News Desk

UN spokesperson says the international body is ‘waiting to see exactly when payments’ will be made by Washington.

The United Nations has asked the United States for clarity regarding unpaid budget dues, as declining US engagement puts the international organisation under growing strain.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday that while the US ambassador, Mike Waltz, said last week that payments would begin within weeks, no further details had been offered.

“We’ve seen the statements, and frankly, the secretary-general has been in touch for quite some time on this issue with Ambassador Waltz,” Dujarric said during a news briefing.

“Our [budget] controller has been in touch with the US; indications were given. We’re waiting to see exactly when payments will be made and in what amounts,” he added.

UN officials have said that unpaid fees from the US account for about 95 percent of all outstanding UN budget dues, as the administration of President Donald Trump decreases US involvement in international organisations.

UN chief Antonio Guterres warned in a January letter that the international body faces “imminent financial collapse” on account of unpaid membership dues.

The US owed the UN about $2.19bn by the start of February, along with another $2.4bn for peacekeeping missions and $43.6m for UN tribunals. UN officials have said that the US did not pay $827m for the budget last year, and has not paid $767m for 2026.

The US and its top ally, Israel, have frequently criticised the UN and sought to undermine its agencies, which they say are in opposition to their national interests.

The UN’s human rights chief, Volker Turk, said last week that his office was in “survival mode” amid budget shortfalls. The Trump administration cut off contributions to the agency in 2025.

Turk’s office has frequently issued critical reports about severe rights abuses by Israeli forces against Palestinians that the US and Israel have denounced.

Waltz said last week that the UN would see a “significant” payment towards the US dues soon, telling the Reuters news agency that “you’ll certainly see an initial tranche of money very shortly”.

“Just in general, towards the arrears, and also in recognition of some of the reforms that we’ve seen,” he said.

Last year, the Trump administration released a National Security Strategy, which asserted that the “world’s fundamental political unit is and will remain the nation-state”, not international organisations.

The US has historically been the largest donor to the UN and its programmes.

However, some conservatives from Trump’s Republican Party view the organisation as a hindrance to US global dominance, and international rules and regulations as a threat to the country’s sovereignty.

STEFON Diggs was spotted with a stunning model friend on the Super Bowl field as his girlfriend Cardi B was missing from the action after their suspected split.

Instagram model Pree – who is reportedly a longtime close companion of the New England Patriots’ wide receiver – was busy posting from her perch at the Super Bowl before Stefon‘s big loss to the Seattle Seahawks. 

In a video obtained by blogger Tasha K, Pree can be seen on the Levi  Stadium field hours before the game on Sunday. 

Stefon, the father of six kids with six different women, was seen standing just yards away in the brief video. 

Last night, Pree shared pics from her prime seat watching the game.

She also reposted an official Patriots post about Stefon.

BIG DIGG?

Cardi B sparks rumors she’s SPLIT with baby daddy Stefon Diggs as he faces JAIL

In another link to Cardi, Pree also reportedly dated her ex-husband, rapper Offset, in the past.

Meanwhile, Cardi was missing from her man’s side – despite briefly appearing in Bad Bunny’s halftime show dancing in the background.

SPLIT RUMORS

Word that Cardi and Stefon may have split quickly rippled through social media, as fans noticed they had unfollowed each other over the weekend.

Cardi fueled the flames with her strange interview behavior as well.

When asked by an ESPN reporter if she had a message for Stefon ahead of the matchup against the Seattle Seahawks, Cardi simply said, “Good luck,” before turning on her heels and walking away.

Until last night, the WAP rapper had been riding hard for the NFL star on her social media, and cheering along with Pats fans both pre- and post-big games. 

As The U.S. Sun exclusively reported, she even dropped over a million dollars on preparations to give Stefon a big celebration this weekend.

“She’s incredibly excited and fully locked in,” a source familiar with the plans said. “This isn’t just about attending the game — it’s about showing up for her man in the biggest way possible and celebrating with everyone they love.”

Cardi and Stefon welcomed their first child together, a baby boy, in November.

STEFON’S LEGAL TROUBLES

Meanwhile, the New England Patriots wide receiver is currently facing a felony charge of strangulation and a misdemeanor charge of assault following an alleged incident last December.

Stefon has denied the accusations through his attorney, David Meier.

While the arraignment was originally slated for January, it was pushed back to allow Stefon to participate in the postseason.

Stefon is now scheduled to appear at the Dedham District Court in Massachusetts this Friday, February 13, 2026, at 9:00 am, where he is expected to enter a formal plea.

During this hearing, the judge will determine the conditions of his release, which may include bail, travel restrictions, or a no-contact order.

The allegations stem from a December 16 police report filed by a woman employed as Stefon’s personal chef.

According to Dedham police, the woman was initially “emotional and hesitant” to identify him due to his high public profile.

Court documents allege that Stefon entered her unlocked bedroom and confronted her over a financial dispute regarding unpaid wages.

The situation reportedly escalated, with Stefon allegedly striking her across the face and attempting to choke her with the crook of his elbow when she tried to push him away.

Feb. 9 (UPI) — The deadline on a purported ransom note neared Monday as the search for Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of ‘Today’ show host Savannah Guthrie, entered its ninth day.

Nancy Guthrie’s children released a third video Saturday asking for the return of their mother. Police have a vehicle of interest that was towed from near the Guthrie home.

“We beg you now to return our mother to us — so that we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace,” Savannah Guthrie said. “We will pay.”

Digital billboards in Texas, New Mexico and California have been erected in the hunt for information that might lead to Guthrie’s return.

The suspected abductors are believed to have sent ransom notes threatening Nancy Guthrie’s life if they don’t get $6 million by 5 p.m. Monday, KGUN reported.

Police were guarding Guthrie’s Arizona home and carried out the investigation in multiple locations, CNN reported.

Friday Morning, Former Today co-host Hoda Kotb filled in for Savannah Guthrie and said the Guthrie family is “our top priority.”

“Our Today family continues to navigate uncharted territory, balancing the updates on the search for Savannah’s mom with all the other stories of the day, like we normally do,” co-host Craig Melvin said. “But we know things are far from normal right now, so folks, we are asking for your grace as we continue to do this.”

FBI Director Kash Patel planned to travel to Tuscon, Ariz., as he gets updates from his team, the FBI Phoenix office said.

The FBI said it has deployed more personnel from its Phoenix office and other FBI field offices to help with the investigation. It also staffed a 24-hour command post with agents to investigate leads and tips.

“The FBI has agents, analysts, and professional staff working day and night with our partners at the sheriff’s department,” the agency said in a statement.

Police believe Nancy Guthrie was abducted from her home in Tucson early on Jan. 31. There have been several ransom notes, but there is one that’s believed to be authentic.

There is a $50,000 reward for her return.

United Nations human rights chief also decries ‘preventable human rights catastrophe’ in Sudan’s el-Fasher.

Fatal drone strikes on civilians persist in Sudan’s Kordofan, as the central region has emerged as the latest front line in Sudan’s nearly three-year conflict, the United Nations has said.

Addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk painted a grim picture of the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has plunged the country into widespread bloodshed and humanitarian catastrophe.

“We can only expect worse to come” unless decisive steps are taken by the international community to stop the fighting, Turk said, emphasising that inaction would lead to even greater horrors.

Turk also highlighted harrowing survivor testimonies from el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, which fell to RSF forces in October following an 18-month siege. He described accounts of atrocity crimes committed by the paramilitary after it overran the city, including mass killings and other grave violations targeting civilians.

“Responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies squarely with the [RSF] and their allies and supporters,” he said

As Sudan’s devastating civil war expands beyond the western Darfur region into the central Kordofan areas, Turk cautioned that the shift in fighting is likely to bring even more severe violations against civilians, expressing deep concern over the potential for additional grave abuses, specifically highlighting the increasing use of “advanced drone weaponry systems” by both warring parties.

“In the last two weeks, the SAF and allied Joint Forces broke the sieges on Kadugli and Dilling,” Turk said. “But drone strikes by both sides continue, resulting in dozens of civilian deaths and injuries.”

Turk’s office has documented more than 90 civilian deaths and 142 injuries caused by drone strikes carried ⁠out by both the RSF and the armed forces from late January to February 6, he said.

Among those incidents were three strikes on health facilities in South Kordofan that killed 31 people last week, according to the World Health Organization.

On February 7, a drone attack carried out by the RSF hit a vehicle transporting displaced families in central Sudan, killing at least 24 people, including eight children, the Sudan Doctors Network said.

