Category: Evening Report

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra

The Albanese government has backed the American strike on Iran, while confirming Australia was not given prior warning.

Federal cabinet’s national security committee met early Sunday. Although supporting what has been done, the government is emphasising Australia is not a central player in Middle East issues.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said after the death of Ayatollah Khamenei was confirmed that “his passing will not be mourned.”

In a joint statement, Albanese, Defence Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong said: “It has long been recognised that Iran’s nuclear program is a threat to global peace and security.

“The international community has been clear that the Iranian regime can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon.

“We support the United States acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent Iran continuing to threaten international peace and security.”

Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson told the ABC: “A coordinated attack to address what has been an ongoing build-up of their nuclear programme is something that’s very good for international peace and security. Of course, we hope the situation is contained.”

Shadow foreign minister Ted O’Brien said: “Our position is clear: Israel has the right to defend itself and Iranians have the right to live free of oppression.”

But Greens leader, Larissa Waters, said: “The Greens condemn these illegal, abhorrent and unilateral attacks. Australians do not want to be dragged into another US-Israeli war.

“Australia’s support of Trump and Netanyahu’s illegal attack last night was disgraceful. We cannot bomb our way to peace.”

A sceptical note from within the Coalition came from Nationals senator Matt Canavan. He told The Conversation “not a single regime change war has left the world a better place in my lifetime – not sure why this would be any different”.

Canavan said it was great to see the Ayatollah gone. “But it was great to see Saddam and Gaddafi gone too. Now things are much worse for those countries and the region. Add the Taliban to that list too.”

Shadow industry minister Andrew Hastie, an Afghanistan veteran, said: “As a veteran of the so-called forever wars, I’m very suspicious about regime change by force. But Iran has a terrible regime – they’re a proxy, they’re underwritten by Chinese and Russian tech,” he told Sky News.

The Iranians orchestrated two attacks in Australia in 2024, one of them the firebombing of the Adass Synagogue in Melbourne. Iran’s ambassador was later expelled.

Asked whether the weekend attack was legal and whether he was concerned this might erode further the international rules-based order, Albanese said those judgements were for the US and those involved directly.

He said he hoped the actions taken would lead to a “swift  resolution”.

Wong said Australia did not want to see the situation escalate into a wider regional war. “We seek the resumption of dialogue and diplomacy”, she said. “We join our partners in calling on all parties to adhere to international humanitarian law.”

On whether Australia had any prior warning, Wong said: “We weren’t told in advance. You wouldn’t expect us to be.

“We are not at the centre of the issues in the Middle East but we obviously play a role in the international community.”

Quizzed on whether Australia supported regime change, Wong said, “We stand with the people of Iran in fighting against  an oppressive regime. Ultimately, Iran’s future must be determined by the people of Iran.”

Australians in Iran continue to be advised to leave if it is safe to do so, which is difficult given the air space is closed.

The government said its ability to provide consular assistance in Iran was “extremely limited”. The Australian embassy is closed.

As well as being advised not to travel to Iran Australians are also advised not to travel to Israel, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain, among other countries in the region.

Australians requiring urgent consular assistance can contact the Consular Emergency Centre 24/7 on 1300 555 135 in Australia or +61 2 6261 3305 from outside Australia.

The local Iranian community in Australia numbers some 50,000, with many anxiously trying to contact family and friends in Iran.

– ref. Bipartisan support for US attack on Iran, but Greens say it is ‘abhorrent’ – https://theconversation.com/bipartisan-support-for-us-attack-on-iran-but-greens-say-it-is-abhorrent-277187

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/02/bipartisan-support-for-us-attack-on-iran-but-greens-say-it-is-abhorrent-277187/

COMMENTARY: By Eugene Doyle

When I heard the terrible news that the Americans and Israelis had killed more than 165 children this week in an elementary school in Minab in Southern Iran it took me back to a wonderful day I spent in Isfahan in 2018.

I met lots of Iranian school children and their teachers that day. They were keen to practise their English and ask lots of questions. I want to share that day with you because it was filled with hope, with promise for a better world.

My wife and I were visiting Iran, both for the second time.

Right at the end of our time there we spent a day in Naqsh-e Jahan Square in Isfahan. It is a massive square that could enclose a dozen football fields.

Built by Shah Abbas I in the 17th Century, during the Safavid period, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site with markets, palaces and other cultural sites framing its four sides.  At one end is the magnificent Imam Mosque where a string of memorable moments happened to me.

I even saw a most astonishing one-woman demonstration.

We were just approaching the Imam Mosque when I noticed a young woman removing her head scarf. A mass of black hair fell down to her waist and then she began dancing.

‘Is this a protest?’
Rhythmically she swirled her upper body in a circular motion that sent her hair out horizontally around her. I was gob-smacked.

After a minute or two she stopped and started talking to her male companion who had been photographing her. I approached.

“Is this a protest?” I asked, somewhat gormlessly.  Yes, against the clothing restrictions.

Today the courage and determination of such people has, to a degree, paid off. Those restrictions, particularly in the cities, have effectively been lightened.  I have seen lots of footage of Iranian women without any head covering.

I salute their courage and determination and know their struggle will continue.

I also salute the courage and determination of the millions of Iranians who have turned out this week to support their government against the violent assault on the sovereignty of Iran by the racist, fascist genocidal Israeli state and its powerful vassal the USA.

Following the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, I saw remarkable footage of that same vast square in Isfahan filled to the four corners with what must have been hundreds of thousands of people. As with millions around the country, they were defying the missiles to protest the violation of their sovereignty.

The inconvenient truth
The scale of the pro-government demonstrations is virtually never shown in the Western media but to understand the contested political landscape that is Iran you need to understand that inconvenient truth.

Iranian politics in the Western view has been reduced to a cartoon, to a Manichean world of black and white — which partly explains why Westerners, most particularly the leaders, fail to grasp the fierce nationalism that has seen millions of Iranians rally round their government as their state comes under an existential threat.

That day in 2018 in that square I chatted with pro-government and anti-government people; all incredibly nice and open and welcoming. Everyone was keen to discuss Iran and the wider world.

There were lots of school parties and both the teachers and their students were keen to speak with us. It was an unalloyed pleasure for us. Iranians are remarkably hospitable, cultured and kind. For me, they are the finest people in the Middle East.

That is partly why I felt sad and bitter when I watched the footage of the bombed-out Shajareh Tayyebeh girls elementary school (6-12 year-olds) in Minab and heard the screams of mothers calling for children whom they will never walk to school again.

The Western empire has a long history of killing children. I recently referenced Madeleine Albright’s infamous comment on the killing of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children being “a price worth paying”.

This is just standard modus operandi for the West.

Protected by Mossad
Israeli football hooligans travel through Europe chanting “Why is school out in Gaza? Because there are no kids left!” They are protected by Mossad, local police and politicians like British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Australian PM Anthony Albanese recently welcomed Isaac Herzog, the President of Israel, who in October 2023 said: “It is an entire nation out there that is responsible.”

This is as clear a statement of genocidal intent as you could get and Israel made good on it.

Israel, the killer of tens of thousands of school kids, presents itself as a liberator for Iran? You don’t have to be an A-grade student to spot that lie.

Many people around the Western world want to commit the children of Iran into the hands of the President of the United States.

According to US Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA), Vice-Chair of the House Democratic Caucus: “In the Epstein files, there’s highly disturbing allegations of Donald Trump raping children, of Donald Trump threatening to kill children.”

Lieu, one of the architects of the Epstein Files Transparency Act is also one of those legislators who has had access to some of the files still kept out of the public record.

Iranian children have as much right to grow up in safety as our own children.

infamous bro-talk
We should all also recall Trump’s infamous bro-talk with the vile radio host Howard Stern. Stern asked if he could refer to Ivanka Trump as a “piece of ass,” and Donald Trump salivated back at him: “Yeah.”

While they were joking about this “piece of ass”, Trump said he would try to date Ivanka if she wasn’t his daughter. It is a relevant anecdote because we live in the age of American Geopolitical Epsteinism — a world of predators seeking to violate those weaker than them.

You don’t have to like the Iranian government to support the UN Charter and the insistence on the sovereign equality of nations.

Nothing in the Charter says it is okay for powerful white countries to attack other countries.  The West needs to bring its leaders to justice for the crime of genocide not launch yet another war on innocents.

Hands off Iran, Netanyahu. Hands off the children of Iran, Trump.

Eugene Doyle is a community organiser based in Wellington, publisher of Solidarity and a contributor to Asia Pacific Report. His first demonstration was at the age of 12 against the Vietnam war. This article was first published by Solidarity on 2 March 2026.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/02/minab-school-massacre-hands-off-the-children-of-iran-donald-trump/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hayley O’Neill, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University

Have you ever heard someone claim they have a “fast metabolism”? This typically means they can eat whatever they want without gaining weight.

Meanwhile, others blame their inability to lose weight on having a “slow metabolism”.

But can you actually have a fast or slow metabolism? Let’s see what the science says.

Remind me, what’s metabolism?

Metabolism refers to all the chemical processes which allow your body to function. This includes everything from breathing to circulating blood and repairing cells.

When we talk about metabolism in the context of weight, we’re usually referring to metabolic rate. This is a measure of how quickly your body converts food and stored energy into usable fuel.

To understand how your metabolism works, it’s helpful to know these four terms:

• basal metabolic rate, which is the amount of energy your body uses to keep itself running when at rest. It usually accounts for about 60% to 75% of your daily energy use. It is largely determined by body size, but factors such as age, sex, race, and height may also contribute

• diet-induced thermogenesis, which is the amount of energy you use while digesting and processing food. It usually accounts for between 10% and 15% of your daily energy use

• non-exercise activity thermogenesis, which is the amount of energy you use for everyday movements such as fidgeting, standing and walking. It generally accounts for between 20 and 30% of the energy you use each day

• exercise activity thermogenesis, which is the amount of energy you use while doing structured physical activity, such as going for a run or lifting weights at the gym. It usually represents 10 to 50% of your daily energy use, but this varies depending on how active you are.

So, can I have a ‘slow’ or ‘fast’ metabolism?

The answer is: it’s complicated.

If you have a condition called hypermetabolism, you could technically say you have a fast metabolism. Hypermetabolism occurs where your resting energy expenditure, or the amount of energy you use while your body is at rest, is at least 10% higher than average. Hypermetabolism is mainly associated with medical conditions such as hyperthyroidism, diabetes and certain genetic disorders.

In contrast, there are two conditions which may slow your metabolism. These are hypothyroidism (where your thyroid gland releases fewer hormones than normal) and polycystic ovary syndrome (which affects how the ovaries work). Both conditions can cause you to gain weight because they reduce how much energy your body uses while at rest. In this way, they could be said to give you a slow metabolism.

However, these three conditions tend to arise when your metabolism isn’t working as it should. So if you are generally healthy, your metabolic rate should stay within a normal range without significant highs and lows.

What actually does affect your metabolism?

There are many different factors. These include:

Genetics

We can observe the effect of genetics on metabolism in studies examining weight loss in identical twins. One study looked at pairs of identical female twins who were put on a calorie-restricted diet. It found these twins lost a similar amount of weight. In comparison, the researchers recorded significant variation in how much weight non-twins lost under the same conditions.

Eating habits

What and how often we eat shapes how much energy we consume each day. This is why dietary choices can affect your metabolic rate. However, there are some misconceptions to clear up. These include the idea that eating small, frequent meals boosts your metabolism. Shortening your feeding window may help you lose weight. But on the whole, timing matters less than how much food you actually eat. If you do lose weight, your body may respond by burning fewer calories. This process, known as adaptive thermogenesis, can make losing more weight difficult.

