Month: March 2026

New York City residents converged on Times Square on Saturday hours after US President Donald Trump ordered a wave of deadly strikes on Iran. Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the strikes “a catastrophic escalation in an illegal war of aggression”.

The U.S. has used LUCAS kamikaze drones for the first time in combat, U.S. Central Command acknowledged on Saturday. The drones, based on the Iranian Shahed-136, were launched from the ground by Task Force Scorpion Strike (TFSS). The task force was set up in December “to flip the script on Iran,” a U.S. official told us at the time. The launch of LUCAS drones marks a rare instance when the U.S. adopted Iran’s drone playbook and used it against them.

Today’s strikes were part of Operation Epic Fury, an attack the U.S. launched along with Israel on targets across Iran. You can read more about that in our initial story here.

The War Zone has advocated for the procurement of this exact class of drone by the American military.

The LUCAS drones are designed to be a far less expensive strike weapon than missiles, which not only cost more, but are far more difficult and time-consuming to produce.

“Costing approximately $35,000 per platform, LUCAS is a low-cost, scalable system that provides cutting-edge capabilities at a fraction of the cost of traditional long-range U.S. systems that can deliver similar effects,” Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, a CENTCOM spokesperson, told TWZ back in December. “The drone system has an extensive range and the ability to operate beyond line of sight, providing significant capability across CENTCOM’s vast operating area.”

In addition, the LUCAS design includes features that allow for “autonomous coordination, making them suitable for swarm tactics and network-centric strikes,” a U.S. official told us. As we have explained in detail in the past, the swarming capabilities combined with some of the drones being equipped with Starlink terminals, means extremely advanced cooperative tactics and dynamic targeting are possible, all while keeping humans in the loop.

The LUCAS drones have “an extensive range and are designed to operate autonomously,” CENTCOM said in a press release announcing the creation of Task Force Scorpion Strike. “They can be launched with different mechanisms to include catapults, rocket-assisted takeoff, and mobile ground and vehicle systems.”

Though the LUCAS drones fired against Iran were ground-launched, U.S. Navy personnel in the Middle East test-fired one from the Independence class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) USS Santa Barbara. This came two weeks after the U.S. military announced the formation of Task Force Scorpion Strike.

Overall, the LUCAS drone’s core design was based directly on the Shahed-136, a U.S. official told us.

“The U.S. military got hold of an Iranian Shahed,” according to the U.S. official in December. “We took a look and reverse-engineered it. We are working with a number of U.S. companies in the innovation space.”

“The LUCAS drone is the product of that [reverse-engineering] effort,” the official added. “It pretty much follows the Shahed design.”

As we have explained for years, the Shahed was based on an Israel concept, which also has roots in a German concept. So it is a complicated lineage for sure.

The LUCAS was designed by SpektreWorks. Its website provides basic specifications for a related target drone design called the FLM 136, which has a stated maximum range of 444 miles and can stay aloft for up to six hours. Its total payload capacity, not counting fuel, is 40 pounds, and it cruises at a speed of around 74 knots (with a dash speed of up to 105 knots). Whether these details reflect the capabilities of the operationalized LUCAS design is unclear.

In contrast, the baseline Shahed-136, which is powered by a small 50-horsepower internal combustion engine, has a top speed of around 100 knots (185 kilometers per hour) and a maximum range of approximately 1,242 miles (2,000 kilometers) while carrying an 88-pound (40-kilogram) warhead, according to the U.S. Army’s Operational Environment Data Integration Network (ODIN) training portal. It was designed to strike static targets based on targeting data programmed in before launch.

Iran has shown additional versions over the years. The Shahed-238 has new guidance systems, with radar and electro-optical/infrared guidance and jet power. Earlier Shahed versions primarily employed a combination of inertial and GPS navigation to hit fixed targets.

از موشک کروز ابرفراصوت فتاح2 و پهباد شاهد 147 با حضور رهبر انقلاب رونمایی شد

Russia also now produces a still-expanding array of variants and derivatives of this design, referred to locally as the Geran. Iran and Russia have both been notably working to integrate more dynamic targeting capabilities into their respective versions of the drone.

The use of the LUCAS comes as Iran has launched its Shahed-136 drones against targets across the Middle East and highlights the limitations of air defenses. Even IDF’s multi-tier integrated air defense system, the most advanced one on Earth, and U.S. ground- and sea-based air defense systems around the Middle East do not offer complete protection against these and other weapons.