The latest attacks follow a series of drone attacks on humanitarian aid convoys and fuel trucks across North Kordofan.

The UN human rights chief said he has witnessed the destruction caused by RSF attacks on Sudan’s Merowe Dam and its hydroelectric power station.

“Repeated drone strikes have disrupted power and water supplies to huge numbers of people, with a serious impact on healthcare,” he said.

Coronation Street fans were left divided when Shona Platt was reunited with her long-lost dad on Monday night’s episode of the ITV soap and “struggled” to watch the telling scenes

Coronation Street fans were left divided when Shona Platt was reunited with her long-lost dad on Monday night’s episode of the ITV soap. Following the programme’s crossover with Emmerdale earlier this year, Shona crossed paths with her long-lost sister Jodie, whom she had never mentioned before, and has since been trying to get back in touch with their father.

Jodie, who made her first appearance tied up in the back of a van, has clearly been hiding something whilst worming back into her sister’s life and moving in with her and husband David Platt at number eight, but the Roy’s Rolls waitress has just seemed pleased to have her younger sibling back in her life.

On the latest episode of the world’s longest-running TV soap, fans and Shona finally got an answer to where her dad had been all these years. Jodie, of course, already knew where her dad was and had tried to stop Shona from finding out. But a suspicious Shona followed her sister to what turned out to be a psychiatric hospital.

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Shona demanded answers from Jodie, and she claimed: “It started when you left. And then he had a complete breakdown when mum walked out on him. This is all part of my old life. I didn’t want to drag you into it. You made a clean break. He has these spells where he gets angry, that’s not him, and I know that now, but, as I say, I wasn’t coping. I hated seeing him being taken awa,y but it was the best thing.”

Turning to Shona from his bed, Doug, told her: “No. You can’t be here! No. You can’t be here. It’s not right!” He then added: “Don’t believe her. She’s a liar. She lies. Keep away from her!”

Later on, Jodie was back at the hospital, where she told her father in no uncertain terms to stay on her good side. She said: “Don’t you dare, Dad. Don’t you dare mess this up for me. Cos you know what happens when we fall out. It doesn’t work out very well for you, does it? This could be my happy ending!”

Despite the revelations coming at long last, fans were not entirely sold on the scenes, with one pointing out that Shona wouldn’t be able to focus on this as she already has a baby in intensive care.

One wrote: “Why wasn’t it enough for #corrie to have all the health upsets for the baby? No mother with a child in NICU would have time for any of this. Shona would still be knee deep in trauma!”

Another said: “Jodie is another character I can’t warm to. It might changed but at the minute I am struggling to enjoy her scenes,” and a third wrote: “Feel sorry for Shona’s dad he’s clearly been abused and manipulated by that little cretin!”

Since Jodie’s debut on the programme, fans have started to wonder if the plot will echo that of fans Single White Female, the 1992 thriller that starred Jennifer Jason Leigh and Bridget Fonda and followed a woman whose roommate decides to steal her identity. One said: “I am getting some single white female vibes, I won’t lie,” and another said: “Shona and Jodie. Remember the movie ‘Single White Female’? Jodie has copied Shona’s hair.”

Another said: “I’m convinced Jodie is gonna try and steal Shona’s life, first her clothes, then her kids, then her fella!” There is definitely some mystery surrounding Jodie, as she was previously seen suffering from a panic attack after being harassed by an intrusive caller.

Fans were already suspicious of the situation when Jodie first arrived, with one writing: “Shona’s sister just came out of nowhere, why now? Must be more to the story!”

Coronation Street airs Monday to Friday at 8:30pm on ITV1 and is available to stream from 7am on ITVX.

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British police are assessing a complaint that the former prince sent confidential trade reports to convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Buckingham Palace says King Charles III will “support” UK police assessing reports that the former Prince Andrew gave confidential information to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The statement on Monday came after police said they were examining reports that the former prince, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, sent trade reports to Epstein in 2010.

Thames Valley Police, which serves areas west of London, including the ex-royal’s former home in Windsor, launched the inquiry after news organisations reported on emails that suggest the then-prince sent Epstein reports from a 2010 tour of Southeast Asia he took as Britain’s envoy for international trade.

“The King has made clear, in words and through unprecedented actions, his profound concern at allegations which continue to come to light in respect of Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor’s conduct,” the palace said in a statement.

“While the specific claims in question are for Mr Mountbatten-Windsor to address, if we are approached by Thames Valley Police we stand ready to support them as you would expect.”

Thames Valley Police confirmed earlier on Monday that it has launched an inquiry following a complaint from an anti-monarchy campaigner.

“We can confirm receipt of this report and are assessing the information in line with our established procedures,” the police force said in a statement.

Emails from Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to Epstein were among the more than three million pages of documents released last month by the United States Justice Department.

Correspondence unearthed in recent days appears to show that Mountbatten-Windsor forwarded copies of his reports from a 2010 tour of Southeast Asia to Epstein soon after he returned to Britain.

An earlier email appears to show the ex-prince sharing his itinerary for the two-week trip to Hanoi, Saigon, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong with Epstein.

Thames Valley Police began its inquiry after Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchy group Republic, reported Mountbatten-Windsor for suspected abuse of public office and violations of Britain’s Official Secrets Act.

The former prince, 65, has faced years of scrutiny over his friendship with Epstein, a relationship that has cost him his role in the royal family, titles and home. Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing, and has not responded to requests for comment since the latest release of Epstein files.

Reporting from London, Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic said Mountbatten-Windsor was acting as the United Kingdom’s international trade envoy when the claims were made that he sent sensitive information to Epstein.

“This [allegedly] includes a confidential memo about investment in the Helmand province in Afghanistan, which was being financed at that time by the UK taxpayer,” she explained.

Royal family faces jeopardy

The British royal family continued its effort to insulate itself from the scandal on Monday, as Prince William and Princess Catherine issued their first statement about the latest batch of Epstein files.

“I can confirm that the Prince and Princess of Wales have been deeply concerned by the continued revelations,’’ a spokesperson said as William travelled to Saudi Arabia for an official visit. “Their thoughts remain focused on the victims.”

The jeopardy faced by the royal family could be seen on Monday when King Charles visited Lancashire, in northwest England. While most of the public clapped, cheered and waved British flags, one person shouted, “How long have you known about Andrew?”

Last week, King Charles forced Mountbatten-Windsor to leave his longtime home at Royal Lodge near Windsor Castle, accelerating a move that was first announced in October but was not expected to be completed until later this year.

The former royal is now living temporarily at Wood Farm Cottage on the king’s Sandringham Estate in eastern England. He is then expected to move into a more permanent home, which is currently undergoing renovations.

In a sweeping crackdown, Iranian security and judicial authorities have arrested several reformist politicians on charges of attempting to “disrupt the country’s political and social order” and working “for the benefit” of Israel and the US during recent protests.

Snoop Dogg‘s daughter Cori Broadus and her fiancé Wayne “Duece” Polk bid a final farewell to their baby girl, less than a year after welcoming her into the world.

Broadus and Polk celebrated the life of their infant daughter, Codi, over the weekend in a memorial attended by family and friends. On Sunday, Broadus shared various scenes from her baby’s funeral to her Instagram page, including pictures from the church reception, of loved ones wearing matching “Codi’s Crew” outfits and of the infant’s casket in the ground with flowers and a teddy bear laying atop.

“Part of me went with you,” Broadus captioned her Instagram carousel. “My girl for life.”

In a video from the memorial, Broadus mourned her daughter’s short life and all the moments they could have shared in a moving eulogy. Broadus lamented being unable to see her baby girl take her first steps, bring her to her first day of school and support her through the highs and heartbreaks of life together.

Broadus, with Polk by her side, said “I don’t understand why this happened.”

“I’m trusting God, but that doesn’t mean it makes sense to me. Some days I wonder if this world was just too cruel for someone as pure as you,” she continued. “Other days, I wonder how I’m supposed to live in a world without you in my arms.”

Broadus, 26, and Polk became parents to baby Codi last February. The baby girl arrived prematurely, after Broadus’ 25-week pregnancy. The happy mom at the time detailed her emotional pregnancy journey, which she said included “blaming myself because I wasn’t able to give her all that she needed.” Broadus said she praised God for supporting her and making her daughter’s birth possible.

Broadus had detailed her infant’s health issues in December, describing her daughter in a poem as a “miracle wrapped in tubes and tape” with “lungs trying to catch up to the life inside her.” The Choc Factory Co. makeup executive said she felt guilty that her daughter might also suffer from lupus, an autoimmune condition she was diagnosed with in childhood. In her poem, Broadus said she was hopeful her daughter would live a healthy life beyond the hospital walls of the NICU.