Exercise

Let’s compare two people of a similar weight: one who works at a desk and one who has an active job. Even if neither does structured exercise, the latter may use up to 1,000 calories more per day than her sedentary colleague.

And that’s before you add formal exercise, such as going for a run, into the mix. On a biological level, muscle tissue burns more energy compared to fat tissue. This means doing resistance training, which is designed to build muscle, may increase your metabolic rate.

Sleep

Current research suggests sleep deprivation does not reduce metabolic rate. However, it may cause your body to produce more hunger-inducing hormones such as ghrelin, which tells your brain to eat. But we need more research in this space.

But these ‘metabolism myths’ are still around today?

Yes. Here are three reasons why.

1. They’re easy to understand

If you struggle with losing or maintaining a healthy weight, it’s easier to say you have a slow metabolism than to unpack the many interacting factors that influence weight.

2. They’re embedded in diet culture

Many products claim to boost metabolism without providing any scientific evidence. Some weight loss drugs may increase your metabolic rate, but only for a few hours at most.

3. They’re difficult to disprove

It’s difficult to accurately measure how your body uses energy. This is because you generally consume and use a different number of calories each day. Current methods of measuring energy use can be expensive and time-consuming to run.

The bottom line

Many different factors influence your metabolic rate. So to understand how our bodies work, we need to debunk the idea that people are born with either a “fast” or “slow” metabolism. Our bodies are much more nuanced, and fascinating, than that.

– ref. Can you actually have a ‘slow’ or ‘fast’ metabolism? – https://theconversation.com/can-you-actually-have-a-slow-or-fast-metabolism-275556

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/02/can-you-actually-have-a-slow-or-fast-metabolism-275556/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Thomas, Lecturer in Middle East Studies, Deakin University

US-Israeli joint strikes on Iran over the weekend have seen war break out in the region once again and the death of Iran’s supreme leader. Iran has retaliated with volleys of ballistic missiles and drones targeted at Israel, but also several of its Persian Gulf neighbours.

Iran has launched hundreds of missiles and drones across the gulf, at targets in United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, grounding planes as a result. This is in spite of none of these nations coordinating officially with the US and Israel in their initial operations.

This is a deliberate strategy by the Iranian government, designed to exact early and substantial costs on its neighbours and overall stability in the region.

An unpopular neighbour

In spite of Iran’s relative size and military power in the region, the Iranian government is not well liked by its neighbours. At best, Iran is seen as a rival, at worst an adversary.

Saudi Arabia and Iran have spent more than a decade in a proxy war over Yemen.

Iran also claimed historical ownership over Bahrain as recently as December last year.

[embedded content]

The rest of the gulf states, namely the UAE, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar, have fostered more pragmatic relations with Iran by keeping regular diplomatic channels open and offering to mediate disputes within the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Despite simmering tensions, Iran has never been in a direct military confrontation with any of these states.

So why send the bombs?

Almost all of the gulf states have one important thing in common: they all have security guarantees from the US and host US military bases.

Iran sees this as one of the most effective ways it can retaliate for a few reasons. Firstly, these bases are firmly in the range of its most plentiful ballistic missiles.

Bases in the gulf also have significant strategic value to the US. The base struck in Bahrain over the weekend was the headquarters of the US Fifth Navy Fleet.

Al Udeid Airbase, just outside of Doha, the capital of Qatar, was also targeted with Iranian ballistic missiles. Al Udeid is home to US Central Command (US-CENTCOM), coordinating military operations across the region. It’s also home to 10,000 US troops – the most in the area.

However, Iran is aware of how sophisticated US early warning systems are and likely doesn’t expect to significantly damage US infrastructure.

What’s the aim then?

Instead, the strategy is to make the region less stable and ensure all its neighbours feel it. It’s effectively vowing that if operations continue, the relative peace and prosperity the gulf has enjoyed will come to an end.

Iran is hoping its neighbours will see this as a war of choice by the US and Israel, with them being dragged into the hostilities. Gulf states will be forced to either double-down on their alliance with the US or work toward deescalation.

It’s not clear if this strategy will pay off. It’s possible this could lead to even more military pressure on Iran if the gulf states become more involved in operations.

At the same time, the increasingly strained relations between the gulf states and Israel over the last two years would likely make several of them reluctant to get more involved.

It’s also impossible for Iran to keep this strategy up indefinitely. Even though it has the region’s most extensive and varied arsenal of missiles, at some point it will run out of ordnance. Other countries may choose to just wait it out.

Iran has made this kind of action a signature of its long-held “forward defence” strategy – attacking targets far away from its borders to show the depth of its reach. Using its drone and missile arsenal is simply one way to tell the region, and the world, the regime will not go quietly.

Dragging the whole region into chaos

Alongside this, Iran has a damaged, but still far-reaching network of independent proxies across the region. Groups in Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon are likely to stay loyal to the Islamic Republic and employ long-term insurgent strategies in its name.

The Lebanese paramilitary group Hezbollah has already fired projectiles into Israel. This has restarted hostilities across the Lebanese border, opening up another front for Israel.

The Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil travels, is another part of the region Iran can weaponise. Already, two oil tankers have been attacked in the strait and the price of Brent Crude has risen 13%.

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Read more: Trump and Netanyahu want regime change, but Iran’s regime was built for survival. A long war is now likely

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Put another way, the extent of these attacks are a signal. These are not the same as the calculated deescalatory strikes Iran conducted in 2024 and 2025.

This war is existential for the Islamic Republic. Its strikes across the gulf are designed as a reminder that it will do all it can to drag the entire region into chaos, uncertainty and instability to save itself.

At a minimum, Iran wishes to create political consequences for all involved. The question is whether the regime will survive long enough for these consequences to have an effect.

– ref. Why did Iran bomb Dubai? A Middle East expert explains the regional alliances at play – https://theconversation.com/why-did-iran-bomb-dubai-a-middle-east-expert-explains-the-regional-alliances-at-play-277218

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/02/why-did-iran-bomb-dubai-a-middle-east-expert-explains-the-regional-alliances-at-play-277218/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hussein Dia, Professor of Transport Technology and Sustainability, Swinburne University of Technology

As Israel and the United States strike Iran, global oil markets are on edge.

Oil prices have begun rising even before any disruption to supply. Oil traders are factoring in the possibility the Strait of Hormuz might close.

Roughly 20% of the world’s traded oil passes through this narrow waterway between Iran to the north and Oman and the United Arab Emirate to the south. One oil tanker has been bombed and traffic has all but halted. In global energy markets, the mere threat of interruption can push prices higher.

Oil isn’t like most commodities. Control of the energy-dense fuel shapes geopolitics. Three-quarters of the world’s population live in countries dependent on oil imports for cars, trucks and other uses. Controlling the flow of oil and, increasingly, gas, has long been used as leverage, from the oil shocks of the 1970s to Russia cutting European gas supplies in 2022.

Any serious disruption to tanker traffic in the Gulf would send shockwaves through global oil markets and threaten economic stability. Long queues have already been reported in Australia as motorists vie to fill up before possible price spikes.

As international tensions increase, nations from Cuba to Ukraine to Ethiopia are accelerating plans to reduce their oil dependence and boost energy security.

Half a century of oil leverage

The power of oil became obvious during the 1973 oil embargo, when major Middle East oil producers slashed supply in a bid to reshape US foreign policy. Prices quadrupled, economies stalled and energy security became a central political issue almost overnight. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries have since coordinated supply to drive up prices.

Today, the mechanisms of control look different but the power created by oil dependence remains.

Even before US military action, sanctions on major producers such as Iran and Venezuela have cut supply and reshaped trade flows.

[embedded content]

Current tensions near chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz introduce risk premiums into prices.

Oil markets are forward-looking, meaning prices reflect not only current supply and demand but expectations of what might happen next.

The strikes on Iran have seen prices of Brent crude – the global benchmark – trading around US$76 (A$107) per barrel, up from roughly US$68 (A$96) a few weeks earlier. Because prices are global, political instability anywhere can have economic consequences everywhere.

Who’s reducing dependence on oil?

In 2015, India blocked Nepal’s oil imports, triggering chaos. In response, authorities encouraged the very rapid growth of electric vehicles. Oil imports have begun to fall.

More recently, the Russia–Ukraine war and US strikes on Venezuela and Iran have brought new focus on reducing oil imports and bolstering domestic energy security.

In oil-dependent Cuba, US pressure has slashed the supply of oil. Blackouts are common and cars stay put. In response, authorities and businesses are importing 34 times as many Chinese solar panels as they did a year ago. Imports are 34 times higher than a year ago.

It’s not ideology driving this shift – it’s necessity. Electric vehicle imports, too, are soaring. “Cuba may experience the fastest energy transition in the world,” a Cuban economist told The Economist.

Why renewables change the equation

Unlike oil, solar panels and wind turbines can avoid being shipped through maritime chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz. Renewables are not traded in the same globally centralised way. Power is generated locally and increasingly across many smaller sites.

Russia has long targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and power plants during the war. In response, Ukraine is ramping up renewables as fast as possible, as decentralised power generation is much harder to destroy. As a Ukrainian energy expert told Yale360, a single missile “could take out” a coal power station, while a wind farm would require 40 missiles.

Decentralised power is more resilient, meaning damage to one farm won’t collapse the grid.

Resilience through electric transport

Electrification of transport is a key plank of these new approaches to energy security.

Electric vehicles powered by locally-produced electricity reduce exposure to global oil markets. This thinking is visible in Ethiopia’s decision to ban new internal combustion cars.

China imports most of its oil – much of it from Iran. Beijing has been accelerating its rapid shift to electric vehicles. Last year, EVs made up 50% of new cars in China and 12% of the total fleet. China is increasingly using oil to make plastics, not for transport. Last year’s uptick in imports was due to stockpiling of huge volumes amid global uncertainty.

Australia’s exposure

Australia imports the vast majority of its refined fuels. We would have about a month’s worth of petrol before we ran out.

If wars drive up oil prices, pain at the petrol pump will flow through to freight costs, food prices and inflation.

While the EV shift is accelerating, Australia is slow by global standards. Even as electricity rapidly goes green, transport remains overwhelmingly dependent on foreign oil. That leaves Australia exposed.

Energy policy is security policy

Renewables do not eliminate geopolitical risk. Power grids face cyber threats. Critical mineral supply chains introduce new dependencies – and much of today’s solar panel, battery and EV manufacturing is concentrated in China.

But there is a clear structural difference. Decentralised systems are harder to manipulate through supply chokepoints. Solar panels, once installed, generate energy locally. The vulnerability shifts from ongoing fuel imports to upfront manufacturing dependence.

Oil has shaped global politics for decades because it’s transportable, globally traded and only a few countries have large reserves.

Reducing oil dependence is often framed as climate policy. But it is also vital to energy security and national security. Cutting oil use boosts resilience to shocks and reduces the leverage of other nations.

The Iran crisis may not lead to sustained price spikes. Supply may adjust. Markets may stabilise. But leaders will be rethinking the wisdom of exposure to globally traded oil in a volatile world.

– ref. The strikes on Iran show why quitting oil is more important than ever – https://theconversation.com/the-strikes-on-iran-show-why-quitting-oil-is-more-important-than-ever-277192

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/02/the-strikes-on-iran-show-why-quitting-oil-is-more-important-than-ever-277192/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bianca Baggiarini, Lecturer, International Relations, Deakin University

In the leadup to the weekend’s US and Israeli attacks on Iran, the US Department of Defense was locked in tense negotiations with artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic over exactly how the Pentagon could use the firm’s technology.