Iran used Shahed-136s to successfully strike the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Manama, Bahrain.

Final Oscar voting began yesterday. How many of the nominated movies have you seen? Are you doing your due diligence in all the categories before the March 15 ceremony or, given the summer weather outside your window, might the mountains be calling?

I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelope newsletter. It’s never too early for flip-flops, is it?

Testing out a new mandate

To vote for the Oscars, you have to watch all the nominated movies.

This may seem obvious. But until this year, the motion picture academy operated entirely on the honor system, strongly encouraging members to see everything before voting.

Now voters have to show their work — up to a point.

This year, academy members are required to certify through the group’s screening room portal that they have viewed all nominated films in each category to be eligible to vote in that category. Since nominations were announced in January, the academy has been emailing voters with updates on their progress, indicating where they’re cleared to vote and where they still have work to do.

One wrinkle, and it’s not a small one: Members can simply check a box indicating that they’ve watched a movie outside the academy’s platform. Perhaps they saw it at a festival, on a streaming platform other than the portal or the place God intended films to be seen — a movie theater.

Whether they actually did watch the movies is left to the honesty of the voter. It’s still an honor system, and members do not need to show movie stubs, tickets or receipts.

Talking with academy members, there seems to be a little wiggle room when it comes to having a clear conscience.

Take the voter who loved Ethan Hawke‘s lead turn as legendary lyricist Lorenz Hart in “Blue Moon,” but hated “Marty Supreme,” turning it off 20 minutes after starting it. Since the academy’s screening room counts a movie as watched only if it’s viewed in its entirety, this voter told me they planned on restarting “Marty Supreme” one night and running it on mute so he could vote in the lead actor category.

“I’d seen enough,” he said. “Watching [Timothée] Chalamet play another pingpong tournament wouldn’t make me change my mind.”

Other academy members told me they were OK marking the “watched” box next to a movie they hadn’t seen, provided they had viewed four of the category’s other nominees. By and large though, they were the outliers. Most voters said they were happy to abstain from voting in a category in which they hadn’t watched all the nominated work. (As academy members may not publicly state voting decisions or preferences, voters spoke on the condition of anonymity.)

“I don’t need to see another ‘Avatar’ movie,” a producers branch member said. “So I’m fine not voting for visual effects or costume design this year. Life is short.”

“I like the idea that I can abstain from categories without any guilt,” an Oscar-nominated writer noted, adding that she thought the new system has been “helpful, reminding me to watch things.”

To that effect, academy members have been receiving a flurry of emails and texts that would give off Big Brother vibes if it didn’t simply boil down to an admonition to watch “Frankenstein” so they could vote in the nine categories where Guillermo del Toro’s monster movie is nominated.

It really isn’t that big an ask, as in recent years the Oscars have become increasingly dominated by a smaller number of movies vacuuming up a greater share of the nominations. This year, the five movies earning the most recognition — “Sinners,” “One Battle After Another,” “Marty Supreme,” “Frankenstein” and “Hamnet” — hauled in 56 nominations.

If an Oscar voter viewed the 10 best picture nominees, they’d be eligible to mark their ballots in best picture and eight other categories — supporting actor, adapted screenplay, casting, cinematography, film editing, production design and original score. Add Hawke’s “Blue Moon” and that opens up lead actor. Make it a double feature with “It Was Just an Accident” and original screenplay becomes available.

“You don’t really need to be much more than a casual moviegoer to knock out most of your ballot,” an actors branch member told me, “except for things like animation and documentaries and the shorts. I don’t know how many people watch all of those.”

Nobody does, save for the PricewaterhouseCoopers accountants counting the ballots. The question vexing both voters and the awards consultants paid to persuade them is how this new, formalized voting will affect the results. As Oscar winners are sometimes the movies that are the most-watched, might requiring voters to see all the nominated work boost less-publicized efforts?

“If ‘Sirât’ wins sound over ‘F1,’ then I think it’s a new ballgame,” one veteran campaigner said. “Right now, though, nobody knows.”

We will soon. In the meantime, with Oscar voting running through Thursday, some academy members tell me their weekend is booked.

“Three nights, three movies,” one voter said. “And then I’m watching ‘Bridgerton.’”

Feb. 28 (UPI) — BERUIT — Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Saturday that he rejects any attempt to drag his country into “adventures” that threaten its security and unity, indirectly calling on Iran-backed Hezbollah to refrain from involving Lebanon in the ongoing U.S.-led war on Iran.