In January, Broadus revealed that her baby girl was back home in her arms and shared photo and video to Instagram. Weeks later, she announced she “lost the love of my life.”

Broadus said in her eulogy that amid her mourning she feels relief that her daughter is at rest.

“I find comfort knowing you have your angel wings now, knowing you are home, safe.”

Ghislaine Maxwell avoids answering questions on alleged co-conspirators in case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The associate and former girlfriend of convicted late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has declined to answer questions during a deposition before the United States Congress.

Lawmakers expressed frustration after Ghislaine Maxwell, currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in helping Epstein abuse teenage girls, invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

“As expected, Ghislaine Maxwell took the Fifth and refused to answer any questions,” Representative James Comer, Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, told reporters. “This is obviously very disappointing.”

“We had many questions to ask about the crimes she and Epstein committed as well as questions about potential co-conspirators,” he added.

Maxwell was subpoenaed to appear before the committee to discuss her relations with Epstein, but her lawyers stated that she would only testify if US President Donald Trump granted her clemency. Lawmakers had declined a previous request to grant Maxwell legal immunity before testifying.

“She [Maxwell] pleaded the Fifth, which under the US Constitution gives you the right not to answer questions on the grounds that you might incriminate yourself,” said Al Jazeera correspondent Alan Fisher.

“People were waiting to hear answers to important questions, but we got nothing from Ghislaine Maxwell,” he added. “What she did say, very briefly, was that she never saw any evidence of Donald Trump or [former US President] Bill Clinton involved in anything that was illegal. Many people suggest that was a deliberate ploy on her part to say, ‘Look, you buy my silence, but I want clemency.’ She’s appealing to both parties here to say, ‘I will clear the people that you care most about.’”

In a letter released on Sunday by Representative Ro Khanna expressing frustration with Maxwell’s refusal to testify, Khanna noted that Maxwell had spoken with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously worked as Trump’s personal lawyer, without invoking the Fifth Amendment.

“This position appears inconsistent with Ms Maxwell’s prior conduct, as she did not invoke the Fifth Amendment when she previously met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to discuss substantially similar subject matter,” he said.

Maxwell was moved to a minimum-security prison in Texas after meeting twice with Blanche last year.

Lawmakers such as Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse have called the decision “highly unusual” and questioned whether Maxwell had “been given special treatment in exchange for political favours” as President Trump’s own relationship with Epstein comes under growing scrutiny. Trump has strongly denied any wrongdoing and called the Epstein scandal a “hoax”.

Blanche has said that Maxwell was moved due to “numerous threats against her life”, without providing details. Maxwell has asked Trump to commute her sentence, which she was given in 2022 after being convicted on charges of sex trafficking minors.

She is the only person convicted of crimes related to Epstein, whose connections to a wide array of individuals at the height of political and economic power in the US and around the world have been revealed in the Epstein files.

If the proposal is implemented, workers would not be able to seek remedy through an independent review board.

The administration of United States President Donald Trump is making it harder for fired federal employees to get their jobs back by limiting their right to appeal dismissals to an independent review board.

The change was proposed as part of a government plan released on Monday by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Under the proposal, federal employees seeking to challenge their termination would be required to appeal directly to OPM, which reports to the president, rather than to an independent body known as the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).

The MSPB acts as a mediator between federal workers and the government and has been in place since 1978. After Trump took office, the board’s caseload surged by 266 percent between October 2024 and September 2025. Federal workers who were cut in early 2025 and accepted buyouts received their final paycheques at the end of September.

If implemented, the proposal would build on Trump’s broader push to shrink the federal government and limit workers’ ability to challenge those decisions. The administration forced out roughly 317,000 federal employees last year.

The move comes amid a separate proposal announced last week that would reclassify high-level career civil servants as “at will” employees. That change would give the administration broader authority to fire career officials who do not align with the sitting president’s agenda, affecting roughly 50,000 workers at the nation’s largest employer.

Outlined in a more than 250-page document, the directive would allow workers to be fired if they were “intentionally subverting Presidential directives”.

“Congress gave OPM the authority to set how reduction-in-force appeals are handled, and this rule puts that responsibility to work,” an OPM spokesperson told Al Jazeera in a statement. “It replaces a slow, costly process with a single, streamlined review led by OPM experts. That means agencies can restructure without years of litigation, and employees get faster, fairer resolution if mistakes occur.”

The proposal also comes as the administration has sought to fire political appointees from previous administrations without just cause. Since last year, the White House has been attempting to remove US Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook over alleged mortgage fraud.

Cook challenged the decision in federal court, which ruled that the president did not have the authority to fire her. The White House appealed, and the case is now before the Supreme Court.

While the court has not yet issued a ruling, a decision in the president’s favour would make it easier to remove political appointees who do not align with a given administration’s agenda.

NOEL Gallagher has confirmed he will reunite with brother Liam – three months after their Oasis reunion tour wrapped.

The brothers reunited after 16 years for a sensational five month tour – starting in Wales and ending in Brazil.

The Sun revealed last week that Noel will be getting a starring role when the Brit Awards come to his home city of Manchester this month.

The Wonderwall hitmaker will be honoured with Songwriter of the Year during the ceremony at Co-op Live.

Although some fans were left divided over Noel winning the prize in a year that he has not released any new material.

Meanwhile, Noel hit back over the decision to award him Songwriter of the Year at the upcoming Brit Awards. 

SUPERSONIC SIGNING?

Oasis’ Liam Gallagher reveals he’s being lined up for Celeb Traitors

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Eye-watering sum Oasis made in merchandise sales before reunion tour is revealed

Speaking on talkSPORT Drive about the award, Noel said: “I haven’t written a song for two years.

“I’m not sure how I’ve got away with that one but I’ll take it.”

Asked about the controversy, he responded: “Is there? I don’t know. Why, what’s it now?”

Host Andy Goldstein said: “Some people are questioning the fact that you’ve won it and haven’t written a song.”

Noel replied: “Well, I think the Brits is all based on record sales, and I’m not sure there was another single songwriter that sold… I mean, we sold a million records last year.

“Didn’t even get off the couch and I’m not sure there’s a songwriter that can match that.

“But you know, if anybody’s got a problem with it, meet me there. We’ll have it out on the red carpet.

“If any of those wet wipes songwriting teams, all 11 of them, want to write a song between the lot of them, want to have it out on the red carpet, I’m there.”

Noel then revealed that he and Liam are planning on reuniting for a Carabao Cup final, which takes place in March.

Revealing whether Liam will be at the BRITs with him, Noel said: “I haven’t, no, we’re just organising tickets for the Carabao Cup final today, but no, I haven’t spoke to him about that, no.”

The Sun revealed that mastermind behind Oasis‘s incredible back catalogue of hits would be receiving the award later this month.

A source said: “Noel has more than earned his stripes and after the phenomenal effect of Oasis’ reunion tour last summer, the time felt right to give him the honour.

“The cultural impact of Noel’s songwriting is hard to quantify. It’s not just the timeless hits from Oasis, like Wonderwall, Champagne Supernova and Live Forever, that he is being honoured for, but also the career-defining songs he wrote for his solo albums with High Flying Birds.

“The Brits are planning a special visual tribute to Noel too, which will showcase some of the highlights of his work before he picks up the awards.”

He famously said in 2013 that he’d never attend the ceremony again, after moaning it had lost its rock ‘n’ roll magic when he spotted Muse drummer Dominic Howard smoking an e-cigarette on the balcony above him.

Noel, below, said: “It was an instantly forgettable night. There was nothing going on at the Brits, there was nothing going on at the after-show parties.

“There are no characters left in the music business. I saw the drummer from Muse smoking an electronic cigarette. I had to say to him, ‘Really?”

Noel added: “That will be the last time I attend that show unless I get some award for . . .  ‘and the award this year for the only person in England writing his own songs, oh that’s right, there’s only one nominee’.”

This year marks 30 years since Noel and brother Liam enjoyed their biggest night at the Brits.

They picked up three gongs — Best Group, Best Album for (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? and Best Video for Wonderwall.

Feb. 9 (UPI) — The fuel shortage in Cuba began to simultaneously impact air transportation and tourism after an international aviation alert reported that Havana’s José Martí airport will not have fuel for one month.

The government also began to close hotels and relocate tourists as part of an emergency plan in the face of one of the worst energy crises in the island’s history, worsened by the end of oil shipments from Venezuela and pressure from the government of Donald Trump on crude oil supplies.