Anthropic wanted guarantees its Claude systems would not be used for purposes such as domestic surveillance in the US and operating autonomous weapons without human control.

In response, US president Donald Trump on Friday directed all US federal agencies to cease using Anthropic’s technology, saying he would “never allow a radical left, woke company to dictate how our great military fights and wins wars!”

Hours later, rival AI lab OpenAI (maker of ChatGPT) announced it had struck its own deal with the Department of Defense. The key difference appears to be that OpenAI permits “all lawful uses” of its tools, without specifying ethical lines OpenAI won’t cross.

What does this mean for military AI? Is it the end for the idea of “ethical AI” in warfare?

AI companies and regulation

Last week’s events come at what was already a worrying time for AI ethics. The Trump administration last year banned states from regulating AI, claiming that it threatens innovation.

Meanwhile, many AI companies have aligned themselves with the administration, with executives including OpenAI boss Sam Altman making million-dollar donations to Trump’s inauguration fund. (Altman noted at the time that he has also donated to Democratic politicians.)

Anthropic has been less effusive, working on national security while warning that AI can sometimes undermine democracy and that current systems are not reliable enough to power fully autonomous weapons.

An emerging international consensus

Much of the concern around military applications of AI has focused on lethal autonomous weapons systems. These are devices and software which can choose targets and attack them without human intervention.

Just a few years ago, an international consensus about the risks of these weapons seemed to be emerging among governments and technology companies.

In February 2020 the US Department of Defense announced principles for the use of AI across the entire organisation: it needed to be responsible, equitable, traceable, reliable and governable.

Likewise, in 2021 NATO formulated similar principles, as did the United Kingdom in 2022.

The US plays a unique leading role among its international allies in shaping global norms around military conduct. These principles signalled to countries such as Russia, China, Brazil and India how the US and its allies believed military use of AI should be governed.

Military AI and private enterprise

Military AI has relied extensively on partnerships with private industry, as the most advanced technology has been developed by private companies.

Project Maven, which set out in 2017 to increase the use of machine learning and data integration in US military intelligence, relied heavily on commercial tech companies.

The US Defense Innovation Board noted in 2019 that in AI the key data, knowledge and personnel are all in the private sector.

This is still the case today. However, the norms around how AI should be used are shifting rapidly, both in government and in much of the industry.

Trump and Silicon Valley

When Trump was re-elected in 2024, many in Silicon Valley welcomed the prospect of less regulation. Billionaire venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, author of The Techno-Optimist Manifesto, claimed Trump’s victory “felt like a boot off the throat”.

Joe Lonsdale, cofounder of AI-powered data analytics company Palantir, has been another vocal Trump backer. OpenAI president and cofounder Greg Brockman personally gave US$25 million to a Trump-supporting organisation last year.

We are a long way from the days of 2019 and 2020.

AI ethics assumes democratic norms

The question of whether an AI-enabled system is ethical or not is often seen as a question about the technology itself, rather than how it is used.

In this view, with the right design you can make an inherently ethical AI system. This often includes “algorithmic transparency” – being clear and honest about the rules the system uses to make decisions. The idea here is that ethics can be “baked in” to these rules.

The idea of ethical military AI also assumes it is operating under democratic principles. The idea behind algorithmic transparency is that “the people” should know how these systems work, because “the people” ultimately hold power in a democracy.

However, in an autocratic regime it doesn’t matter how transparent the algorithms are. There is no sense that civilians have a stake, and deserve to know what their government is doing, that its activities are in accordance with the law.

Free and public discussion is often seen as a key feature of liberal democracies. While eventual consensus may be valued, constructive disagreement and even conflict can be signs of a healthy democracy.

Decisions and consequences

In this light, Anthropic’s desire to have genuine discussions with the government about ethical red lines is an example of democratic practice in action. The company signalled both a desire for reasoned communication and the value of constructive disagreement.

In return, the Trump administration on Friday labelled Anthropic a “supply chain risk”, a rare designation previously only given to foreign companies, with secretary of defense Pete Hegseth writing that

effective immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic.

Anthropic plans to challenge the declaration in court, as it may have profound economic and reputational consequences for the company.

Meanwhile, OpenAI has largely conceded that it will have no ethical limits, only legal ones. As a result, it is open for business with the US government – but faces reputational consequences of its own as consumer backlash mounts.

AI in a world without democratic norms

What does it all mean for ethical AI in the military? One hard-to-avoid conclusion is that if we want military AI to be used in an ethical way – following transparent rules and laws – we need strong democratic norms, which are in peril as the rules-based international order crumbles.

So far, little has changed in practice. Mere hours after Trump’s denunciation of Anthropic, the US launched strikes on Iran – reportedly planned with the aid of the company’s software.

– ref. The Pentagon strongarmed AI firms before Iran strikes – in dark news for the future of ‘ethical AI’ – https://theconversation.com/the-pentagon-strongarmed-ai-firms-before-iran-strikes-in-dark-news-for-the-future-of-ethical-ai-277198

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/02/the-pentagon-strongarmed-ai-firms-before-iran-strikes-in-dark-news-for-the-future-of-ethical-ai-277198/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shannon Bosch, Associate Professor (Law), Edith Cowan University

As the US and Israel began their joint assault on Iran, reports emerged from Iran that a strike hit the Shajarah Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in the southern city of Minab.

The school was reportedly packed with young pupils at the time. Iranian authorities say more than 150 people were killed, including children, and 60 more injured (these figures are yet to be independently verified).

Videos verified by international media show rescue workers digging through collapsed concrete, school bags being pulled from the debris, and scorch marks along the remaining walls.

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Warning: this gallery contains graphic images.

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The New York Times says it has verified videos that show the school next to a naval base belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, or IRGC, and a strike hitting that base.

Iranian representatives at the United Nations have characterised the strike as a deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure and labelled it a war crime and a crime against humanity.

Neither the United States nor Israel have publicly confirmed hitting the school. The US military’s Central Command (Centcom) said:

We are aware of reports concerning civilian harm resulting from ongoing military operations. We take these reports seriously and are looking into them. The protection of civilians is of utmost importance, and we will continue to take all precautions available to minimize the risk of unintended harm.

At present, we do not have enough verified facts to reach a firm legal conclusion about what happened.

But given the questions about the legality of the US and Israeli strikes on Iran – and deeper questions about whether we’re witnessing the “death of international law” more broadly – incidents like this illustrate the continuing importance of the law, especially in times of conflict.

Which targets are protected under the law?

In armed conflict, international humanitarian law applies. International humanitarian law is built on foundational principles that must inform all decisions by armed forces concerning what they target:

• distinction

• proportionality

• military necessity

And precautions must be taken to avoid incidental harm to civilians.

So what do these terms mean?

The principle of distinction requires parties to an armed conflict to always distinguish between civilian objects and military objects.

Attacks may only be directed against combatants and military objects. Civilians and civilian objects, such as schools, hospitals and public transport, are protected and may not be directly targeted.

If there is any doubt about whether a target is military or civilian in nature, it must be presumed to be civilian.

Schools are not merely buildings. They are protective spaces, and their destruction can cause immediate loss of life and long-term societal damage.

Children under 18 also enjoy special protection under international humanitarian law. They, too, may not be directly targeted.

This protection is not absolute, however. Any civilian object (including schools) can lose their protected status if they become military objectives. A school used as a military base, artillery position or command post could meet that definition.

So far, we have no evidence the school in Minab was being used for military purposes or that it was intentionally targeted.

Proportionality and precautions in attacks

What, then, if the school was not intentionally targeted, but was incidental collateral damage from an attack directed at the IRGC barracks nearby?

International humanitarian law recognises civilian objects may be affected by attacks on military objectives.

Incidental harm to civilians and civilian objects is only lawful if it satisfies the test of proportionality and military necessity under the law. All feasible precautions must also have been taken to minimise harm to civilians.

So, if a school near a military target is hit, the legality of that strike turns on whether the expected harm to children and the school was excessive compared to the military advantage gained by striking the target.

Also important: did the military commanders take all feasible precautions to assess the effect of the attack on nearby civilians or civilian infrastructure? This includes the specific weapons that are used and the timing of the attack.

Why international law matters

In recent years, we have witnessed a number of countries and their leaders openly flouting international law and the rules-based order. Yet, it would be a profound mistake to conclude that international law has ceased to matter. Even grave breaches do not negate the system itself.

As renowned American international law scholar Louis Henkin famously wrote in 1979:

Almost all nations observe almost all principles of international law and almost all of their obligations almost all of the time.

Henkin’s point was not naïve optimism. Daily compliance of international law remains the norm in diplomacy, trade, aviation, maritime navigation, treaty compliance and peaceful dispute settlement.

Violations do occur – sometimes brazenly – but they are exceptions to an overwhelmingly compliant pattern of behaviour.

The fact that some states breach foundational rules such as the prohibition on the use of force in Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter does not render international law illusory.

Rather, it underscores the importance of naming breaches for what they are and defending the legal order that most states, most of the time, continue to respect.

If the strike on the Minab school is ultimately shown to have violated the principles of distinction, proportionality and military necessity, it would not prove Henkin wrong; it would prove his point.

International law matters precisely because departures from it can be identified, judged and condemned.

The rubble of a girls’ school is not evidence that the law is meaningless; it is a stark reminder of why the law exists, and why insisting on compliance remains essential.

– ref. Does international law still matter? The strike on the girls’ school in Iran shows why we need it – https://theconversation.com/does-international-law-still-matter-the-strike-on-the-girls-school-in-iran-shows-why-we-need-it-277196

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/02/does-international-law-still-matter-the-strike-on-the-girls-school-in-iran-shows-why-we-need-it-277196/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Schiffling, Deputy Director of the HUMLOG (Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management Research) Institute, Hanken School of Economics

The reported sinking of several Iranian warships by US missiles in the Gulf of Oman serves as a reminder of the maritime aspect of the conflict which began February 28 with a barrage of Israeli and American missiles targeting Iran. Two other vessels, believed to be tankers, have also been reported as having been hit by missiles, of an as yet undetermined source, in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz, underlining the importance of this vital shipping lane – which is likely to play an key part in all sides’ calculations.

Full details have yet to emerge of the incidents. But there are already signs that the strait will become a major focus of concern because of the huge implications should the conflict disrupt maritime traffic through this the narrow outlet of the Persian Gulf. Ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz carry around one-fifth of global oil supplies. That’s about 20 million barrels per day. This makes the strait the most critical energy chokepoint.

There are a small number of strategic passageways, or chokepoints on which global trade depends and which are vulnerable to disruption. Any disruption reverberates instantly through global markets and supply chains. With conflict raging in Iran and attacks across the Middle East, traders, governments and businesses will be watching oil prices closely as the markets open.

After Israel and the US launched attacks on Iran on February 28, prompting retaliatory strikes across the region from Iran, Tehran broadcast to vessels in the region claiming that the Strait of Hormuz was closed.

Although the shipping lanes are only about two miles wide, actually physically closing them would be difficult to achieve. The most decisive action Tehran could take would be to mine the shipping lanes. With the large US naval presence in the area, this would be very difficult for Iran to achieve.

But a formal blockade is not necessary to stop traffic. When perceived threat levels rise, ships stay away. Big shipping companies such as Hapag Lloyd and CMA CGA have already suspended transit through the strait and advised their ships to proceed to shelter.

Vessel tracking already shows reduced movements in the Strait of Hormuz. Ships are waiting to enter or exit the Persian Gulf or diverting away from the region. An advisory from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre has warned of the “increased risk of miscalculation or misidentification, particularly in proximity to military units”.

