#BREAKING: Chinese firm claims it intercepted B-2 radio signal during #US strike on #Iran.

Michelle Bolsonaro said on Instagram that tests showed the 70-year-old right-wing politician had reduced inflammation since he was placed in the Brasilia hospital’s intensive care unit on Friday for pneumonia.

“We remain confident he will overcome this moment too,” Michelle Bolsonaro said.

The hospital DF Star said on Sunday that Bolsonaro ’s kidney function had improved, although he was to stay in intensive care because of pneumonia. The hospital did not mention his transfer to a semi-intensive care unit.

Bolsonaro, who governed between 2019 and 2022, was taken to the hospital on Friday from the prison where he is serving a 27-year sentence for leading a coup attempt in 2023.

The embattled ex-leader was transferred from the local federal police headquarters to a larger cell in January. His family and allies have repeatedly asked Brazil’s Supreme Court to allow him to carry out his sentence under house arrest.

The right-wing leader has been hospitalized multiple times since being stabbed at a campaign event before the 2018 presidential election.

His son Flávio Bolsonaro, a senator, is expected to run for president later this year against incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Jair Bolsonaro was also convicted on charges that include leading an armed criminal organization and attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law. He has denied any wrongdoing.

___

The Associated Press

Analysis: Two weeks into war with Iran, #Trump has been knocked back on his #political heels.


He’s grown more agitated with news coverage and has failed to find a way to explain why he started the war — or how he will end it — that resonates with a public concerned by American deaths in the conflict, surging oil prices and dropping financial markets. Even some of his supporters are questioning his plan and his overall poll numbers are declining.

Meanwhile, Moscow is getting a boost from the war’s early days after Trump eased sanctions on some Russian oil shipments. That, combined with rising oil prices, undercut the yearslong push to crimp President Vladimir Putin’s ability to wage war in Ukraine.

Then there are Democrats, who were left reeling after Trump won the 2024 election. With control of Congress at stake in November’s midterms, the party has come together to oppose Trump’s Iran policy and point to the economic turmoil as proof that Republicans haven’t kept their promises to bring down everyday costs.

“I think Democrats are well-positioned for this November and the midterms,” said Kelly Dietrich, CEO of the National Democratic Training Committee, which trains party backers to run for office and staff campaigns.

Dietrich said the past two weeks show the Trump administration has failed at long-term planning. “They’re flying by the seat of their pants, and the rest of us are paying the price,” he said.

Trump let some of his frustrations show on Air Force One as he flew back from a weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, lashing out at allies and other countries dependent on Middle Eastern oil for not doing more to counter Iran and specifically name-checking British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who he said initially declined to put British aircraft carriers “into harm’s way.”

“Whether we get support or not,” Trump said, “I can say this, and I said to them: We will remember.”
Trump seeks help securing the Strait of Hormuz

The president spent much of his weekend at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida. He also attended a closed-door fundraiser for his MAGA Inc. super PAC at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday night.

Last weekend, Trump played golf at another of his South Florida properties a day after witnessing the dignified transfer for six U.S. soldiers killed in the Iran war. A political action committee used a photo of the solemn event in a fundraising email, but Trump brushed off a question about whether it was appropriate, saying “there’s nobody that’s better to the military than me.”

Trump and his White House have increasingly complained about media coverage of the conflict. On Saturday, he cheered on his broadcast regulator for threatening to pull broadcast licenses unless they “correct course.”

He angrily told reporters flying with him on Air Force One that coverage of the war had been influenced by Iranian propaganda, which exaggerated the military and political strength of Iran’s leaders and their support among the country’s people.

The president — who kept allies other than Israel in the dark about his war plans for Iran — this weekend began suggesting the U.S. would need to lean on the international community to help oil tankers move through the Strait of Hormuz, where transportation has been severely disrupted, throwing global energy markets into a tailspin.

Iran has said it plans to keep up attacks on energy infrastructure and use its effective closure of the strait as leverage against the United States and Israel. A fifth of the world’s traded oil flows through the waterway.