An operational notice from the international NOTAM system Sunday confirmed that Havana’s José Martí international airport will not have Jet A-1 fuel, the standard for commercial aviation, for one month between Tuesday and March 11, digital outlet CiberCuba reported.

The notification not only warns of the fuel shortage, but also of temporary limitations in landing aid systems, in addition to the inoperability of the runway visual range system, which is used to measure visibility when weather conditions are unfavorable.

The restriction is not limited to the capital. Similar notifications indicate fuel shortages at the country’s nine other airports.

Aviation authorities warned airlines that reserves could run out within a short period if supplies are not restored.

The measure compromises commercial, charter, cargo and executive aviation flights, and forces companies to arrive with extra fuel, make refueling stopovers in other countries or reschedule operations, reported Cuba Noticias 360.

This situation contrasts with recent statements by Transport Minister Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, who had said operations at ports and airports remain guaranteed.

So far, international airlines have not communicated how they will deal with the contingency.

The impact is projected directly on tourism, the island’s main source of foreign currency.

Cancellations, delays and reduced air connectivity threaten the arrival of visitors from key markets such as Canada, Russia and Europe, in a context in which traveler confidence already shows signs of deterioration.

According to official figures, the arrival of international tourists to Cuba fell to 1.8 million in 2025, 17.8% less than in 2024. The result fell well short of the government target of 2.6 million visitors and marked one of the lowest records in more than two decades.

The energy crisis has as its backdrop the interruption of oil supplies from Venezuela, the island’s main supplier, following the capture of Nicolas Maduro.

This was compounded by the recent decision of the United States to declare a national emergency regarding Cuba and warn that it could impose tariffs on countries that supply oil to the Caribbean nation, in an escalation of pressure that has further complicated Havana’s access to fuel.

In parallel with the airport problem, the government has begun to close hotels in key tourist destinations and relocating foreign guests. The measure is part of an emergency plan to reduce energy consumption and reorganize facilities.

At least eight hotels closed in Cuba’s main tourist destinations and their clients are being relocated to other resorts amid the worsening national crisis and the shortage of fuel and supplies, Diario de Cuba confirmed from the island.

The hotel closures are occurring in the middle of the high season but amid travel advisories over the deterioration of internal conditions. The reduction of flights, energy uncertainty and hotel reorganization add pressure to an industry that is strategic for the Cuban economy.

Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga said on state television that the executive branch “has designed a plan in tourism to reduce energy consumption, compact tourist facilities and take advantage of the high season,” digital outlet Cuba LLama reported.

Sources from the sector indicated that destinations such as Varadero and the northern cays concentrate much of these measures, where international chains operate.

Authorities are maintaining an emergency plan that includes broader energy restrictions, a reduction of state activities and measures to manage available fuel.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Thursday he was willing to initiate a negotiation process “without pressure” with the United States to help economic difficulties facing the island.

He acknowledged that the lack of Venezuelan oil has placed the country in a “complex” energy situation, affecting not only electricity generation, but also the population’s basic economic activities.

While the United States has sent more than $5.95 million in humanitarian aid managed by the Catholic Church, a measure criticized by Havana because of its “grossly opportunistic political purposes,” it has insisted on the blockade regarding hydrocarbons.

Meanwhile, countries have sent assistance. China was behind a financial package of about $81 million and a food shipment of 60,000 tons of rice in January. Mexico, sent two Navy vessels Sunday loaded with 800 tons of humanitarian aid.

In October 2001, two years into his presidency, Hugo Chávez made a trip to London to meet with then UK prime minister Tony Blair and other high-level officials.

Official records detail how the Venezuelan president’s proposed Hydrocarbons Law, a major restructuring of Venezuela’s oil industry, was high on the British agenda.

The law aimed to assert sovereignty over Venezuela’s resources by mandating at least 50% state ownership in mixed enterprises and increasing royalties on foreign oil interests.

This was a serious cause for concern for Britain, whose main interests in Venezuela centred on Shell, BP, and BG Group’s investments in the oil and gas industry.

“British companies have over $4bn already invested” in Venezuela, noted one Foreign Office official, with new investments of another $3bn planned for the oil industry.

Blair was thus instructed by advisers to impress on Chávez that the UK government was “following your proposed hydrocarbons legislation very closely”.

In private, Blair’s adviser and future MI6 chief John Sawers wrote that “the only reason for seeing him is to benefit British oil and gas companies”.

Sawers’ note drove at the core issue which had been guiding Britain’s relations with Venezuela for over a century: oil.

Declassified has combed through dozens of files in the National Archives which expose how the UK government has repeatedly sought to thwart the nationalisation of oil in Venezuela since it was first discovered during the early twentieth century.

Working in partnership with Britain’s leading oil corporations, the Foreign Office has resorted to political pressure, propaganda activities, and covert operations to maintain control over Venezuela’s lucrative crude. 

The origins of Britain’s interest in Venezuela’s oil

In 1912, Royal Dutch-Shell began operations in Venezuela and, two years later, the company – alongside US firm General Asphalt – discovered a petroleum field in the small town of Mene Grande.

George Bernard Reynolds, a geologist at Venezuelan Oil Concessions Limited (VOC), a Shell subsidiary, described the supplies as “enough to satisfy the most exacting”.

By 1920, the CIA reported that practically all of Venezuela’s oil production and its most promising concessions were held by Royal Dutch-Shell and two American companies, Jersey Standard (SOCNJ) and Gulf.

Indeed, Venezuelan oil controlled by Royal Dutch-Shell had increased by over 600% from 210,000 barrels in 1917 to 1,584,000 in 1921. 

“Is there any other company more conclusively British than this”, asked Sir Marcus Samuel, chairman of the Shell Transport and Trading Company, in June 1915, “who have proved themselves more willing and able to serve the interests of the Empire?”

But foreign control over oil had serious consequences for Venezuela’s land and people.

In 1936, oil workers in Maracaibo called a general strike in response to low wages, poor living conditions and the association of oil firms with the late dictator, Juan Vicente Gómez. It lasted for 43 days, during which time oil production decreased by 39%.

In response, Venezuelan president General Eleazar López Contreras introduced a series of reforms to improve labour conditions.

This made him unpopular with the British and US oil executives, who were described by US ambassador Meredith Nicholson as belonging to “the old school of ‘imperialists’ who believed that might – in the business sense – was right”.

Venezuela’s oil nonetheless remained central to the British imperial project and, by the outbreak of World War Two, Venezuelan oil “took on particular significance within the British war effort as oil from the Middle East became less accessible following the closure of the Mediterranean in 1940”, according to research by academic Mark Seddon.

Officials therefore became increasingly worried about nationalisation in Latin America, particularly after foreign oil interests – including those of Shell – had been expropriated in Mexico in 1938.

That year, for instance, British diplomat John Balfour wrote: “We should do all we can to show that it is not in the interests of a Latin-American country like Mexico to eliminate British interests from participating in the exploitation of its oil resources”.

A dangerous opponent of capital

Concerns around nationalisation arose once again during the Rómulo Betancourt administration in the 1940s.

He was described by the Foreign Office in 1945 as “by far the most dangerous opponent of capital in Venezuela”, while the oil companies worried about his past support for communism.

These concerns proved overblown as Betancourt developed into a staunch anti-communist. According to a CIA file dated March 1948, Betancourt and his predecessor, Rómulo Gallegos, met to discuss “the proposed outlawing of the Communist Party in Venezuela.”

The first step, according to the document, “was the dismissal from the [oil workers union] Fedepetrol of all Communist Party petroleum syndicate delegates”.

Shell’s directors nonetheless responded positively to the military coup which toppled Betancourt in 1948.

They believed, as UK ambassador John H. Magowan noted in February 1949, that the new administration would “reverse the Betancourt tendency to hostility towards the ‘capitalists’ and ‘colonial’ powers”.

While US-owned SOCNJ had emerged as Venezuela’s main oil producer by this time, Shell remained the second most important player and, by 1950, the company had centralized its operations, building a modernist headquarters in northern Caracas.

The propaganda campaign

During the 1960s, as the shadow of the Cold War cast over Latin America, a propaganda unit within the Foreign Office secretly worked to protect Britain’s oil interests in Venezuela.

That unit, named the Information Research Department (IRD), had been set up in 1948 to collect information about communism and distribute it to contacts worldwide.

The goal was to build resilience against communist and other national liberation movements while cultivating foreign agents of influence such as journalists, politicians, military officers, and businessmen.

By 1961, the IRD viewed Venezuela as the third most important country in Latin America in light of the risk of left-wing “subversion” and Britain’s strategic stake in the country’s oil industry.