Several ports have suspended operations after debris from an intercepted missile sparked a fire at Dubai’s Jebel Ali Port. While other ports continue to operate, the risk and uncertainty are disrupting shipping in the region.

Supply chain disruption

Hormuz is dominated by oil tankers and liquid natural gas carriers, so disruption directly hits global energy supplies. In addition, a lesser-known dependency is that one-third of the world’s fertiliser trade passes through the strait. Both energy and agricultural supply chains have already been destabilised by the Ukraine war. Further price rises could have far-reaching consequences.

The main destinations for oil and gas flowing through Hormuz are China, India, Japan, and South Korea. India, which imports about half of its crude oil through the strait, has activated contingency plans to safeguard energy supplies.

But apart from amassing strategic national stockpiles to weather immediate disruptions, there may be limited alternatives for countries dependent on getting their energy supplies through the strait. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have some pipelines for both oil and gas that can bypass the Hormuz. There is an estimated spare capacity of 2.6 million barrels per day for these pipelines. But that’s a fraction of what is normally shipped through the strait.

Oil and gas are traded globally. So even countries whose energy needs are not met by imports from the Persian Gulf will be affected by price increases. Oil prices are expected to increase to up to US$100 (£74) per barrel when markets open on Monday. Opec has agreed to modestly boost oil output in a bid to stabilise markets. But the group of oil producing countries has limited options as key members are affected by the fallout of the attacks on Iran.

Energy price increases will hit consumers directly when filling up their cars or heating their homes. They also affect companies across a wide range of industries. This has the potential to cause further supply chain disruptions.

Supply chains rely on predictability. The persistent geopolitical uncertainty has complicated operations worldwide. Limited alternatives make the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz all the more impactful. The longer the disruption persists, the more significant and structural the economic damage will become.

Potential for escalation

There is still a potential for a catastrophic escalation in the Strait of Hormuz. The sinking of a tanker would have dramatic consequences for the environment and would likely halt navigation for an extended period of time.

But prolonged instability may also prove destructive for the global economy. Previously, Iran closing the strait was seen as unlikely considering the global backlash and economic harm to Iran itself. But with regime change now the stated goal of the US-Israeli attacks, the cost of holding the world economy hostage might seem justified to the rulers in Tehran.

– ref. Strait of Hormuz: if the Iran conflict shuts world’s most important oil chokepoint, global economic chaos could follow – https://theconversation.com/strait-of-hormuz-if-the-iran-conflict-shuts-worlds-most-important-oil-chokepoint-global-economic-chaos-could-follow-277199

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/02/strait-of-hormuz-if-the-iran-conflict-shuts-worlds-most-important-oil-chokepoint-global-economic-chaos-could-follow-277199/

ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on March 2, 2026.

Booked to travel through the Middle East? Here’s why you shouldn’t cancel your flight
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Natasha Heap, Lecturer in Aviation, University of Southern Queensland Travellers are being advised not to cancel their tickets for flights through the Middle East and check with their airlines, as airspace remains closed indefinitely. If travellers cancel a ticket, they may lose some of their consumer rights

Last total lunar eclipse until 2029 is coming tomorrow – don’t miss it
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tanya Hill, Senior Curator (Astronomy), Museums Victoria Research Institute; The University of Melbourne On Tuesday March 3, the Moon will pass directly through Earth’s shadow, creating a total lunar eclipse. Best of all, Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand are in a prime position to watch the show.

After a sports hall in Iran was bombed, witnesses describe chaos and ‘continuous screaming’
By Mahmoud Aslan in Lamerd, southern Iran Dozens of teenage girls were attending their regular training sessions of volleyball, basketball, and gymnastics in the main sports hall in Lamerd, a city near the Persian coast, when a missile slammed into the building at 5pm on Saturday. Additional strikes hit two nearby residential areas and a

Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu issue advisories amid US-Israeli strikes on Iran
RNZ Pacific The governments of Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu have issued advisories for their nationals in the Middle East to remain calm and take the necessary precautions due to US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran. Fiji’s Embassy in Abu Dhabi said Fijian nationals who were not residents of the United Arab Emirates should register with the

Labor down in Newspoll and Redbridge polls, with One Nation still in a clear second position
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne New federal polls from Newspoll and Redbridge have Labor’s primary vote dropping, with One Nation seven or nine points ahead of the Coalition in second place. Labor

AI is already creeping into election campaigns. NZ’s rules aren’t ready
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Lensen, Senior Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington If you’re often on social media, you’ve probably seen it: the deluge of low-quality, artificial intelligence-made material clogging up our feeds. So-called “AI slop” – the Macquarie Dictionary’s Word of the Year

Luxon defends NZ’s position on Iran attacks – same as Australia
RNZ News Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says New Zealand’s stance on the United States and Israeli bombing of Iran mirrors that of Australia. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government supported the United States acting to stop Iran acquiring nuclear weapons. A statement by Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters yesterday “acknowledges” the strikes.

Bad Bunny says reggaeton is Puerto Rican, but it was born in Panama
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Frizzell, PhD Student in Sociology, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences Bad Bunny likes to remind the world where he and his music come from. In “EoO,” a song from his 2025 album “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS,” he raps, “‘Tás escuchando música de Puerto

Victory in Gorton and Denton is historic for the Greens – and cataclysmic for Britain’s two-party politics
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Tonge, Professor of Politics, University of Liverpool The Green party’s dramatic capture of Gorton and Denton, supposedly one of Labour’s safest parliamentary constituencies, offers yet more evidence of the fragmentation of British politics. The Green candidate, 34-year-old plumber Hannah Spencer, won 40.69% of the vote, a

How to whistle: the art and history of our shrillest skill
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wendy Hargreaves, Academic in the School of Education and Creative Arts, University of Southern Queensland Whether you whistle or not, you can’t escape whistlers. They’re dog owners, construction workers, day dreamers, concertgoers and annoying sports fans whose shrill makes you wish for earplugs. And there are tradies

Meet the ‘Old Mother Goose’ from NZ’s subtropical prehistoric past
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nic Rawlence, Associate Professor in Ancient DNA, University of Otago During the early to mid Miocene period, 14 to 19 million years ago, a vast lake covered much of what is now Central Otago. Along the shores of Lake Manuherikia, whose remnants are found near present-day St

From high-tech greenhouses to fruit netting: how protected cropping can shield crops from climate extremes
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Bacic, Professor of Plant Biology, La Trobe University For many of us, food is something we buy at a supermarket or order at a cafe. We usually give little thought to the complex systems required to produce and deliver it – until they stop working. It’s

Back at uni? How to help your wellbeing while you study
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew J. Martin, Scientia Professor and Professor of Educational Psychology, UNSW Sydney University can be a time of great opportunities, but it can also be very stressful. Many students need to support themselves financially and may be living away from home. Students are also under constant deadlines

New study finds 6 types of ‘discouraged’ workers in Australia – and why they stop job-hunting
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sora Lee, Lecturer in Ageing and End of Life, La Trobe University When we hear that Australia’s unemployment rate is low, it sounds like good news. The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines an unemployed person as someone who is not working but is actively looking for a

Critics say weak NZ response over US-Israel attacks on Iran a ‘disgrace’
Asia Pacific Report New Zealand’s weak response to the unprovoked and illegal United States and Israel attacks on Iran at the weekend has stirred strong criticism from many quarters. A former New Zealand prime minister, Helen Clark, who also held a top United Nations position for eight years, labelled the government’s response “a disgrace”. “In

Trump and Netanyahu want regime change, but Iran’s regime was built for survival. A long war is now likely
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, Australian National University; The University of Western Australia; Victoria University The joint US–Israel strikes on Iran, which killed the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes on Israel and neighbouring Arab countries have again plunged the

Bipartisan support for US attack on Iran, but Greens says it is ‘abhorrent’
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government has backed the American strike on Iran, while confirming Australia was not given prior warning. Federal cabinet’s national security committee met early Sunday. Although supporting what has been done, the government is emphasising Australia is not a

Pesta Babi – ‘Pig Feast’ . . . a vivid new film exposing Papua’s political ecology
REVIEW: Jubi Media Yasinta Moiwend was startled when, on a quiet morning, a massive ship docked at her village pier in West Papua. The vessel carried hundreds of excavators and was escorted by military forces. It was the first convoy of 2000 heavy machines to arrive in Papua under a National Strategic Project for food

At a glance: US-Israel attack on Iran
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Digital Storytelling Team, The Conversation The US and Israel have launched joint coordinated attacks on Iran, prompting retaliatory strikes from Iran on Israel and US military bases in the region. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader for 36 years, has been killed in the strikes, Iranian state

Neither preemptive nor legal, US-Israeli strikes on Iran have blown up international law
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shannon Brincat, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, University of the Sunshine Coast The joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran represent a further erosion of the international legal order. Under international law, these attacks are neither preemptive nor lawful. Israel and the United States launched Operation Shield

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/02/er-report-a-roundup-of-significant-articles-on-eveningreport-nz-for-march-2-2026/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Natasha Heap, Lecturer in Aviation, University of Southern Queensland

Travellers are being advised not to cancel their tickets for flights through the Middle East and check with their airlines, as airspace remains closed indefinitely.

If travellers cancel a ticket, they may lose some of their consumer rights and ability to claim refunds.

The US and Israeli bombing of Iran and the closure of airspace and airports is affecting all global airlines that fly through the region. The closures will have a flow-on effect, leading to significant disruption to the global airline industry that may take weeks to clear.

Tens of thousands of travellers affected

The Middle East is home to three of the world’s largest airlines: Emirates and Etihad, both in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Qatar Airways, based in Qatar.

Over the past 20 years, the region has become the global hub of international aviation. It is not only the three airlines that call the region home that are affected by the current conflict.

Emirates has issued a notice to all passengers advising it has suspended all operations to and from Dubai until 3pm UAE time on March 2.

Passengers booked to travel on or before March 5 have two options: rebook on an alternative flight or request a refund. Etihad has issued similar advice. Qatar is referring travellers to its app.

Other carriers that fly through the region, such as Lufthansa have also issued notices to their passengers.

Virgin Australia and Qantas’ operations are not directly affected by the airspace closure. However, some passengers may be affected if travelling on partner airlines. It is essential for people due to travel to check with their airline.

Travel insurance for cancellations is unlikely to be helpful, because acts of war that disrupt travel are explicitly excluded from coverage.

It could take weeks to clear the backlog of travellers just from the past weekend. US President Donald Trump has said the operations could last for “4 weeks or less”.

Tens of thousands of travellers are stranded in the Middle East waiting for the airspace to reopen so they can continue their journey.

The General Civil Aviation Authority in the UAE announced the UAE government will bear the cost of accommodating all stranded passengers in their country. There are around 20,000 people stranded in the UAE, and many more in other countries across the region.

Plans in place to keep passengers safe

Airlines have been watching the rising tensions in the region very closely. They’re used to dealing with unexpected operational disruptions.

With the major shutdown of Middle Eastern airspace in June 2025 still fresh in people’s minds, the airlines were quick to factor that experience into their decisions this time around.

The current situation is a little different to June 2025. Following US and Israeli bombing of targets in Iran at the weekend, Iran responded with missiles and drones that hit both civilian and military targets in several countries across the region.

Dubai International Airport and Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport were both hit by drone attacks or debris. Both of these airports are for civil use. They are not military assets.

This is not the first time airports in the region have come under attack. In January 2022, Houthi forces in Yemen launched a drone attack on Abu Dhabi’s airport. Three people were killed.

The airline hubs have few alternatives

Some airlines affected by the airspace closure will be able to adjust their schedules and routes to avoid the area to try and lessen the impact both to their passengers and their business profitability.