Trump said the U.S. was talking to “about seven” countries about providing military support to help reopen the strait. But he wouldn’t say which ones and gave no indication of when such a coalition might be formed.

“It’s something that we don’t need and these countries do need,” the president said, adding “I think it’s a good thing for other countries to come in.”

Singling out allies in Europe, Trump also said, “We’re always there for NATO” and “It’d be interesting to see what country wouldn’t help us with a very small endeavor.”

“Really I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory,” Trump said.

But other countries have reacted to that call only cautiously so far.

South Korea plans to “closely coordinate and carefully review” Trump’s comments, while Japan is closely watching developments. Britain’s defense ministry said it was “discussing with our allies and partners a range of options to ensure the security of shipping in the region.”

A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said keeping the strait “safe and stable serves the common interests of the international community” and that “as a sincere friend and strategic partner of Middle Eastern countries, China will continue to strengthen communication with relevant parties.” Trump — who is slated to visit Beijing later this month — declined to say whether China would join the effort.

Trump had pledged at the beginning of the war that U.S. naval ships would escort tankers through the waterway. But that hasn’t happened yet.

In the meantime, questions about the strait continue to undermine Trump’s recent pronouncement during a Kentucky rally that, “We’ve won.”

“You know, you never like to say too early you won. We won,” he said. “We won the, in the first hour, it was over.”
The war has far-reaching political implications

The U.S. Treasury Department announced this past week a 30-day waiver on Russian sanctions, aiming to free up Russian oil cargoes stranded at sea to help ease supply shortages caused by the Iran war.

That’s despite analysts saying that spiraling oil prices due to Persian Gulf production blockages are benefiting the Russian economy. Moscow relies heavily on oil revenue to finance its war on Ukraine, and sanctions were a growing handicap.

Some of Washington’s key allies have decried the move as empowering Putin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called easing sanctions “not the right decision” and said it “certainly does not help peace” because it leads to a “strengthening of Russia’s position.”

With midterm races now starting to heat up, Trump was asked about the potential political impact of voters seeing gas prices jump.

“Politically, sure, everybody has concern — I have to do what’s right," Trump said Sunday night. “I can’t say that ‘Gee, I don’t want to have any impact on oil prices for three or four weeks, or two months, and we’re going to let Iran have a nuclear weapon.’”

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said of higher energy prices on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “Americans are feeling it right now” and would ”for a few more weeks.”

Iran also has even divided Trump’s “Make America Great Again” base, between those who support the action and others who say that Trump expressly campaigned on ending wars.

The political turbulence has some Democrats predicting their party could see midterm gains rivaling 2018’s “blue wave” election during Trump’s first term.

“Democrats just have to keep reminding people that he made a promise to bring prices down, and they’re still going up,” Democratic strategist Brad Bannon said of Trump. “And now they’re going to go up even more because prices in gasoline can increase prices of everything else, including at the grocery store.”

Will Weissert, The Associated Press

5th member of Iranian women’s soccer team gives up #asylum in Australia. The player’s departure shortly before midnight on Sunday leaves two of an initial seven squad members in Australia, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke’s office said.

The Iranian authorities have welcomed the women’s change of heart as a victory against Australia and U.S. President Donald Trump. The Iranian diaspora in Australia blame pressure from Tehran.

Burke reported on Sunday that two players and a team support staff member had left Sydney for Malaysia on Saturday.

Iran’s team arrived in Australia for the Women’s Asian Cup last month, before the war in the Middle East began on Feb. 28.

Initially, six players and a support staff member from a squad list of 26 players accepted humanitarian visas to stay in Australia before the rest of the Iranian contingent flew from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur on March 10.

Another later changed her mind and left Australia.

The rest of the team has remained in Kuala Lumpur since they left Australia.

Assistant Immigration Minister Matt Thistlethwaite described the women’s plight in Australia as a “very complex situation.”

“We’ve been working very, very closely with them, but obviously this is a very complex situation. These are deeply personal decisions, and the government respects the decisions of those that have chosen to return. And we continue to offer support to the two that are remaining,” Thistlethwaite told Sky News television.