That year, the IRD worked with Britain’s intelligence services to promote a boycott of El Nacional, the largest newspaper in Venezuela, with the goal of forcing it “to abandon its campaign in favor of expropriating foreign companies and promoting communist agitation”.

The campaign not only had the backing of powerful conservative and anti-communist groups in Venezuela but also the foreign oil companies, who agreed to suspend their advertising in the newspaper.

By 1962, IRD officer Leslie Boas was able to boast that El Nacional had “changed its tone in a great way”, with the newspaper’s circulation also dropping from 70,000 to 45,000 per day.

Reactionary networks in Venezuela were also being covertly funded by Shell in this period, according to recently declassified files.

In April 1962, Boas wrote to IRD chief Donald Hopson about the Latin American Information Committee (LAIC) which was “now doing quite active work… in Venezuela”.

The first director of LAIC was Enno Hobbing, who divided his work between Time/Life magazine and the CIA and later played a role in Chile’s 1973 coup d’état.

Boas explained that he “had a long talk with Hobbing […] and there do seem to be one or two ways in which we can be of mutual help without either of us burning our fingers”.

Such help would include “an unattributable supply of IRD material to contacts” of LAIC in return for LAIC supplying Boas with access to and information about local anti-communist networks.

Remarkably, Boas disclosed that Shell was “contributing financially to” LAIC alongside US retailer Sears Roebuck and other “International Business Machines”.

He added that “none of the local branches of these companies such as Shell de Venezuela are cooperating either financially or overtly in any way, it is being done through their head offices and LAIC who have their own offices in New York”.

It was during this period that Shell and BP were also providing direct, “handsome” subsidies to the IRD to promote their oil interests across Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa.

Nationalisation rekindled

The IRD continued to promote Britain’s oil interests in Venezuela through the 1960s and 1970s, until the unit was closed down in 1977.

In a country assessment sheet for Venezuela, dated 1969, an IRD official noted how “we have considerable investments in the country, particularly those of Shell, whose fixed installations alone have been conservatively valued at £300 million”.

The official continued: “Shell’s operations in Venezuela play an important role in the company’s very substantial contribution in invisibles [earnings through intangible assets] to our balance of payments”, noting that Britain’s key objective was therefore “to protect our investments”.

Two years later, IRD field officer Ian Knight Smith wrote to London with concerns about how “the emotional issue of economic nationalism, always a potent force in a country whose main natural resources are largely in the hands of foreign companies, was [being] rekindled”.

Worse still, the Venezuelan president, Rafael Caldera, had “made his own contribution to the new nationalism – in the shape of a law nationalising all natural gas deposits”.

The IRD consequently prepared briefings “on communist instigation of charges against the international oil companies” to be shared with contacts across Venezuela.

In addition, the propaganda unit “cast around for material with which to brief IRD contacts who are in a position to influence government policy or legislation affecting foreign investments in Venezuela”.

Officials were particularly interested in commissioning a “well-researched paper on the positive aspects of foreign investment in developing countries, helping to counter the growing assumption, carefully fostered by the extreme left, that all foreign investment is basically suspect”.

It was within this context that the Foreign Office privately advised that “we should protect as far as we are able Shell’s continued access to Venezuelan oil”.

Share of the gravy

For all its efforts, the IRD was not able to turn the tide of nationalisation in Venezuela, with plans developed during the 1970s for the early reversion of foreign oil interests to the state.

Venezuelan oil was officially nationalised in 1976, with foreign companies including Shell being replaced by the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).

But this was by no means the end of the road for Britain’s oil interests in Venezuela.

In a background briefing for a visit by Venezuelan president Carlos Andrés Pérez, dated November 1977, the Foreign Office observed that “Shell is still our largest single interest”.

The official added: “It should not be forgotten that despite nationalisation our largest commercial stake in this country is still Shell, and although they no longer, since nationalisation, produce oil here, they earn millions of dollars from their service and marketing contracts with their former company”.

The company also continued “to off-take very large volumes of Venezuelan oil for sale mostly in the US and Canada”.

Another official remarked upon the “furious activity of all European countries, including ourselves, in trying to get our share of Venezuela’s economic gravy”.

By 1978, the New York Times went so far as to say that Shell was “busier in Venezuela than before the oil industry was nationalized”.

‘Shell has been active‘

Even still, Britain’s oil firms wished to return to Venezuela’s oilfields.

Those hopes were stoked in the early 1990s by the “Oil Opening” of President Carlos Andrés Péres, whose austerity measures led to an explosion of poverty and street protests, but dashed once again by Chávez’ proposed Hydrocarbons Law in 2001.

In the lead-up to Chávez’ visit that year to London, Britain’s leading oil companies were once again in the prime minister’s ear about the projected impact on their interests.

Blair’s briefing noted unambiguously that UK and US companies were “concerned” about the oil reforms and wanted them watered down.

Days before the visit, Shell’s chairman Philip Watts offered suggestions on how Blair might handle Chávez.

“As you may have appreciated, Shell has been active in helping in the preparations for the visit through the Foreign Office”, Watts wrote.

“Considering the importance of the energy sector for both the Venezuelan and UK economies, I thought the PM may appreciate a small briefing on our… plans in Venezuela”, he added.

Those plans involved ameliorating the “uncertain investment climate” and softening the “fiscal and legal framework” in the country.

As part of the charm offensive, Watts also hosted a “farewell” banquet for Chávez, to which foreign secretary Jack Straw and other senior ministers were invited.

BP and BG Group also “registered their interest with No.10 about the visit”, with BP preparing “to put their case… forcefully” in favour of a meeting between the two leaders.

‘The Americans are concerned‘

The US government also weighed in on the matter.

On 18 October, an official in the British embassy in Washington wrote to London that “the Americans are concerned about the impact that the Hydrocarbons Law will have on investment in the energy sector”.

They continued: “The major oil companies, including BP, had all made clear that its tax and restrictive joint venture productions would hinder their operations”.

The US state department “thought it would be particularly useful for Chavez to hear these concerns in London, given his tendency to discount messages from the US”.

To this end, the George Bush administration hoped Blair would “talk sense into [Chávez] on the Hydrocarbons Law, where BP are among those who stand to lose”.

Further pressure was applied by Gustavo Cisneros, a Venezuelan billionaire and media mogul who was introduced to Blair in 2000 by Daily Telegraph owner Conrad Black.

Sawers, Blair’s adviser, noted that Cisneros’ “sole message” for Blair “was that Chávez was a real danger to stability and free markets (and, of course, rich Venezuelans like himself)”.

A briefing document prepared by Cisneros, for instance, warned that “Chavez will likely react” to oil prices dropping “by lashing out at the private sector”.

Sawers viewed Cisneros with suspicion but broadly agreed that Chávez was objectionable. There was, he wrote, “a chance that the picture [with Chávez] at the front door [of Downing Street] would come back to haunt us”.

He continued: “This is one of the World’s tyrants whose hand I won’t have to shake”.

The coup against Chávez

A coup against Chávez broke out in April 2002, orchestrated by dissident military and political figures with support from Washington.

Pedro Carmona, an economist who was unconstitutionally appointed Venezuela’s president, quickly set about dismantling the country’s democracy and reversing Chávez’s oil reforms.

He happened to be in the offices of Cisneros, the mega mogul who had taken the opportunity to “pour poison” into Blair’s ears about Chávez, when the coup broke out.

The declassified files show how Britain quietly hoped the Carmona regime would be more accommodating to foreign interests while noting the unconstitutional nature of the coup.

“The Cabinet is strong on experience and business” and “hopefully its management capability will be much higher”, wrote the British embassy in Caracas.

The embassy was also informed by UK business leaders in Venezuela that “their operations should be back to normal by 15 April”, while Shell’s “production of oil was unaffected”.

At the same time, however, the Foreign Office was disturbed by the fact that “no one” had “ever elected” the Carmona regime.

“Venezuela may or may not have wanted to get rid of Chavez, but not necessarily to lose the other parts of their democratic system”, one official wrote. “The right-wing businessmen seem to have shot themselves in the foot”.

Notably, the UK government seemed to have some knowledge of Washington’s role in the events.

On 14 April, with Chávez imprisoned in a military barracks, the British embassy in Caracas cabled to London that the US ambassador had been spending “some hours in the Presidential Palace”.

“Please protect [the information]”, they instructed.

The opposition

The coup was short-lived.

Chávez was reinstated within 47 hours following a wave of popular mobilisations across Caracas.

With Chávez back at the helm, the Foreign Office quietly hoped that “the events of the last few days” would be seen as “a serious warning to change his ways”.