Salam’s warning coincided with a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon urging U.S. citizens still in the country to leave “now, while commercial options remain available.”

In a post on X, the prime minister appealed to all Lebanese “to act with wisdom and patriotism” in light of the “dangerous developments in the region,” urging them to place Lebanon’s interests “above any other consideration.”

“I reiterate that we will not accept anyone dragging the country into adventures that threaten its security and unity,” he said, referring to Hezbollah, which previously announced that it would not remain neutral if Iran were attacked and its leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, were targeted.

Salam, who also held a meeting with several ministers and relief officials, urged sparing the country the “repercussions” of the war on Iran, which broke out Saturday morning with joint U.S.-Israel attacks and prompted Iranian retaliatory strikes on Israel and U.S. targets across the Gulf Arab states.

When asked whether Hezbollah had reassured the Lebanese state that it would not participate in the war, he reiterated his call to spare Lebanon another war that “would bring even more suffering upon the Lebanese people.”

He was referring to the war with Israel that broke out on October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah opened a front in support of Gaza, during which top Hezbollah leaders, military commanders, and Lebanese civilians were killed, and substantial damage was inflicted, with border villages in southern Lebanon completely destroyed.

Despite a cease-fire agreement reached on Nov. 27, 2024, Israel continued to operate with near-total freedom, striking suspected Hezbollah operatives and positions almost daily, causing further destruction and casualties, including among civilians.

Salam and President Joseph Aoun also conducted diplomatic contacts in an effort to keep Lebanon “neutral and spare it from the repercussions” of the ongoing war in the region.

Aoun, for his part, affirmed that sparing Lebanon from “the disasters and horrors of external conflicts” and preserving its sovereignty, security, and stability are “absolute priorities.” Later, he was informed by U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa that Israel has “no intention of escalating” against Lebanon, as long as there are no hostile actions from the Lebanese side, according to a presidential statement.

Hezbollah, for its part, announced the postponement of a Saturday event during which its Secretary-General, Sheikh Naim Qassem, was scheduled to speak. Instead, it released a statement condemning “the treacherous U.S.-Israeli aggression” that targeted Iran after months of threats aimed at forcing it to “surrender.”

Hezbollah also expressed “full solidarity” with Tehran and urged the countries of the region to “stand against this aggressive scheme and recognize its dangers,” warning that “its dire consequences will affect everyone without exception if left unchallenged.”

It refrained from hinting to the possibility of supporting Iran militarily.

The Prime Minister condemned Iran’s strikes targeting Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, during calls with their top officials to reaffirm Lebanon’s solidarity against such “aggressions.”

Asked whether the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon and the Hamat military base, which hosts U.S. training teams, might be targeted by Iran, Salam said he could not rule it out but noted that all necessary security measures had been taken to prevent such attacks.

He also confirmed that his government was prepared for “any emergency,” having adopted “proactive measures” in anticipation of war, and assured that food, medicine, and fuel were available in quantities sufficient to meet citizens’ needs for at least two months.

He noted that Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport remains open, with the country’s national carrier, Middle East Airlines, operating as usual — except for countries in the region that have closed their airspace. He added that some airlines have canceled their flights to Lebanon.

His comments came at a time U.S. citizens were urged by the U.S. State department not to travel to Lebanon and those who are already in the country to leave “now while commercial options remain available.”

Interior Ministry official says 66 missiles were fired at Qatar, and there were 114 reports of falling shrapnel. 

Doha, Qatar – Eight people have been injured in Qatar after missile shrapnel landed in multiple locations across the country, authorities said, following a barrage of Iranian missiles that Qatar said were intercepted by its air defences.

Brigadier Abdullah Khalifa Al-Muftah, the head of public relations at Qatar’s Ministry of Interior, said in a televised address on Saturday that 66 missiles were fired at Qatar and that authorities received 114 reports of shrapnel falling nationwide. He said one of the injured people was in serious condition.

The Interior Ministry issued an emergency alert urging the public to stay away from military sites and remain indoors, warning people not to approach or handle any unidentified debris and to report any to authorities.

Qatar’s Ministry of Defence said it had “successfully intercepted” a second wave of attacks targeting several areas. It said all missiles were intercepted before reaching the country’s territory, and urged residents to remain calm and follow official instructions.

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned what it said was the targeting of Qatari territory with Iranian ballistic missiles, calling it “reckless and irresponsible”, as well as a “flagrant violation” of sovereignty and an escalation threatening regional stability.