However, the carriers that call the Middle East home have built their networks and highly profitable businesses using the hub and spoke model. They bring passengers into the hub, which is a transfer point to then fly them onward to their destinations. With the airspace closed, these airlines cannot bring passengers in or fly them out.

It would be nearly impossible for the main carriers in the Middle East to temporarily move their base of operations to another country.

They are large organisations. Emirates currently has a fleet of 261 passenger aircraft in service. Simply finding a place to park all the aeroplanes would be a significant challenge.

Complex systems within systems

Running an airline is like putting together a complex jigsaw puzzle with constantly moving pieces.

Beyond the aircraft, airlines need large teams of pilots and cabin crew, as well as extensive catering, cleaning, refuelling and maintenance operations. These systems are highly integrated and location-specific. This makes it extremely difficult to relocate or replicate them in another country at short notice.

Currently, the Middle Eastern carriers have large numbers of aircraft, crew and passengers stranded at the far reaches of their networks. For all airlines, the safety and security of their passengers and crew is their priority.

When the airspace reopens, airlines will face significant challenges to work through the backlog of stranded passengers. Extra flights and adjustments to schedules will likely be needed.

It remains unclear how long the airspace will be closed. But the airlines will already be working on plans to restore full operations quickly and safely when the time comes.

Will this latest airspace closure reduce demand for travel through the Middle East? It may in the short term. However, people will continue to travel. The Middle Eastern airline hubs are geographically located for global connectivity. The hope is the current military action and regional instability will be short-lived.

– ref. Booked to travel through the Middle East? Here’s why you shouldn’t cancel your flight – https://theconversation.com/booked-to-travel-through-the-middle-east-heres-why-you-shouldnt-cancel-your-flight-277191

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/02/booked-to-travel-through-the-middle-east-heres-why-you-shouldnt-cancel-your-flight-277191/

By Mahmoud Aslan in Lamerd, southern Iran

Dozens of teenage girls were attending their regular training sessions of volleyball, basketball, and gymnastics in the main sports hall in Lamerd, a city near the Persian coast, when a missile slammed into the building at 5pm on Saturday.

Additional strikes hit two nearby residential areas and a hall adjacent to a school, as the US and Israel pounded targets across Iran on the first day of what President Donald Trump declared as a “regime change” war.

According to local officials cited in Iranian state media, the strikes on Lamerd killed at least 18 civilians and wounded scores more.

“Within seconds of the missile strike, the windows shattered into thousands of fragments. Sports equipment, balls, tables, barriers flew through the air. Black smoke filled the space,” Mohammed Saed Khorshedy, a 29-year-old worker at the gym who witnessed the attack, told Drop Site News.

“The smell of gunpowder made breathing almost impossible. The screaming began immediately, layered with the sound of debris collapsing and concrete falling from the ceiling.”

The facility sits on the outskirts of Lamerd, a quiet city in Fars province, near the surrounding Zagros mountain range, giving the natural landscape an uneven, rugged character.

Gym building at crossroads
The rectangular building is at a crossroads connecting the city center to Bandar Assaluyeh, an industrial port and energy hub on the Persian Gulf.

The sports hall was poorly maintained, with deteriorating walls surrounded by a low perimeter fence. A high arched metal roof sat atop a reinforced concrete frame and a rubber floor for volleyball and other sports.

The missile struck the middle of the roof, destroying a large part of the building. The main court, small spectator stands, changing rooms, and coach’s office were all reduced to rubble.

Hossein Gholami, a 50-year-old elementary school teacher, was returning from work when he heard the blast. His 16-year-old daughter, Zahra, was training in the hall.

“I noticed a strange gathering of people at the corner of the street leading to the sports hall,” Gholami told Drop Site.

“The screaming was rising from a distance. A colleague ran toward me, waving his arm, and said in a shaken voice: ‘Zahra, the hall, there has been an explosion.’

“I felt as though the ground had split beneath my feet. Everything around me became hazy,” he said. “I ran immediately, and with every step the columns of black smoke rose higher, while the smell of fire and flames entered my nose with force.”

Scene of horror
When he reached the site, he came upon a scene of horror.

“The continuous screaming of the injured mixed with the sounds of secondary explosions. The ground was covered in debris and shattered glass. It was difficult to move with all the rubble. Ambulances arrived after about twenty minutes, but most of the injured were in critical condition,” he said.

“The smell of blood and burns covered everything…the survivors were injured with fractures and burns from the shrapnel.”

Later, he learned that Zahra was among the dead.

“Every time I close my eyes I see her face, her smile, and I hear the sound of the explosion,” Gholami said.

There has been no public statement by the US or Israeli on the Lamerd strikes.

CENTCOM and the Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

165 killed – many schoolgirls
The bombing of the sports hall in Lamerd came hours after a strike on a girls’ elementary school in Minab, another small city on the Persian Gulf, further east near the Strait of Hormuz, that, according to the state-run IRNA news agency, killed 165 people, many of them schoolgirls.

Neither the US nor Israel claimed that strike. The Israeli military said it was not aware of strikes in the area of Minab; CENTCOM’s spokesperson said they were “looking into” reports.

Another strike hit an adjacent IRGC naval base and the USS Abraham Lincoln is stationed nearby.

The governor of Lamerd said “The United States and the Zionist regime fired missiles at the sports hall while female students were playing inside,” according to the Fars news agency.

As of Sunday morning, the Iranian Red Crescent and state-linked media have reported preliminary casualty figures of more than 200 people killed and more than 740 injured across Iran, though the actual toll is expected to be significantly higher.

Iran launched retaliatory strikes across nine countries in the region: Israel, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, with a total of 18 killed, including three US servicemen, according to a tally by Al Jazeera.

Mir Dehdasht, an administrative officer at Azad university whose 15-year-old daughter Rabab Dehdasht was training at the sports hall, was at home when a neighbour knocked on his door to tell him the facility had been attacked.

‘Their voices were deafening’
“I ran immediately toward the place, and when I arrived, I found burning cars and rubble scattered everywhere,” Dehdasht told Drop Site. “The injured were bleeding heavily, some had lost consciousness on the ground, others were screaming without stopping.

“Their voices were deafening.”

He continued: “Blood and dust covered everything, and the rubble blocked quick access to the building. Rescue teams were working with extreme care to bring out the injured athletes and the bodies of the victims.

“The screaming filled everything,” he said. “Robab did not survive the force of the explosion, while others survived but with life-threatening injuries. I felt complete helplessness.”

Farhad Za’eri, a retired Ministry of Health employee, received the news of the strike by phone. His 16-year-old daughter Elahe, was also there.

“I left immediately with some neighbors. The roads were unusually congested and there was a sense of anxiety throughout the neighborhood,” Za’eri told Drop Site. “When we arrived, the rescue teams were already there and they had begun bringing out the bodies one by one.”

“I did not know what I would see,” he continued, “but when I got close to the place where they were bringing out the victims, I felt a heaviness in my chest.

‘Mark of pain’
“Every body that was lifted carried the mark of pain, and the rescue effort was trying to distinguish between those who could still be saved and those whose lives had ended,” he said.

“There were voices from every direction, everyone was trying to understand what had happened. In that moment, everything inside me was silent, and I was waiting for them to tell me about my daughter Elahe.”

Elahe’s body was eventually brought out. “My daughter’s body was completely destroyed. It appears she was directly hit by the strike. The lower part of her body was completely destroyed,” Za’eri said.

“How can a father describe what he feels when he sees his child like this? All my memories of her, her laugh, her training, her dreams, collapsed before my eyes in a single moment.”

This articles was published first by Drop Site News in collaboration with Egab.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/02/after-a-sports-hall-in-iran-was-bombed-witnesses-describe-chaos-and-continuous-screaming/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tanya Hill, Senior Curator (Astronomy), Museums Victoria Research Institute; The University of Melbourne

On Tuesday March 3, the Moon will pass directly through Earth’s shadow, creating a total lunar eclipse. Best of all, Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand are in a prime position to watch the show.

This time, the eclipse even occurs at a reasonable hour – no need to set an alarm and crawl out of bed at a ridiculous time.

On Tuesday evening, a dark shadow will begin to sweep across the bright and round full Moon. Once the Moon becomes fully immersed in shadow, it will take on a reddish glow.

Astronomers call this “totality”. But with the ominous appearance of a red Moon hanging large in the sky, it’s no wonder that throughout history and across cultures it was seen as a portent of evil. In today’s world, the name “blood moon” has readily captured public imagination.

Watching a lunar eclipse is a reminder that we are part of a fascinating universe. No special equipment is needed and it’s usually not hard to find the Moon in the sky. Tomorrow’s eclipse will be our last chance to see a blood moon until 2029, when it will ring in the New Year in the early hours of January 1.

When can I see the lunar eclipse?

Lunar eclipses are leisurely events that take a few hours to unfold.

In this case, it’ll take 75 minutes for the Moon to enter Earth’s shadow – what’s known as the partial eclipse phase. This will be followed by an hour of totality when the Moon turns red, and then another 75 minutes as the Moon emerges out of the shadow and returns to full brightness.

Since Earth’s shadow is so large compared to the Moon, everyone on our planet’s night side experiences a lunar eclipse at exactly the same time. To know when to see the totality, we only need to make adjustments for different time zones.

Across most of Western Australia the eclipse begins with the Moon below the horizon. As the Moon rises it will be partly in shadow, making it hard to spot, especially against the bright twilight sky (noting that the Moon is rising as the Sun is setting).

However, just give it some time and the eclipsed Moon will become easier to see as it climbs higher in the east and twilight gives way to night.

The eclipse will start later in the evening across the rest of Australia, with the Moon in the eastern sky. In New Zealand the eclipse will begin much later at 10:50pm local time. That will provide the best views, as the sky will be well and truly dark, and the Moon will be high in the north.

Why does the Moon turn red?

Against the bright Moon, Earth’s shadow appears black at first. It’s only when the Moon is fully immersed in shadow that the reddish “blood moon” glow becomes apparent.

How red the Moon appears depends entirely on the condition of Earth’s atmosphere at the time. The dustier the atmosphere, the less light makes it through, turning the Moon a dark and deep red.

A clearer and more transparent atmosphere allows more sunlight to pass through, bathing the Moon in a bright orange glow.

Only red light makes it through the atmosphere because blue light (which has a shorter wavelength) is scattered away. Known as Rayleigh scattering, it’s the same process that makes the sky blue. Blue light doesn’t pass through the atmosphere towards the Moon, because it has been scattered across the entire sky. No matter where we look in the daytime sky, our eyes will happen upon one of those randomly scattered rays of blue light.

[embedded content]

Celestial misalignment

Because the Moon’s orbit is tilted very slightly relative to Earth’s orbit around the Sun, the three objects don’t always align perfectly for us to see a full lunar eclipse.

For the next six lunar eclipses, the Moon will only dip into Earth’s shadow instead of being fully immersed in it.

In fact, during the three lunar eclipses of 2027, the Moon will only enter Earth’s outer and much fainter penumbral shadow. Technically the Moon will dim slightly, but it’ll be almost impossible to perceive this.

Even better to appreciate all the times when the celestial geometry works and we can be treated with such a marvellous, awe-inspiring evening gazing up at the Moon.

Let’s hope the weather is clear across Australia and New Zealand on eclipse night, because we’ll be waiting almost three years for our next blood moon.

– ref. Last total lunar eclipse until 2029 is coming tomorrow – don’t miss it – https://theconversation.com/last-total-lunar-eclipse-until-2029-is-coming-tomorrow-dont-miss-it-276392

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/02/last-total-lunar-eclipse-until-2029-is-coming-tomorrow-dont-miss-it-276392/

RNZ Pacific

The governments of Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu have issued advisories for their nationals in the Middle East to remain calm and take the necessary precautions due to US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran.