“They’re being given all the support of the Australian government and indeed the diaspora community to remain here and settle in Australia,” he added.

Iran’s Tasnim News Agency said after the three left Australia on Saturday and that they were “returning to the warm embrace of their family and homeland.”

Concerns about the team’s safety in Iran heightened when the players didn’t sing the Iranian national anthem before their first match.

The Australian government was urged to help the women by Iranian groups in Australia and by Trump.

The Iranian news agency described the women’s return to the team as the “disgraceful failure of the American-Australian project and another failure for Trump.”

Some members of the Iranian diaspora in Australia have accused the support staffer who initially accepted asylum then left Australia on Saturday of spreading Iranian government propaganda to her teammates via text messages.

Thistlethwaite said there was no evidence to support the theory that the staffer had persuaded others to leave. All those who had remained in Australia after the team had left were “genuine asylum seekers,” he said.

Thistlethwaite said the women had been taken to an undisclosed “safe destination” once they had decided to stay in Australia.

“They’ve been able to communicate with family and with others. I understand that some of them did make contact with the Iranian embassy here in Australia. We can’t cut off communications for them,” Thistlethwaite said.

The embassy in the national capital Canberra remains staffed, despite the Australian government expelling the ambassador last year.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese cut off diplomatic relations with Iran in August after announcing that intelligence officials had concluded that the Revoluntionary Guard had directed arson attacks on a Sydney kosher food company and Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue in 2024.

Australian-Iranian Society of Victoria vice-president Kambiz Razmara said the women who accepted asylum had been under pressure from the Tehran regime.

“They’ve had to make decisions at the spur of the moment with very little information and they’ve had to react to the circumstance,” Razmara said. “I’m surprised that they’ve decided to go, but I’m actually not surprised because I appreciate the pressures that they’re experiencing.”

Rod Mcguirk, The Associated Press

After quieter weeks, Taiwan reports large-scale Chinese military aircraft presence near the island.

#HONGKONG — #Taiwan saw a surge of #Chinese #military planes near the island, its #defence ministry said Sunday, after a sharp drop in flights over the past two weeks had sparked discussions among observers.

The ministry detected 26 Chinese military aircraft around the island on Saturday, with 16 of them entering its northern, central and southwestern Air Defense Identification Zone. Seven naval ships were spotted around the island, it reported.

The increased number of aircraft came after the ministry reported a fall that left analysts scratching their heads about what China’s military may be up to.

Taiwan didn’t report any Chinese military planes that went beyond the median line and entered the zone for a week from Feb. 27 to March 5. After two were detected on March 6, the next four days had none. Such flights resumed in small numbers between Wednesday and Friday.

The drop coincided with the annual meeting of China’s legislature. While such flights have fallen in the past during major events and public holidays, this year’s fall was more prominent than in the past.

Analysts said the meeting could not be the sole reason behind the recent drop. Another potential factor could be a desire to calm the waters with Washington weeks before a visit by U.S. President Donald Trump. The White House has said that Trump would travel to China from March 31 to April 2, though Beijing has not officially confirmed that.

Some observers also suggested the decline may be driven by a shift to a next phase in China’s military training and modernization, with the army appearing to be exploring a new model for joint training between its forces.

China has vowed to seize the island, by force if necessary. Over the years, Beijing has sent warplanes and navy vessels toward the island on a near-daily basis.

Taiwan’s military previously signalled that it wasn’t changing its defence posture because of the falloff in Chinese warplane activity.

Defence Minister Wellington Koo earlier noted that China’s navy has remained active in nearby waters, even as military flights have fallen off.

China and Taiwan have been governed separately since 1949, when the Communist Party rose to power in Beijing following a civil war. Defeated Nationalist Party forces fled to Taiwan, which later transitioned from martial law to multiparty democracy.

Kanis Leung, The Associated Press

Iran war enters its third week as 2,500 more U.S. Marines are being sent to the region, Iran’s joint military command threatened to attack cities in the UAE, home to Dubai and one of the world’s busiest airports, saying the U.S. used “ports, docks and hideouts” there to launch strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island, without providing evidence. It called on people to immediately evacuate areas where it said U.S. forces were sheltering, naming Jebel Ali port in Dubai -- the Mideast’s busiest -- as well as Khalifa port in Abu Dhabi and Fujairah port.