But the situation remained tense, with UK foreign secretary Jack Straw noting in July 2002 that Chávez’s position “remain[ed] shaky”.

The political opposition in Venezuela was seen by Whitehall as particularly intransigent, with Straw declaring that Chávez looks “positively resplendent compared with [them]”.

The Venezuelan opposition, Straw continued, “appear to be united, indeed motivated, by sheer indignation that someone like Chávez (not one of them and above all not white) should be in charge and have such a popular power base”.

An official in Britain’s embassy in Caracas similarly noted in 2002 that the Venezuela opposition “looks like a train that tried to breach a wall on one track in April and are now seeking to do the same on a slightly different track and at a slightly different angle”.

They added: “The opposition’s self-delusion is growing worse by the day: they claim alternately they are living in either a fascist or communist dictatorship”.

One of the key opposition figures in this period was María Corina Machado, with whom the UK government is currently in talks amid a renewed regime change campaign in Venezuela.

Source: Declassified UK

This year’s lineup of Oscar-nominated live-action shorts is as diverse as any in recent memory. From gritty political reality to absurdly cutting political commentary, tongue-in-cheek parody to touching, intimate drama (plus a moody adaptation of a Russian short story), voters have a wide selection from which to choose.

‘Butcher’s Stain’

Following the horrific attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, a Palestinian butcher in an Israeli shop finds himself accused of defiling a tribute to the hostages.

“I worked at the supermarket, and I experienced the collective trauma everyone was going through,” says writer-director Meyer Levinson, but he also felt how much animus “was pointed to the Palestinians that were working at the supermarket … individuals who have nothing to do with anything that happened, especially like my [movie’s] character, who is an everyday, working-class guy, trying to get money for his family, and has nothing to do with politics.”

Levinson calls making the film, his first, “one of the greatest experiences of my life. The set of a student film is a magical place; people come there for free, for passion. You just have to get them a decent sandwich.

“There were Palestinians, Jewish Israelis, Palestinians within Israel on set. It was this sort of paradise where we could come together. I’ve learned so much from my Palestinian actors, who’ve taught me about their community.”

‘A Friend of Dorothy’

(Filthy Gorgeous Productions)

In Lee Knight’s film, a chance meeting between a young Black Englishman in the process of finding himself and an elderly, white Englishwoman blossoms into an unexpected kinship — one based on Knight’s experience.

“I had a unique friendship with an elderly neighbor,” says Knight. “Me and my husband looked after her. She had this huge passion for the arts that she didn’t get to explore; when she realized we were actors, it was a huge thing for her. We became very, very close.

“She told me she would hide gay men in the garden during the war” and help them during the time of England’s infamous Section 28 (“banning the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality,” Knight says). He says it was meaningful for her “to see an interracial, gay couple happy and safe in her lifetime. As a gay man, I loved being around women because they didn’t judge me.”

‘Jane Austen’s Period Drama’

A charming country hillside. A fetching lass in Regency garb and her paramour, confessing his ardor. And the equivalent of a needle scratch as he’s halted by the appearance of blood on her skirt. Yes, that’s what’s meant by “Period Drama.” How will Miss Estrogenia Talbot elucidate this conundrum to Mr. Dickley? And once comprehending, shall he go with the flow?

Co-writer and co-director Julia Aks (who plays Estrogenia) admits it was the titular pun that got her and co-writer and co-director Steve Pinder going, but, “As we followed the thread, it made me reflect on shame I maybe hadn’t thought about. And the more I talked to women about funny period stories, I found they had heartbreaking ones.”

The film addresses stigma surrounding menstruation and includes biologically accurate descriptions; educational groups have screened it. But foremost, this “Period Drama” is a comedy.

Pinder says, “When you hear people laugh and come to life watching it, and then come up to you afterward and look like they’re floating … that is just incredible.”

‘The Singers’

Sam A. Davis didn’t exactly love Ivan Turgenev’s short story “The Singers,” at first — “honestly, I nodded off a couple times,” he says. “But it sneaks up on you. These guys have this fleeting moment of connection.”

The film updates Turgenev’s 1850s Russia to contemporary America, but maintains the “Lower Depths” social stratum. The low-down dive bar is draped in painterly shadows inspired by Renaissance masters, the stale cigarette stench palpable. Then the notion of a singing contest arises, and life stirs.

Davis says, after reading the story, “This sort of kismet moment happened where I opened Instagram and the first video that popped up was Mike Yung singing in the subway station in New York City. I flashed on a modern adaptation, but starring viral singing sensations.”

He recruited them to play themselves without a formal script. “It was almost like casting and writing were one process … I wanted it to be a love letter to the underdog. You never know who you’re sitting next to at the bar.”

‘Two People Exchanging Saliva’

(Misia Films & Preromanbritain)

In bold black and white, we find ourselves in a luxurious French department store. In this world, items are paid for by receiving slaps to the face. And the crime of kissing is punishable by death, raising the stakes as a young sales assistant bonds with a regular customer.

“We were writing in late 2022 and there was the reintroduction of the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law in Florida,” says co-writer and co-director Natalie Musteata. “In a sense, it presaged the moment that we’re living through; we’re all living in the fever dream of Florida. But other things were influencing us — the policing of queer love through history; you open your phone and see these women [in Iran] being shot at for taking off their hijabs.”

Co-writer and co-director Alexandre Singh says Oscar winner Barry Jenkins told them, on selecting the film for a program he curated at the Telluride Film Festival, “ ‘When I first watched this in 2024, it was surrealist, satirical, almost farcical. I couldn’t imagine how much more relevant it could become, in a scary way.’ ”

Iran’s atomic energy chief says Tehran is open to diluting its highly enriched uranium if the United States ends sanctions, signalling flexibility on a key demand by the US.

Mohammad Eslami made the comments to reporters on Monday, saying the prospects of Iran diluting its 60-percent-enriched uranium, a threshold close to weapons grade, would hinge on “whether all sanctions would be lifted in return”, according to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency.

Eslami did not specify whether Iran expected the removal of all sanctions or specifically those imposed by the US.

Diluting uranium means mixing it with blend material to reduce its enrichment level. According to the United Nations nuclear watchdog, Iran is the only state without nuclear weapons enriching uranium to 60 percent.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for Iran to be subject to a total ban on enrichment, a condition unacceptable to Tehran and far less favourable than a now-defunct nuclear agreement reached with world powers in 2015.

Iran maintains it has a right to a civilian nuclear programme under the provisions of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to which it and 190 other countries are signatories.

Eslami made his comments on uranium enrichment as the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, prepares to head on Tuesday to Oman, which has been hosting mediated negotiations between the US and Iran.

Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem, reporting from Tehran, said Larijani, one of the most senior officials in Iran’s government, is likely to convey messages related to the ongoing talks.

Trump said talks with Iran would continue this week.

Negotiations ‘very serious’

Both the US and Iran have given mixed signals about their progress in the negotiations. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran is “very serious in negotiations” and is eager to “achieve results”. However, he said, “There is a wall of mistrust towards the United States, which stems from America’s own behaviour.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the ongoing negotiations are an “important opportunity to reach a fair and balanced solution”, IRNA reported. He stressed that “Iran seeks guarantees for its nuclear rights” and the lifting of “unjust sanctions”, the agency added.

Trump, for his part, praised the latest round of talks on Friday as “very good” but continued to warn of “steep consequences” for Iran if it does not strike a deal.

“They want to make a deal as they should want to make a deal,” the US president said. “They know the consequences if they don’t.”

Before the two sides agreed to talks, Trump had repeatedly threatened Iran with a “far worse” attack than the US strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities during June’s 12-day Israel-Iran war. He has escalated the pressure by deploying an aircraft carrier and accompanying warships to the Middle East.

Trump is expected on Wednesday to meet with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is pushing the US to take a hardline stance in its negotiations with Iran, demanding not just concessions on its nuclear programme but also on its ballistic missiles and regional alliances.

Andreas Krieg, an associate professor in security studies at King’s College London, said the US and Iran appear to be “pivoting closer to a deal” than they were several weeks ago, even though there’s still a high risk of conflict.

“The [US] ‘armada’, as Trump calls it, is still in the area, so we still have that coercion going against the [Iranian] regime by the Americans,” Krieg told Al Jazeera. “But it seems to be fruitful in the way that the pressure works, and the Iranians have to make concessions.”

He added: “All the messaging from the Gulf countries – from Qatar, from Oman – from everyone involved, including from the Americans, has been very positive. And the Iranians’ feedback themselves was very positive.