Fiji’s Embassy in Abu Dhabi said Fijian nationals who were not residents of the United Arab Emirates should register with the embassy as soon as possible amid airspace closures in the Gulf Cooperation Council region.

The embassy said registration would allow them to offer necessary consular support and maintain situational awareness of Fijian nationals in-country.

The Solomon Islands Foreign Affairs Ministry has advised all its nationals not to travel to the region until further notice.

“Solomon Islanders residing in the Gulf Region and Israel are urged to take necessary precautions, remain calm, follow host country authorities, and monitor reliable updates,” the ministry said in a statement.

While the Vanuatu government is advising its nationals and passport holders that the situation “is extremely volatile and unpredictable” and those caught in affected areas should “make immediate arrangements to depart if possible”.

“Stay informed about local conditions and register with the Vanuatu Ministry of Foreign Affairs if you’re planning to travel to affected areas,” the Vanuatu Foreign Ministry said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/02/fiji-solomon-islands-vanuatu-issue-advisories-amid-us-israeli-strikes-on-iran/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne

New federal polls from Newspoll and Redbridge have Labor’s primary vote dropping, with One Nation seven or nine points ahead of the Coalition in second place.

Labor maintains a clear two-party advantage over either One Nation or the Coalition. However, the total vote for the Coalition and One Nation combined increased two points to 47% in both these polls.

There are also two South Australian state polls for the March 21 election. Labor is still dominant in SA.

A national Newspoll, conducted February 23–26 from a sample of 1,237, gave Labor 32% of the primary vote (down one since the previous Newspoll three weeks ago), One Nation 27% (steady), the Coalition 20% (up two), the Greens 11% (down one) and all Others 10% (steady).

With the Coalition still seven points behind One Nation, no two-party estimate was given. Applying 2025 election preference flows would give Labor about a 54–46 lead over the Coalition, a two-point gain for the Coalition.

Anthony Albanese’s net approval slumped five points to -15, with 55% dissatisfied and 40% satisfied. Angus Taylor’s initial net approval was -3 (38% dissatisfied, 35% satisfied), a huge improvement on Sussan Ley’s -39 in her final Newspoll as Liberal leader. Albanese led Taylor as better PM by 45–37 (49–30 vs Ley).

Albanese’s net approval in this Newspoll is his worst since he scored -21 in mid-February 2025. But at the May 2025 election, Labor won a landslide. Here is the graph of Albanese’s net approval in Newspoll with a smoothed line.

Redbridge poll

A national Redbridge and Accent Research poll for The Australian Financial Review, conducted February 23–27 from a sample of 1,006, gave Labor 32% of the primary vote (down two since the previous Redbridge poll in late January), One Nation 28% (up two), the Coalition 19% (steady), the Greens 12% (up one) and all Others 9% (down one).

By respondent preferences, Labor led One Nation by 54–46 and the Coalition by 53–47, with Labor’s lead against the Coalition increasing to 54–46 by 2025 election flows, a two-point gain for the Coalition.

Albanese’s net favourability fell three points to -13, Taylor’s improved three points to -1 and Pauline Hanson’s was up one to -2. In a three-way preferred PM question, Albanese had 34% (down three), Hanson 23% (not previously asked) and Taylor 10% (up one vs Ley).

SA DemosAU poll has Labor landslide

It’s less than three weeks until the March 21 South Australian state election. The Poll Bludger reported that a DemosAU poll, conducted January 31 to February 16 from a sample of 1,070, gave Labor 43% of the primary vote (down four since the DemosAU October poll), One Nation 19% (not previously asked), the Liberals 18% (down three), the Greens 12% (down one) and all Others 8% (down 11).

While this poll was recently released, it was taken before the SA Newspoll and YouGov polls that I reported on February 20.

Eleven of the 22 upper house seats will be up for election by statewide proportional representation with preferences. A quota for election is one-twelfth of the vote or 8.3%. Upper house members have eight-year terms, so changes in representation are compared with the 2018 election.

In this poll, Labor had 38% of the upper house vote (up one since October), One Nation 21% (up nine), the Liberals 15% (down two), the Greens 11% (steady) and Family First 4% (up one). If these votes occur at the election, Labor would win four seats on raw quotas, One Nation two, the Liberals one and the Greens one. The three remaining seats would probably go to the Liberals, Labor and One Nation.

At the 2022 SA election, Labor won five of the 11 upper house seats up, the Liberals four, the Greens one and One Nation one. This poll suggests a total upper house ignoring defections of ten Labour out of 22 (up one since 2018), six Liberals (down two), four One Nation (up three) and two Greens (steady).

SA Morgan poll has One Nation at 28%

A SA SMS Morgan poll, conducted February 19–23 from a sample of 2,172, gave Labor 35% of the primary vote, One Nation 28%, the Liberals 16.5%, the Greens 11%, independents 6.5% and others 3%. In two-party matchups, Labor led One Nation by 59–41 and the Liberals by 61–39.

This poll has One Nation four points higher than in any other recent SA poll, with One Nation’s next highest 24% in Newspoll. In my discussion of a Victorian SMS Morgan poll that had One Nation first on primaries, I said SMS polls may be prone to having too many motivated respondents.

Labor Premier Peter Malinauskas had a 61–37 approval. Liberal leader Ashton Hurn was at 52–42 approval. Malinauskas led Hurn as better premier by 61–30.5

Tasmanian federal and state redistribution

A draft redistribution has proposed extensive changes to three of Tasmania’s five federal seats, which are also used at state elections. However, The Poll Bludger said the Labor vs Liberal two-party margins in all five seats were little changed.

UK: Greens gain very safe Labour seat at byelection

At the 2024 United Kingdom general election, Labour won over 50% in Gorton and Denton with no other party above 14%. At last Thursday’s byelection for this seat, Labour’s vote was halved, with the Greens winning nearly 41%, 12 points ahead of the far-right Reform, with Labour a further 3.3 points back in third. I covered this for The Poll Bludger.

– ref. Labor down in Newspoll and Redbridge polls, with One Nation still in a clear second position – https://theconversation.com/labor-down-in-newspoll-and-redbridge-polls-with-one-nation-still-in-a-clear-second-position-277081

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/02/labor-down-in-newspoll-and-redbridge-polls-with-one-nation-still-in-a-clear-second-position-277081/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Lensen, Senior Lecturer in Artificial Intelligence, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

If you’re often on social media, you’ve probably seen it: the deluge of low-quality, artificial intelligence-made material clogging up our feeds.

So-called “AI slop” – the Macquarie Dictionary’s Word of the Year for 2025 – is the result of generative AI being used at scale. It now floods the internet’s most visited platforms with often deliberately misleading text, images and video, siphoning clicks away from real news sources and confusing readers.

In New Zealand, AI-generated fake images of January’s tragic landslide at Mount Maunganui were widely shared, misleading people at a time of national disaster.

With a general election later this year, this is likely only the beginning. Already, political parties are toying with this new technology for their campaigns.

Warnings about the risks of AI-driven misinformation have been raised before in New Zealand, but its use is now accelerating – and the rules meant to govern it are struggling to keep up.

Politics in the AI age

On Facebook, bogus news sites have shared deep-fake AI videos purporting to show New Zealand politicians meeting at Waitangi and making policy announcements.

More concerningly, some parties have themselves begun using AI to attack opponents. The National Party has already been criticised for posting AI cartoon images of opposition leaders and for creating AI attack ads in the 2023 campaign.

Other parties hold mixed views on the use of AI in campaigning, potentially creating an unfair playing field in electioneering. While this might look like just another form of free speech in campaigning, the reality is more troubling.

Political attack ads have been around for centuries, but never has it been so cheap and easy to create them. At virtually no cost, and with minimal technical skill, almost anyone can now use AI to produce a smear campaign that would once have required professional illustration.

Even if political parties keep their distance, third-party lobby groups can do the dirty work instead. And foreign actors could use AI to interfere in New Zealand’s electoral process, potentially swaying an election as closely fought as the 2026 campaign is likely to be.

A much deeper problem lies in how AI can potentially distort voters’ perceptions. Research suggests people are more likely to believe someone is guilty of a crime when shown an AI-generated image – even when they know the content is fake.

At a time when trust in politicians is already low, that risks deepening political disengagement. AI also enables far more personalised campaigning: by profiling voters, a candidate can automatically generate messages tailored to their biggest concerns.

Where NZ’s election rules fall short

New Zealand fortunately has laws to govern election campaigns. But those safeguards were written in a very different technological era.

Current law regulates “election advertisements” in any media. The definition is very broad, covering any message that directly or indirectly promotes or opposes a party or candidate. A range of rules apply to all such material.

All election advertisements must include a “promoter’s statement” identifying who is responsible for them. Spending caps apply to producing and publishing these messages in the three months before election day. And any ad that promotes a party or candidate by name must first get their written permission.

Yet few constraints apply to the actual content of election advertisements. There is no obligation to disclose the use of AI in creating the message and there is no general prohibition on publishing misleading – or even outright false – election advertisements.

Instead, a handful of specific controls may apply to some AI generated election advertisements.

In the final three days of the election period, it is an offence to publish a statement you know is false if the aim is to influence how people vote. But this safeguard is weaker now that voting takes place over 12 days.

The law also bans “undue influence” over voters. This mainly covers force or threats, but it also includes using fraud to stop people voting freely.

In theory, this could apply to fake AI messages designed to suppress turnout or mislead voters about how the system works. But the law dates back to the 19th century and has not been used for many years.

How the law could catch up

What can be done? At a minimum, New Zealand should have rules that require election advertisements to disclose the use of AI, so voters can make an informed decision.

Another simple measure would be to extend the “no deliberate lies to influence voters” rule to cover the entire advance voting period.

Elsewhere, New Zealand can look to other countries now being forced to forge AI-focused laws.

The European Union and many US states, for instance, recently passed laws that apply to deepfakes in campaigning.

Closer to home, the Australian Electoral Commission has created a “disinformation register” to combat false claims about how the electoral process works. But this only applies to mechanics of voting processes, not to claims about parties or candidates.

At a time when democracy around the world feels increasingly fragile, protecting the integrity of New Zealand’s elections should be a priority. Free and fair elections depend on transparency, trust and an informed public.

AI is already testing those foundations. Updating the rules will not solve every problem, but doing nothing guarantees the problem will get worse.

– ref. AI is already creeping into election campaigns. NZ’s rules aren’t ready – https://theconversation.com/ai-is-already-creeping-into-election-campaigns-nzs-rules-arent-ready-275688

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/02/ai-is-already-creeping-into-election-campaigns-nzs-rules-arent-ready-275688/

RNZ News

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says New Zealand’s stance on the United States and Israeli bombing of Iran mirrors that of Australia.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government supported the United States acting to stop Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.

A statement by Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters yesterday “acknowledges” the strikes.

Asked on RNZ’s Morning Report whether New Zealand supported the attacks, Luxon repeatedly refused to say the word, but said it condemned the Iranian regime as evil and as having claimed countless lives.

“We think Iran has been repressing its own people. We think it’s been arming proxies and terrorist organisations. We think it has been developing its ballistic and nuclear programmes and years of diplomacy hasn’t actually paid any fruits,” he said.

“We understand fully why the Americans and Israelis have undertaken the independent action that they have taken to make sure Iran can’t threaten people.”

Pressed on whether the strikes were legally right, Luxon said it would be up to the US and Israel to explain the legal basis for their attacks.