Ibrahim Sultan Al-Hashemi, the head of public relations at the Foreign Ministry, said the attack was inconsistent with the principles of “good neighbourliness”, and that Qatar reserved the right to respond “in accordance with international law”.

The ministry also called for an immediate halt to escalation and a return to negotiations.

The missile barrage came as Iran launched strikes across the Gulf after the US-Israeli attacks on Iran, an escalation that prompted air-defence interceptions over several countries. The news agency Reuters reported that Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain said they intercepted Iranian missiles, while Jordan also intercepted missiles.

This is not the first Iranian attack on Qatar. In June 2025, during the 12-day war between Iran and Israel, Iran launched missiles at the Al Udeid airbase, a key facility hosting US forces near Doha.

Saturday’s barrage came after the United States and Israel carried out strikes on Iran, raising fears of a wider conflict and increasing pressure on Gulf states that host US forces and critical energy infrastructure.

The developments heightened anxiety across the Gulf, where Ramadan routines were disrupted by air raid alerts, interceptions and warnings about unexploded fragments, as leaders urged restraint amid fears of a widening confrontation.

STARGAZE for days at this island gem, says Associate Editor Sarah Barns.

The Pad

With a slipper bath, outdoor shower and a cloud-like king-size bed, Glamping The Wight Way’s four plush safari tents are ideal for giving off-grid life a go.

Set in lush meadows between Yarmouth and Freshwater, expect solar-panel lighting and USB charging points, plus three spacious bedrooms, a sofa bed, a well-equipped kitchen and a wood burner.

We loved toasting marshmallows on the fire bowl overlooking the River Yar – one of the best paddleboarding spots in the UK – and gazing at the starry night skies.

There are also countryside walks, cycling trails and horse-riding opportunities, as well as binoculars in the dresser for spotting red squirrels and an Isle of Wight edition of Monopoly.

Nab the swing chair and watch the kids run around with the rounders set as the fairy lights twinkle.

WAIL OF A TIME

I drove Irish Route 66 with deserted golden beaches and pirate-like islands

RAIN, RAIN? GO AWAY

Six of the best holiday destinations to book for some quick Vitamin D

Explore

The golden beaches at Freshwater Bay, Compton Bay and Colwell Bay are nearby, and you’re only five minutes’ drive from Tapnell Farm Park with its go-karts, jumping pillows, sledge slides, soft play and an array of animals.

The Wallaby Walkabout, where you get to feed the marsupials, is a particular hit.

Entry costs from £8 per adult, £10 per child (Tapnellfarm.com).

Robin Hill is a 30-minute drive away, offering 88 acres of adventure, with 35 rides, treetop walks, climbing walls, mini diggers and electric boats.

The exhilarating quarter-mile downhill toboggan ride will have even the big kids screaming.

Entry costs from £16.49 per person over 1m (Robin-hill.com).

No trip to the island is complete without a visit to The Needles, just 10 minutes’ drive from your tent.

Take a breathtaking chairlift down to Alum Bay beach to see the famous cliffs up close, from £6 one way, then putt your way around the 11-hole Jurassic Adventure Golf course or hop on the traditional horse carousel (Theneedles.co.uk).

Refuel

Follow in Kate Winslet and Benedict Cumberbatch’s footsteps and dine at The Hut in Colwell Bay, a beachfront restaurant dubbed the Chiltern Firehouse of the Solent.

The restaurant’s branded Jeep will pick you up in Yarmouth harbour, so you can enjoy a glass (or three) of Mirabello rosé, £37 a bottle.

The seafood is all sourced from the south coast – we devoured lemon sole, £36, with fries and tomato salad, £6 each, followed by banoffee pie, £10 (Thehutcolwell.co.uk).

Harbourside restaurant The Terrace in Yarmouth is another popular spot.

Order the divine Cornish cod with pea fritter and potato rosti, £27, and the rich dark chocolate mousse with salted chocolate crumble, £11 (Theterraceiow.co.uk).

For quick bites, Off The Rails, set on the old railway line in Yarmouth, does a cracking bacon sandwich, £8 (Offtherailsyarmouth.co.uk).

And PO41 Coffee House serves up island-brewed teas, home-made cake and delicious picnic essentials – we loved the orange and almond loaf, £8.75 (Po41coffeehouse.com).

Book It

Two-night stays for up to eight people at Glamping The Wight Way cost from £650 (Glampingthewightway.co.uk).