Rallies held across the world in support of Iran’s anti-government protesters 15. February 2026 (17:47) Reza Pahlavi, son of the last shah, tells 200,000 in Munich he is ready to lead country to a ‘secular democratic future’Hundreds of thousands of people have taken part in rallies around the world to show their solidarity with anti-government demonstrators in Iran whose continued protests have been met with brutal and deadly repression.On Saturday, Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah, addressed a crowd of 200,000 people in Munich, telling them he was ready to lead the country to a “secular democratic future”. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
US forces board second Venezuela‑linked oil tanker in Indian Ocean 15. February 2026 (17:30) Pentagon tracked sanctioned Veronica III from Caribbean Sea after it left Venezuela on day Maduro was capturedUS military forces boarded another sanctioned tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking the vessel from the Caribbean Sea in an effort to target illicit oil connected to Venezuela, the Pentagon said on Sunday.Venezuela had faced US sanctions on its oil for several years, relying on a shadow fleet of falsely flagged tankers to smuggle crude into global supply chains. President Donald Trump ordered a quarantine of sanctioned tankers in December to pressure then president Nicolás Maduro before Maduro was apprehended in January during an American military operation. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
EU foreign policy chief criticises ‘fashionable euro-bashing’ by the US 15. February 2026 (17:23) Kaja Kallas says other countries ‘look up to us’ and rejects idea Europe faces ‘civilisational erasure’The EU’s foreign policy chief denied claims levelled by the US that Europe was facing civilisational erasure, rejecting what she condemned as “fashionable euro-bashing” by Washington.Kaja Kallas also insisted the US was discovering that it could not settle the war in Ukraine without Europe’s involvement and consent. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Offer to join Trump’s new era is met with growing sense of European steeliness 15. February 2026 (17:03) Talk of a stronger, independent Europe was the dominant mood in Munich amid bitter disagreement on UkraineIf JD Vance’s thuggish speech to last year’s Munich Security Conference, directed at the solar plexus of Europe, marked the moment when a transatlantic breakup started, this weekend’s conference, in a rainy and cold Bavaria, was where the debate about the terms of the divorce settlement got under way.Marco Rubio, the chosen Washington representative this year, is a diplomat, so he softened the Trumpian tone with references to German beer, the Beatles, Dante and the Mayflower. But his speech was a stern warning that if Europe wanted to continue on its path of civilisational decline, as this US administration sees it, America would not be interested and has different hemispheres on which to focus. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Starmer facing calls for inquiry into Labour thinktank’s investigation of journalists 15. February 2026 (16:48) Cabinet Office minister commissioned report that made ‘baseless claims’ about reporters who were investigating Labour TogetherKeir Starmer is facing calls by MPs for an inquiry into the commissioning of a report that made “baseless claims” about journalists who were investigating a thinktank linked to the prime minister.The calls add to pressure on the Cabinet Office minister Josh Simons, who commissioned a report in 2023 on journalists investigating Labour Together, the thinktank that would help propel Starmer to power. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Renderings show most detailed vision for Trump’s White House ballroom 15. February 2026 (16:38) Trump sparked public backlash when he abruptly began demolishing the East Wing to clear space for his ballroomNew renderings released this week provide the most detailed vision yet of Donald Trump’s proposed $400m White House ballroom addition.The renderings, submitted by the project’s architects and released on Friday by the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), depict a vast sprawling structure, expected to be around 90,000sq ft, from multiple angles. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Jonathan Powell rejects overtures to replace McSweeney as Starmer’s chief of staff 15. February 2026 (16:32) Exclusive: National security adviser previously held the role under Blair but is considering plans to step down this yearJonathan Powell, Keir Starmer’s national security adviser (NSA), has rejected overtures to become the prime minister’s chief of staff after the resignation of Morgan McSweeney, the Guardian has been told.Powell’s allies say his decision not to take forward discussions about the job – the same role he undertook under Tony Blair’s premiership from 1997 to 2007 – was largely motivated by an intention to return to the mediation consultancy that he set up in 2011, with little interest in returning to a job he has already done. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Jess Phillips calls for Epstein files to be catalyst for long-term legislative change 15. February 2026 (16:00) Safeguarding minister says she wants to use momentum to invest in prevention and get more than quick-fix policiesRead Jess Phillips’ article: We owe it to every Epstein victim to better protect British women and girlsInstitutions can be persuaded to take action on violence against women and girls only when some sort of “calamity” or “political scandal” hits the headlines, Jess Phillips has said.Phillips, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, said she wanted to use the momentum from the Epstein files to push for long-term legislative change and greater support for survivors, rather than quick-fix reactive policy announcements. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘I was so scared’: US trial witnesses allege Alexander brothers worked together to rape women 15. February 2026 (16:00) Real estate agent brothers Tal, Oren and Alon Alexander – known as ‘closers’ – are on trial in New York for sex traffickingIn their time as real estate brokers, the Israeli-American Alexander brothers – twins Alon and Oren and older brother Tal – were known as “closers”, the salesmen who could a get a sale over finish line, often to wealthy hedge funders who were then making hay in aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.Their technique, one real estate expert explained outside the 26th floor of the federal court house in lower Manhattan last week, was based on the sense that the property salesman “were just like their clients” – young, eager and successful. Kim Kardashian and then-husband Kanye West, Jared and Ivanka Trump were clients. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Welsh munitions factory seen as crucial to boosting stockpiles is still yet to open 15. February 2026 (15:00) Exclusive: Delay at Glascoed is latest setback for armed forces and for UK’s capacity to supply shells to UkraineA new factory in Wales seen as crucial to boosting UK munitions production remains unopened more than six months after its planned launch, adding to a string of delays dogging the armed forces.The explosives facility at Glascoed, south Wales, was expected to bring a 16-fold increase in Britain’s capacity to make artillery shells, replenishing dwindling stock and increasing supplies for Ukraine. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