NZ should back international rules
Former Prime Minister Helen Cark has called the government’s stance a “disgrace” and says New Zealand should support a rules-based international order.

Luxon said what was disgraceful was the repressive Iranian regime which had killed thousands of its own people who had taken to the streets calling for freedoms.

“Iran has been a destabilising force. It has supported armed proxies throughout the region. It has seen tens of thousands of people murdered by own government, who were asking for freedom and rights.”

Australia and Canada have openly supported the strikes on Iran.

In a statement on Sunday, Luxon and Foreign Affairs Minister and Winston Peters said New Zealand had consistently condemned Iran’s nuclear programme and its “destabilising activities” in the region and “acknowledged” the strikes.

“Iran has, for decades, defied the will and expectations of the international community. The legitimacy of a government rests on the support of its people. The Iranian regime has long since lost that support,” they said.

“In this context, we acknowledge that the actions taken overnight by the US and Israel were designed to prevent Iran from continuing to threaten international peace and security.”

Luxon and Peters condemned in the “strongest terms Iran’s indiscriminate retaliatory attacks” on neighbouring states.

The statement also said “we call for a resumption of negotiations and adherence to international law.”

Call out illegal strike
Clark told Morning Report said the statement was a disgrace.

“What was wrong with it was it didn’t call out the illegal strike against Iran in the middle of diplomatic negotiations “which were going quite well and further talks were scheduled,” she said.

“The whole point of international law is to put rules around when force is legitimate.”

“A strike is justified if there is an imminent threat of attack, which clearly there was not.”

She said the initial strikes by the US and Israel violated international law.

“The New Zealand government seems only interested in the Iranian retaliation and not looking at the reason for the retaliation, which was the attack by the United States and Israel,” she said.

“I think it’s consistent with a steady drift in New Zealand foreign policy to realign strongly with the United States, which at this particular time seems even more questionable as a strategy.”

“We’re not putting a stake in the ground in defence of the international rule of law.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/02/luxon-defends-nzs-position-on-iran-attacks-same-as-australia/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Tonge, Professor of Politics, University of Liverpool

The Green party’s dramatic capture of Gorton and Denton, supposedly one of Labour’s safest parliamentary constituencies, offers yet more evidence of the fragmentation of British politics.

The Green candidate, 34-year-old plumber Hannah Spencer, won 40.69% of the vote, a notable 12 points ahead of Reform UK’s Matt Goodwin (28.73%). Labour candidate Angeliki Stogia came third, with 25.44% of the vote.

In terms of size of majority toppled, this was the sixth-worst byelection defeat ever for Labour. Gorton had been Labour for more than 90 years. In what is now Greater Manchester, Labour has had to defend 20 seats at byelections since the second world war, and has been successful in 16 cases.

Although Labour might dismiss a byelection defeat as a mid-term blip, this is a government which has failed to enjoy a honeymoon period, led by a prime minister who has plumbed new depths in popularity ratings. It is also worth noting that turnout on Thursday was identical to that at the general election.

For Keir Starmer, it was a truly awful result. But Labour really lost this byelection over a month ago, when its national executive committee (NEC) blocked the candidature of Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester and believed by many to be the one person who might have held the seat for the party.

Starmer spoke against Burnham standing and his view held sway at that NEC meeting by eight votes to one. The one vote in favour of Burnham standing came from a Manchester MP, Lucy Powell, who was elected Labour’s deputy leader last year after being mysteriously sacked from the cabinet by Starmer.

The prime minister had good reasons for his stance. An early exit by Burnham from the mayoralty would trigger a difficult byelection across the region. But the overarching reason for blockage appeared to be Starmer’s personal political security.

Popular among Labour members and perhaps the one rival to Starmer around which the parliamentary party could coalesce, Burnham might have offered a potential leadership challenge. He is also highly popular in Greater Manchester, averaging two-thirds of the vote in the three mayoralty contests he has fought. The newly elected Green MP Spencer trailed Burnham by a huge 375,000 votes in the most recent mayoral election in 2024.

Clearly, this poor result increases the pressure on the prime minister, but two things remain in his favour. First, Labour MPs may find it difficult to unite behind a clear challenger. Entry barriers are high; 80 MPs need to support the person prepared to raise their head above the parapet. Second, the economy is showing signs of improvement, which might eventually stem the flow to the Greens on the left. On the right, the exodus towards Reform may be slowed by the decline in net migration.

Yet things will get worse before they might get better for Labour. The Scottish parliament, Welsh senedd and English local elections are a mere 69 days away, and offer a bleak vista of large seat losses. Labour’s control of the senedd seems sure to end and the party has to defend the bulk of council seats being contested.

The end of two-party politics?

The Gorton and Denton result confirmed the death of old loyalties in British politics. Given the existence of four-party politics in Scotland and Wales and the electoral significance of the Liberal Democrats in England, the two-party duopoly has long been gone, perhaps never to return. Politics has never been as fragmented across parties.

For the first time in England, Labour finds itself challenged by a significant party of the left, while Reform on the right challenges both Labour and the Conservatives.

That the right vote is splintered offers some succour to Labour. An even split between Reform and the Conservatives could allow Labour to win again at the next general election, with an even more pitifully low percentage share of the vote than the one in 2024 which nonetheless yielded two-thirds of the Westminster seats.

[embedded content]

This fragmentation may widen voter choice, but not all is healthy. This was at times a toxic byelection. The Greens argued it was possible to be jointly concerned with Gaza and Gorton. They were, however, accused of sectarianism, for example by by issuing Urdu-language leaflets and a campaign video showing Starmer greeting the Indian prime minister, Hindu nationalist Modi, to appeal to Muslim voters.

Reform, on the other hand, has been accused of racism in targeting the white vote and showing scant regard for the large Muslim minority within the constituency. Its candidate, former academic Matt Goodwin, was already controversial for his views questioning whether non-white people born in the UK could be classed as British.

Meanwhile, the first-past-the-post voting system struggles to deal with the reality of modern multiparty politics, with abject disproportionality between vote shares and levels of representation. But that fragmentation increasingly seems permanent.

– ref. Victory in Gorton and Denton is historic for the Greens – and cataclysmic for Britain’s two-party politics – https://theconversation.com/victory-in-gorton-and-denton-is-historic-for-the-greens-and-cataclysmic-for-britains-two-party-politics-277001

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/02/victory-in-gorton-and-denton-is-historic-for-the-greens-and-cataclysmic-for-britains-two-party-politics-277001/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Frizzell, PhD Student in Sociology, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Bad Bunny likes to remind the world where he and his music come from.

In “EoO,” a song from his 2025 album “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS,” he raps, “‘Tás escuchando música de Puerto Rico” (“You’re listening to music from Puerto Rico”). Similarly, in the album’s second track, “VOY A LLeVARTE PA PR,” he announces that both he and reggaeton were born in Puerto Rico: “Aquí nací yo y el reggaetón, pa’ que sepa’.”

Puerto Rican artists like Bad Bunny certainly helped popularize the genre. But they didn’t create it.

In my own research of Latin America, I’ve explored how reggaeton comes from the small Central American nation of Panama, where the sound emerged from a swirl of sonic influences that included Spanish conquistadors, Caribbean immigrants and American colonizers.

English and Spanish collide

Understanding reggaeton requires understanding the intermingling of cultures and languages that Panama experienced over a relatively short period of time.

After Panama gained its independence from Spain in 1821, it became part of Gran Colombia, which, at its peak, included modern-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama.

Throughout the 19th century, Panama experienced population growth and mass industrialization, and waves of Afro Caribbean immigrants arrived in northern Panama in search of economic opportunities. Since they came from former British colonies, many of them spoke English. Meanwhile, the many Afro Panamanians already living in the country, whose descendants had been trafficked as slaves, spoke Spanish.

These linguistic distinctions resulted in two primary groups of Black people in Panama: Spanish-speaking Afro Panamanians and English-speaking West Indians. They worked alongside one another on construction projects, such as the trans-Isthmus railroad, in the mid-19th century. But with their different languages, colonial histories and cultures, they didn’t always get along.

In 1903, Panama separated from Gran Colombia, becoming the independent nation we know today. The U.S. had supported Panama’s independence for strategic reasons: It wanted to build and control the Panama Canal to secure influence over maritime trade and military movement in the Western Hemisphere. While Gran Colombia had rebuffed earlier U.S. overtures, leaders of the newly independent Panama were more receptive to American interests.

Jim Crow is imported to the Canal Zone

Police brutality, exploitation and intra-racial and interracial tensions also served as scaffolding for reggaeton.

During the canal’s construction, the U.S. operated and controlled the Panama Canal Zone, a 553 square-mile (1,432 square-kilometer) parcel of land encompassing the canal. Up to 60,000 people lived there while the canal was being built, with residents segregated by race into “gold roll” and “silver roll” workers. Gold roll workers were usually white. Silver roll workers were Black, and they were tasked with the most dangerous jobs.

The Canal Zone’s white residents were far more likely to have access to health services and have proper sanitation; Afro Panamanian and immigrant workers from Barbados, the Antilles, Jamaica and other Caribbean countries were much more likely to be exposed to – and die from – malaria.

West Indians and Afro Panamanians also experienced police brutality. Black women, in particular, were harassed by white police officers, who often accused them of sex work.

While both West Indians and Afro Panamanians were subjected to segregation and police brutality, the Americans running the Canal Zone tended to treat the English-speaking West Indians better. Meanwhile, children born and raised in the Canal Zone were only taught English in schools, which Afro Panamanians resented.

These tensions led to the rise of “panameñismo,” a movement that sought to preserve and promote Spanish language and culture in Panama. This movement culminated in the passing of restrictive immigration laws targeted at West Indians and stripping second-generation West Indians of their citizenship.

Despite these anti-West Indian policies, many Jamaican, Barbadian and Antillean immigrants who had already built a life in Panama remained in the country even after the canal was completed in 1914.

Reggae with a Spanish twist

In the 1960s and 1970s, Jamaicans introduced three subgenres of reggae – mento, ska and dancehall – to Panama.

The lyrics were in English and Jamaican Patois, an English-based creole language. But it didn’t take long for an offshoot of reggae, “reggae en español,” to emerge. By the end of the 1970s, reggae en español had become popular in Panama and had spread throughout Latin America. Similarly, the nascent genre of hip-hop was gaining steam in the U.S. and eventually made its way to Panama, where an American presence had remained since the completion of the canal. It wasn’t until 1979 that the Canal Zone was abolished, and Panama did not have ownership over the canal until 2000.

It was out of this diverse mix of musical and linguistic influences that reggaeton was born, a genre that features the looping drum pattern – called “dembow riddim” – of Jamaican dancehall, the tropical vibe of reggae and a mixture of rapping and singing. Like reggae and hip-hop, reggaeton lyrics often emphasize Black solidarity and speak out against racial oppression and police violence.

The Panamanian artist Renato is credited with releasing the first reggaeton song, titled, “El D.E.N.I.,” in 1985.

The D.E.N.I. – an acronym for the Departamento Nacional de Investigaciones, or National Department of Investigations – was a tool of repression for Panama’s military dictatorship under Omar Torrijos in the 1970s and later under Manuel Noriega in the 1980s. The secret police force became entangled in drug trafficking and political corruption.

[embedded content]

In the song, Renato assumes the role of a racist police officer, the kind he encountered after relocating from the Canal Zone to Rio Abajo, an impoverished neighborhood in Panama City:

Con mi cara albina, te puedo golpear …

(With my albino face, I can hit you …)

Te voy a enseñar

(I am going to teach you)

Que a la justicia no se puede burlar

(That you cannot make fun of the justice system)

After its release, the track became a protest anthem against Panama’s military government.