“I think the problem that we have right now is how do we translate this momentum that we have right now on a strategic framework into the nitty-gritty of the details.”

The Chadian government has launched the 2026 National Humanitarian Response Plan (NHRP) and the Refugee Response Plan (RRP) to coordinate assistance for vulnerable people uprooted by war. Amid a growing refugee crisis, including the arrival of 7,000 new Sudanese refugees at the eastern Oure Cassoni camp, the Chadian authorities established these schemes to tackle the humanitarian crisis overwhelming the country.

At an event held on Feb. 5, in N’Djamena, Chad’s capital city, the coordinator of the initiatives, Francois Batalingaya, commended humanitarian actors for their “constant engagement, which is essential for support to populations confronted by multiple crises”. He stressed the importance of mobilisation at both national and international levels, recognising the contributions of government, technical, financial, and humanitarian partners.

According to Batalingaya, the humanitarian plan is based on an analysis of four major drivers of crisis: conflicts and displacement, food and nutritional insecurity, sanitary emergencies, and climatic shocks. He revealed that 4.5 million people in Chad need assistance, with 3.4 million identified as priority targets, requiring nearly US$1 billion in financing.

He acknowledged persistent challenges, including financial deficits, insecurity, administrative constraints, and the need for stronger national appropriations and leadership. “Faced with these stakes, we must reinforce collective action and increase advocacy in order to avoid certain populations going without assistance,” he said.

The Minister of Social Action, National Solidarity and Humanitarian Affairs, Zara Mahamat Issa, described the launch of the NHRP and RRP as “a key moment for strategic planning and an exercise in accountability towards vulnerable populations.” She noted Chad’s continued solidarity in hosting refugees despite regional security crises, climate change, forced displacement, and socio-economic fragility.

“The government reaffirms its engagement to place the protection of vulnerable populations at the heart of its public action, considering humanitarian response as a factor of stability, social cohesion and sustainable development,” Zara said. She noted that transparency, accountability, and localisation of assistance are priorities, and called for better coordination amid limited resources.

During Batalingaya’s visit to the Oure Cassoni refugee camp, where more than 7,000 Sudanese refugees had recently arrived, he highlighted issues around the humanitarian crisis in Chad. He described the visit as “an immersion into an increasing humanitarian crisis which necessitates immediate responses.”

Testimonies from refugees, community leaders, and aid partners revealed feelings of uncertainty, exhaustion, and a shortage of basic necessities in the refugee camps. “Behind each of these problems are the suspended lives of children lacking access to education and families deprived of shelter,” stated a local humanitarian worker.

The refugees urgently need water, sanitation, healthcare, nutrition, food security, shelter, household items, protection, and education. “Oure Cassoni is an alarm signal. Without rapid and reinforced mobilisation, humanitarian needs would continue to overwhelm response capacities. The urgency is real, and inaction is no longer an option,” Batalingaya warned.

BLUSHING bride Katie Price has got pal Kerry Katona’s seal of approval for her husband, Lee Andrews – and shown off her new ‘bubble butt’.

The newly-married star has introduced her spouse Lee to former Atomic Kitten singer Kerry – just weeks after they shocked fans with their whirlwind marriage.

Lee posted the holiday photos on his Instagram Stories – marking Katie’s recent return to the Middle East.

She displayed the results of her £2k bum lift as she posed in snaps with Lee, Kerry and her Celebs Go Dating boyfriend Paolo Margaglione.

The foursome posed for pictures together while enjoying their Dubai getaway.

Bikini-clad Kerry and Katie looked relaxed and happy as they styled out some pictures in the sunshine showing off their toned figures and tattoos.

PRICE OF LOVE

Katie Price’s family fear she could be conned into giving cash to new husband

LOVE BUBBLE

Katie Price reunites with husband Lee after defying family to fly on honeymoon

New wife Katie looked red-hot in a coral red string bikini with her long dark hair down.

Kerry appeared to be a cream dream in a two-piece bikini with her long blonde hair down, while she accessorised with sunglasses and a big smile.

She posed with her arms around her friend’s new husband – which he shared on his social media.

Katie and Kerry were all smiles as they embraced each other in a sweet snap with their heads together.

They also pulled out all the stops for a picture with Katie’s new man in the middle with their hands on their hips.

Lee has shared numerous snaps of the couple since Katie arrived in Dubai on Sunday to celebrate their nuptials.

The couple, who got engaged and married in the UAE, have spent the last two weeks apart because Katie returned home to the UK and Lee stayed in Dubai.

The mum-of-five has gone against the judgement of her nearest and dearest by flying out to see Lee, after her family were left “deeply concerned” by the romance.

Alarm bells rang for Katie’s family when Lee got down on one knee after just weeks of knowing Katie, and married her a day later.

However, the TV star and model spoke out on the romance for the first time over the weekend, assuring worried fans she knows exactly what she’s doing.

Katie told fans while packing for her Dubai trip: “I bet everyone’s thinking, What’s going on in the Katie Price world? Well, you guys tell me because I’m reading it as it unfolds, just like you guys.

“I’m fully aware like everyone else. I see stuff, I get sent stuff. What I want everyone to know is, I’m a grown a**e woman. 

“I’m 48 this year, I’m not a young kid. I’ve learned a lot in the past few years, through therapy and learning to love myself. 

“So I’m not stupid, I know what I’m doing and if I’m happy that’s all that matters.”

Defending the marriage, she added: “I’m not worried, so you don’t need to worry about anything.

“Like I say, I will do what I want to do.”

Questionable information about self-proclaimed millionaire Lee has come to light.

Last month, The Sun exposed him as a real life ‘Walter Mitty’, with the ‘businessman’ also having numerous AI-generated pictures with celebrities on his social media.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s coalition won 352 of the 465 seats in the lower house of Parliament, its best result ever at the polls. Experts say the decisive victory will pave the way for a defence expansion that China has condemned as a return to militarism.

For the second straight Winter Olympics, Mathilde Gremaud bests Eileen Gu in the women’s blue ribband freeski event.

Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud has retained her Olympic title in the slopestyle freestyle skiing competition at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games in a gripping race in the Italian Alpine town of Livigno.

China’s Eileen Gu, who had been hoping to convert her Beijing 2022 silver medal into gold this time, came in second on Monday after tumbling at the start of her last run.

Canada’s Megan Oldham, ⁠24, took the bottom step of the podium despite a big crash on her second run.

Earning herself a day-late birthday present, Gremaud skied well above the already very high bar set by Gu on her first run with three spectacular runs of her own, wearing the Swiss flag like a cape as she came down the last time, having already ensured herself the gold medal.

Gremaud rolls out new trick

On a crisp and sunny day in the high-altitude ski resort close to the Swiss border, Gremaud kicked off the final by performing – ⁠for the first time by a woman – an elite-level trick known as the nose butter double cork 1260.

In this trick, the skier presses the tips of the skis on the takeoff to start the spin and then performs a double cork 1260, two distinct off-axis, inverted flips combined with three-and-a-half full, horizontal rotations.

Known for her variety of tricks on the slope, the Swiss champion veered towards the very technical ones, followed by breathtaking acrobatic jumps during her second run, earning her the eventual highest score overall of 86.96, just pipping Gu’s first-run score of 86.58.

Despite the big crash on her second run, ‌Oldham picked up in the third run, soaring through the rails and performing conservative yet still very acrobatic jumps at the end, winning her a score of 76.46.

At the end of the race and during the prize-giving ceremony, the crowd was painted in different hues of red as the ‌flags of the three winning countries – Switzerland, China and Canada – all waved in the air to the beat of loud music and cheering. The medals were handed out by Britain’s ‌Princess Anne, a former Olympic equestrian.

High competition

Double Olympic champion Gu, 22, set ⁠the bar high on the first run with big tricks on the rails and stunning jumps, adding flair to all of her tricks and putting herself in first place early on.

After a poor second run when she stumbled on the rails at the beginning of the beautifully sculpted piste, Gu knew ‌she would need something special on her final run to grab the title away from Gremaud. But she tumbled into the snow almost immediately, ending her hopes of reclaiming top spot in the competition.

American-born Gu, who represents her mother’s country of China at the Olympics, said last week that she had nothing left to prove after her two gold and one silver medal from Beijing.

She will be defending her big air and halfpipe titles later in the Games.

The late afternoon sun was setting over Coldwater Canyon when the bus arrived. Students from Boyle Heights’ Bravo High spilled out into TreePeople, a nature reserve and nonprofit in Coldwater Canyon Park, and took off hiking.

