyn. The district is currently held by a Republican, but on Jan. 21, a state Supreme Court judge ruled that the current district dilutes the power of Black and Latino voters in violation of the state constitution.
NPR
Fifteen years ago, when modern electric vehicles were just hitting the road, no one knew exactly what to expect from their giant, expensive lithium-ion batteries.
As batteries age, they hold less and less energy. Anyone who's ever had a dying smartphone, or had to replace a vehicle's 12-volt starter battery, knows this painfully well.
EV batteries were intended to last longer than those smaller, cheaper batteries. But how much longer?
The predictions were not soothing. In 2010, the New York Times wrote that "estimates of [EV] battery packs' lifespan — no one knows for sure — range upward from seven years." The average car on the road is more than 12 years old. And that discrepancy made some would-be EV buyers nervous.
Reuters
NAIROBI, March 2 (Reuters) - The death toll from an attack by a group of unidentified men in a town in South Sudan's Ruweng Administrative Area on Sunday has risen to 169 people from an earlier estimate of 122, the area's information minister said on Monday.
Violence in the country has increased in recent months as political infighting threatens a fragile 2018 peace deal.
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The latest attack took place in Abiemnhom in Ruweng, when youth from Mayom County in neighbouring Unity State stormed the town and fought for more than three hours, Information Minister James Monyluak Majok said.
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Ninety of those killed are believed to be civilians, and 79 government soldiers. The death toll could rise further, Monyluak added.
CNN
Nearly 6 in 10 Americans disapprove of the US decision to take military action in Iran, as most say a long-term military conflict between the two nations is likely, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS.
The poll, fielded shortly after US and Israeli attacks launched the war with Iran, finds majorities express doubts about President Donald Trump’s handling of the situation. Most say they lack trust in Trump to make the right decisions about US use of force in Iran, with 60% saying they do not think he has a clear plan for handling the situation and 62% saying he should get congressional approval for any further military action.
The crew of the Overnight News Digest consists of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, FarWestGirl, eeff, annetteboardman, Besame, and jck. Alumni editors include (but not limited to), Rise above the swamp, DoomandGloom, Interceptor 7, Man Oh Man (RIP), wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), rfall, ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) and jlms qkw.