While Renato’s popularity was growing in Panama, early Panamanian reggaeton artists and producers like El General were collaborating with Jamaican and American artists in New York City, where the underground dancehall and “hip-hop en español” scene thrived.

Even though El General primarily produced music, one of his tracks, “No Mas Guerra,” channeled the fighting spirit of original reggaeton, calling for Latin American communities to come together to end violence and wars.

A sanitized version of reggaeton goes mainstream

Despite not being responsible for its creation, Puerto Rico is where the genre went mainstream – largely thanks to the popular Puerto Rican artist Daddy Yankee.

Daddy Yankee’s music spread, in part, thanks to American brands like Kellogg’s and Reebok, whose ads featuring his songs were broadcast to American audiences. Few of his tracks contained the social justice themes that characterized early reggaeton.

Meanwhile, Tego Calderon, a Black Puerto Rican reggaeton artist, struggled to find a buyer for his 2003 debut album, “El Abayarde,” after being told he was too ugly for a musical career – a remark rooted in the anti-Blackness that’s pervasive in Puerto Rico.

Calderon’s experience in the industry and as a Black Puerto Rican dictated how he viewed the genre and created his music. Like Calderon, Renato and other Black reggaeton artists have spoken out against racism in reggaeton.

Bringing reggaeton back to its roots

Though he may have the genre’s history slightly wrong, Bad Bunny’s own tracks return to reggaeton’s social justice roots.

Performed during the Super Bowl halftime show by Ricky Martin, Bad Bunny’s “LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii” describes the history of U.S. colonialism in Hawaii and Puerto Rico, pointing out how local communities have been forced out by gentrifiers:

Quieren quitarme el río y también la playa

(They want to take the river and the beach away from me)

Quieren al barrio mío y que tus hijos se vayan

(They want my neighborhood and for your kids to leave)

And while the early-2000s reggaeton popularized by Daddy Yankee, Tego Calderon and Don Omar contained elements of misogyny and homophobia, Bad Bunny’s tracks “Yo Perreo Sola” and “YO VISTO ASÍ” build on feminist reggaeton anthems like Ivy Queen’s “Yo Quiero Bailar.”

Reggaeton was born out of a call for freedom, equality and justice. So I find it fitting that Bad Bunny is creating music that speaks to all types of people from all over the world.

– ref. Bad Bunny says reggaeton is Puerto Rican, but it was born in Panama – https://theconversation.com/bad-bunny-says-reggaeton-is-puerto-rican-but-it-was-born-in-panama-276347

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/02/bad-bunny-says-reggaeton-is-puerto-rican-but-it-was-born-in-panama-276347/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wendy Hargreaves, Academic in the School of Education and Creative Arts, University of Southern Queensland

Whether you whistle or not, you can’t escape whistlers. They’re dog owners, construction workers, day dreamers, concertgoers and annoying sports fans whose shrill makes you wish for earplugs.

And there are tradies – Snow White’s pesky disciples who think whistling while you work makes chores fun. (Disclaimer: It didn’t work for my taxes.)

Admittedly, whistling can be useful for silencing noisy crowds and hailing taxis New York-style, but be mindful of the social rules. You can whistle admiringly at a flashy car, but you’ll be fined up to 750 euros for sexual harassment if you wolf whistle at women publicly in France.

Whistlers in history

Whistling is a common human skill. For centuries, shepherds and goat herders used whistling to summon livestock and direct dogs to steer the herds. The whistling sound can travel ten times further than shouting, which makes it ideal for long distance communication in rural areas.

Long ago, remote communities in Turkey and Mexico developed a whistled version of their spoken languages for communicating across the countryside. As linguist Julien Meyer explains, each syllable of a word translated to a whistled melody, allowing neighbours to talk across vast distances. Whistled languages are still in use today in places like La Gomera in the Canary Islands.

Whistling featured prominently in the development of the recording industry. Historian Tim Brooks recounts how Thomas Edison’s 1877 invention, the phonograph, drew public curiosity but the sound quality of recorded voice was too weak to show off the machine’s potential.

Shrill whistling, however, could be reproduced perfectly, which likely sustained public interest through the phonograph’s early modifications. Brooks traced the transformation of George W. Johnson from a whistling street performer at a ferry terminal to New York recording artist at the birth of the recording industry.

Decades later, whistling continued leaving musical marks in the industry. Notable examples include Roger Whittaker’s intricate The Mexican Whistler, Otis Redding’s layback ending to The Dock of the Bay, Bobby McFerrin’s cheerful Don’t Worry, Be Happy, and Maroon 5’s distinctive opening to Moves Like Jagger.

Today, there’s even a market for complete whistling albums like from Molly Lewis. But few recordings are as memorable as the 1966 Spaghetti Western theme song The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. It made whistling iconic for showdowns.

How whistling works

Whistling is produced when small pockets of air spinning at your lips interact with spaces in your mouth. Puckering your lips and whistling with fingers use the same principles.

Musical sound is produced when something, such as a guitar string, vibrates. Vibrations create pressure in the air which moves outwards in waves. When we whistle, the air itself becomes the vibrator. What happens next makes it audible.

Different spaces affect a sound wave’s energy as it passes through. Some cavities dampen the energy, while others excite it by swirling around making the cavern itself vibrate or resonate. That’s what makes whistling louder.

To experience the power of resonance, try singing in a bathroom with lots of towels, then remove the towels and sing again. The extra ring you’ll hear is the effect of resonance.

Whistling works by fine-tuning the speed of your breath with the size, shape and tension in your lips and tongue so the space rings.

Learning to whistle

Unfortunately, knowing the physics doesn’t make whistling easier. Learning requires coordinating your senses with how you move your body. You create a learning loop where your brain connects your mouth and breath movement with what you hear, feel and see when you whistle.

Simply put, you use trial and error to figure which actions help amplify the sound and which don’t.

Whistlers aren’t born. They’re made. If you find whistling hard, then you’ll need to practice isolating and moving all the parts in an epic Gollum-like quest for the precious ring.

Top tips for whistling pucker-style:

• find a quiet room

• wet your whistle – water on your lips helps

• push your lips forward to make a small, firm hole; a mirror can help you see what you’re doing

• breathe out with a steady air stream

• listen to the sound and experiment with your tongue tip position (forward, backwards, higher, lower), lips shape (tightened, relaxed, wider, pushed forward, pulled sideways), and breath stream (faster, slower) – you should hear subtle changes, even if it just sounds like wind

• play around until you find one position where the sound seems louder than others

• make micro adjustments in the position to find which movements increase the ring

• repeat all steps daily so your brain learns to find your whistle automatically and tune it.

Failing that, take up singing. It’s easier and you won’t look like you’re kissing a ghost.

– ref. How to whistle: the art and history of our shrillest skill – https://theconversation.com/how-to-whistle-the-art-and-history-of-our-shrillest-skill-275560

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/02/how-to-whistle-the-art-and-history-of-our-shrillest-skill-275560/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sora Lee, Lecturer in Ageing and End of Life, La Trobe University

When we hear that Australia’s unemployment rate is low, it sounds like good news. The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines an unemployed person as someone who is not working but is actively looking for a job and available to start.

But there is a broader group not fully captured by the statistics, whom we call “hidden workers”. They include people who:

• are unemployed but not counted because they are not currently looking

• are underemployed, working fewer hours than they want or need

• or who have given up looking altogether, known as discouraged workers.

This article focuses on that last group: discouraged workers.

They still want to work and are available — but have stopped searching. We know surprisingly little about who they are or why they give up. My new research aims to answer some of these questions.

Untapped talent matters for the economy

You might wonder: if they are not looking for work, why should we care?

Because they represent unused talent, sitting on the sidelines of the economy. Discouraged workers are part of what economists call labour market slack. That simply means spare capacity: people who could work if the barriers in front of them were removed.

If slack is larger than the official unemployment rate suggests, then the job market is not as strong as it looks.

And that matters.

The Reserve Bank of Australia relies on labour market data when deciding whether to raise or cut interest rates. If there are more people on the sidelines than the headline figures capture, wage growth may be weaker than expected. Inflation pressures may be lower than assumed. Economic strength may be overstated.

In short, when we miscount workers, we misread the economy.

A wide range of profiles

Using national data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey (HILDA), we analysed 1,091 discouraged workers. This is the first in-depth national analysis of discouraged workers in Australia, and the findings are revealing.

Instead of treating discouraged workers as one single group, we used a statistical method called “latent class analysis”. It helps us see hidden subgroups within the broad category.

The six profiles we identified were:

Young, low-educated adults (mostly men) (25.3%)

This is the largest group. They are under 45, rarely married and often left school early. They report more health issues and face limited qualifications and weak attachment to stable work.

Older, low-educated adults with chronic health problems (20.4%)

Almost all are over 45. Many did not complete secondary school. Most have long-term health conditions. Here, low education and poor health combine to reduce job prospects.

Older single adults with health and financial strain (17.0%)

These people are often educated but single, with high rates of chronic illness and financial hardship. Education does not protect them when health and money pressures are severe.

Older, well-educated adults (mostly men) (16.6%)

These are mainly people over 45 who are married and relatively well educated. Many report some health problems. Their discouragement appears linked to age bias in hiring and moderate health limits, rather than low skills.

Mothers with heavy care and financial strains (13.9%)

These are mostly women under 45 with dependent children. Many also provide unpaid care to someone else in the family. Financial stress is high.

Highly educated married women facing structural barriers (6.7%)

This is a smaller but striking group. They are well educated and generally healthy. Many are married and have children. Their discouragement reflects the strain of combining paid work with care.

The myth of the lazy jobless persists

A common myth is that people stop looking for work because they are unmotivated.

Our findings show something different.

Discouragement often emerges at the point where repeated rejection, health limits, childcare costs, age discrimination or household pressures make further job searches feel pointless. As one interview participant put it,

When you keep receiving rejection letters, it becomes rational to stop applying.

The evidence suggests discouragement is rarely a sudden decision. It is more often the end point of accumulated disadvantage — where multiple barriers build up over time until withdrawal feels like the only realistic option.

We identified clear life-course patterns among women at different career stages.

Younger mothers are pulled out of the job market by childcare demands. Older women encounter age bias and health limits. These women are not “choosing to drop out” from the workforce. They are responding to structural pressures at different stages of life.

We see similar patterns among men, as well.

A significant group of young men face intersecting disadvantages early in adulthood. Weak educational foundations combined with health issues limit their attachment to stable work. Older adults — particularly those with low education and long-term health conditions — face persistent barriers.

Finding policies that work

Activation policies are employment policies designed to “activate” people who are out of work by pushing or encouraging them to search for jobs more actively. The underlying idea is that the problem sits with the individual: search harder. Try more. Be more motivated.

Our findings suggest the barriers often sit elsewhere.

Older workers need health support and age-inclusive hiring. Care-burdened mothers need affordable childcare and genuine flexibility.

Young men with low education need strong training and stable entry pathways. Highly educated, married women need workplaces that offer flexibility and don’t penalise career breaks.

Discouraged workers are not a single silent mass. They represent many different stories of stalled potential.

If we want a stronger, fairer labour market, we need to see them clearly – and design policies that respond to the real reasons they stopped searching in the first place.

– ref. New study finds 6 types of ‘discouraged’ workers in Australia – and why they stop job-hunting – https://theconversation.com/new-study-finds-6-types-of-discouraged-workers-in-australia-and-why-they-stop-job-hunting-276758

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/02/new-study-finds-6-types-of-discouraged-workers-in-australia-and-why-they-stop-job-hunting-276758/