As they looked around the sage and monkeyflower-lined path, their chatter quieted, and soon, they were writing poetry.

Alina Sadibekova, a junior at the magnet medical school, sat under native oak trees, breathing in the soil-rich air with a pen in hand.

“Our city is very busy, especially living in L.A. where everything just goes on and on and it feels like there’s never a point where we can take a breath,” Alina said. “Going to the parks helped me ground myself.”

During a field trip to Gabrielino Springs and the L.A. River Gardens, Bravo High School students from Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks work on poems inspired by the landscape.

(Genesis Sierra)

TreePeople, is one of many green spaces she has visited with Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks, a program dreamed up by the West Hollywood poet laureate, Jen Cheng, in partnership with Bravo High English teacher Steve “Mr. V” Valenzuela. Cheng’s aim is for poetry, nature and Chinese principles to inspire a love for nature in students otherwise surrounded by concrete.

“I think as humans, we’re part of nature, so being better connected to nature actually brings you more home to yourself,” Cheng said. She explains that feng shui, the ancient Chinese practice of arranging a space to encourage harmony, is based on five natural elements: water, wood, fire, earth and metal.

“Feng shui, in poetry, is a lens that you can use to process big ideas using your surroundings,” Cheng said. “You can say, ‘Let’s write about water running down a river,’ not literally, but maybe as a metaphor for migration.”

Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks has grant funding through 2026’s spring semester, but next school year is still up in the air. Cheng says she’s looking for other grants, but as the Trump administration cuts humanities funding, including National Endowment for the Arts grants, the options are scarce.

As the oldest of five growing up in Oakland, Cheng felt seen for the first time when she discovered poetry in elementary school. It was inspired by her most cherished memories: field trips. At the time, her immigrant family worked to the point where they were often “too busy for nature.” During field trips, it was exciting, she said, to be out of Oakland’s urban landscape and in parks that felt rare in her working-class experience.

Decades after her elementary school field trips, as a newly appointed poet laureate for West Hollywood, she envisioned a way to mirror this childhood experience.

Poets laureate, whose role is to champion and encourage poetry in their community, are eligible for a $50,000 nationwide grant through the Academy of American Poets to support “meaningful, impactful and innovative projects,” according to the AAP.

As a recipient of this grant, Cheng brought Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks to life with one final addition — a teacher with a passion for poetry, who could connect her to a classroom of students.

Everyone she spoke to, she said, pointed her to the same person — “Mr. V.”

Jen Cheng, left, and Steve Valenzuela, right, close the Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks reading with words of encouragement for the students who shared their poetry at Bravo High School on Dec. 4, 2025. Both instructors have said that they were surprised by the emotion and creativity the students demonstrated in their poems.

(Kayte Deioma)

A sanctuary for ‘lifesaving’ creativity

When you enter Valenzuela’s classroom, the walls are covered with dozens of CD sleeves, from Deftones to Rage Against the Machine. In the gaps, student artwork, notes and photos with current and former students hang.

Valenzuela leads Bravo High’s poetry club, KEEPERS, and for the last few years, he’s guided the students to win awards at international poetry slam Get Lit.

“Poetry is expression, poetry is life-changing, lifesaving, which sounds very dramatic, but it’s not. Some of the things the students have written about are very traumatic,” Valenzuela said. “I’ve seen them work through difficult experiences and come out of it using poetry.”

One such student is 17-year-old Paige Thibodeaux. “I used to think it was better to be closed off, but throughout this, I was able to show my friends and peers who I am,” Paige said. “I didn’t think that’s something I could do and I’m here now.”

Paige, who lives with her family in Compton, recalled having her guard up as she walked through her neighborhood, where she said expression through poetry felt inaccessible.

“I don’t see a lot of kids doing things like this,” she said.

Student poets, friends and family members gather before the start of the Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks poetry reading and zine release at Bravo High School on Dec. 4, 2025.

(Kayte Deioma)

Working on a book, she said, opened up a whole new side of her. She started to confide in friends about stress, or things that bothered her, which otherwise would have stayed inside.

‘I still don’t believe it’

Since August 2025, Paige and her classmates have developed their poems, received feedback from Cheng and submitted their final pieces to be published as a poetry collection.

The cover, designed by Bravo student Adrian Lopez, depicts a tree wrapping around the spine. The poems are rooted in their observations of current affairs and native plants; the publication was completed in December, when Valenzuela and Cheng planned for a reading and celebration of their work at Bravo High.

“Did you guys know your work is going to be read across the country?” Cheng said to students in class one day. “I’m sending it all the way to New York!”

“Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks Vol. 1” is being printed as a zine and will be sent to bookstores and libraries from San Francisco to Chicago as well as the Library of Congress.

Students giggled and gasped in disbelief. “No pressure, I guess,” one student joked.

“It’s really crazy, I still don’t believe it. It’s been a dream of mine,” Alina said. “I never realized I could be a published author as a junior in high school.”

The night of the poetry reading, students, parents and friends gathered in excitement in Bravo High School’s library, settling in rows before a single microphone. Out in the hallway, the raucous chatter of teenagers echoed in the halls, and cars honked on the busy street outside to pick them up. But inside the haven of the library, there was a quiet settling among the crowd for the long-awaited show.

Alina Sadibekova reads her poems “I Want to Fly” and “Messy” for the Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks reading at Bravo High School on Dec. 4, 2025. She says writing poetry over the course of the program “grounded” her and alleviated the stress of school.

(Kayte Deioma)

Aolani “Lani” Alarcon approached the mic to hushed voices. As the lights lowered, she thanked the crowd, the white flower tucked in her hair catching the light as she recited her first poem, “White Sage.”

She says poetry didn’t always come easily to her. “One of the biggest things I struggle with is judgment, so opening up or writing about touchy subjects or things that mean something to me was hard,” Lani said. “Knowing that I wouldn’t be judged, or that people would actually like what I write, means a lot.”

The 16-year-old smiled as she read, describing sage as an ancestor’s prayer. Her next poem, “Hummingbird,” delved into grief.

“You teach me that healing isn’t forgetting,” she read, tears welling. “It’s learning to carry love without breaking under it.”

Manuel Alarcon, her father, was seated in the crowd, clasping his hands in rapt attention. When the readings had finished, he pulled Lani into a long embrace.

“These field trips, it exposed them outside of city life,” Alarcon said. “There’s more than opening a book, listening to a teacher. You need that outside exposure to really understand life. And inner city kids don’t have that. I want [my daughter] to be part of breaking a cycle.”

Valenzuela clapped loudly and cheered as each student stepped off the podium.

“When young voices, and voices from marginalized communities tend to be silenced, sometimes we internalize that and silence ourselves,” Valenzuela said. “I want them to feel like they can speak up.”

As Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks carries on for another semester— maybe its last — students continue to explore writing poetry in the greens of L.A. parks. Some, like 17-year-old Saneli Soto, express themselves along the way.

Saneli’s poem reads:

I’m used to concrete floors
And concrete walls.
I’m used to five story buildings.
I needed a quiet place.
Where I could just lie in the grass.

Feb. 9 (UPI) — Iranian Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Narges Mohammadi has been sentenced to a second prison sentence by the Iranian courts while still serving her first sentence.

Mohammadi, who accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023 while in prison, was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for “gathering and collusion,” and “propaganda activities” against the Islamic Republic Regime, her attorney announced Sunday.

Mohammadi was detained on Dec. 12 for making “provocative remarks.” Her family said that during her arrest, she was beaten by Iranian authorities and had to be hospitalized.

Nili said in a statement that Mohammadi was sentenced at Branch 1 of the Mashhad Revolutionary Court. It was the first time she had spoken to her attorney since Dec. 14.

Mohammadi, 53, was on the sixth day of a hunger strike but ended it on Sunday.

“Given Narges Mohammadi’s critical history, including heart attacks, chest pain, high blood pressure, as well as spinal disc issues and other illnesses, her continued detention is life threatening and a violation of human rights laws,” a statement from the Narges Mohammadi Foundation said.

Nili added that Mohammadi was hospitalized last week due to her “poor physical condition.”

Mohammadi faces more than 17 years in prison. In total, she has been sentenced to 44 years in prison. She has also been banned from leaving Iran for two years and is ordered to live in “internal exile” for two years.

The Human Rights Activists News Agency reported last month that more than 5,000 people have been executed by Iranian authorities amid widespread protests.

Iran has a long history of coups, revolutions and invasions, leaving it with a complex web of economic, religious and military alliances.

On paper, it’s meant to create a balance between theocracy and democracy. In reality, only one man is truly in control.