It was the first time Iran has directly threatened non-U.S. assets, in this case commercial ports, in a neighboring country since the war began.

Associated Press images showed smoke rising over the embassy compound in the Iraqi capital and a fire in the UAE’s Fujairah port that broke out after what authorities said was a drone interception.

A day earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. destroyed military sites on Kharg Island, vital to Iran’s oil network, and warned that Iran’s oil infrastructure could be next if Tehran continues to interfere with the passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, where vessels are backed up and where one-fifth of global oil supplies usually transit.

Trump said U.S. forces on Friday “obliterated” targets on Kharg Island, which is home to the primary terminal that handles the country’s oil exports.

Iran’s parliament speaker had warned that such strikes would provoke a new level of retaliation.

The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, as well as the Tripoli and other amphibious assault ships carrying the Marines, are based in Japan and have been in the Pacific Ocean for several days, according to images released by the military. The Tripoli was spotted by commercial satellites sailing alone near Taiwan, putting it more than a week away from waters off Iran.

Earlier in the week, the Navy had 12 ships, including the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and eight destroyers, in the Arabian Sea. Should the Tripoli join, it would be the second-largest ship behind the Lincoln there.

The total number of U.S. service members on the ground in the Middle East is not clear. Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, one of the largest in the region, typically houses some 8,000 U.S. troops.
U.S. strikes a key Iranian island after Tehran warning

The U.S. strikes on Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf targeted military sites but left Iran’s oil infrastructure alone for now, Trump said on social media. But he warned that if Iran or anyone else interferes with the passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, he will reconsider his decision not to “wipe out the Oil Infrastructure.”

On Saturday, Iran’s joint military command reiterated its threat to attack U.S.-linked oil and energy facilities in the region if the Islamic Republic’s oil infrastructure is hit.

Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, warned they will target “all oil, economic and energy infrastructures belonging to oil companies across the region that have American shares or cooperate with America.”

Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency said Saturday the U.S. strikes caused no damage to the island’s oil infrastructure. It said at least 15 explosions followed the strikes, which it said targeted an air defense facility, a naval base, the airport control tower and an offshore oil company’s helicopter hangar.

U.S. Central Command released a video showing the strike and saying it destroyed naval mine storage facilities, missile storage bunkers and other military sites.
Another attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the strike on the embassy’s helipad. The embassy complex, one of the largest U.S. diplomatic facilities in the world, has been repeatedly targeted by rockets and drones fired by Iran-aligned militias.

BREAKING: 🇮🇷🇺🇸 Iran strikes 5 US Air Force refueling planes at Prince Sultan air base in Saudi Arabia, #WSJ reports.

British and French Ambassadors to Moscow Nigel Casey and Nicolas de Riviere were summoned to Russia’s Foreign Ministry over the Ukrainian army’s strikes by French-British missiles on Bryansk and the diplomats were told about their countries’ complicity in this terrorist attack, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"On March 13, Ambassador of Great Britain to Moscow Casey and Ambassador of France to Moscow de Riviere were summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry where they were issued a resolute protest over a March 10 strike that the Ukrainian army delivered on Bryansk by cruise missiles produced by the joint French-British consortium MBDA," the ministry said in a statement.

"It was pointed out during the demarche that Britain and France were directly involved in this terrorist act, which killed seven and wounded more than 40 people. It is obvious for us that the missile attack on Bryansk would have been impossible without the involvement of British and French specialists in its planning, and also without the transfer of reconnaissance data to the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev," the statement reads.

In case of further involvement of London and Paris in the Kiev regime’s war crimes, precisely these European countries will bear responsibility for the destructive consequences of the armed conflict and the escalation of tension, the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed.

"It was also stated that Moscow views the missile attack on Bryansk as a deliberate provocation aimed at disrupting the intensified efforts for the peaceful settlement of the Ukraine crisis. The British and French sides were called upon to give up inhuman actions in their desire to raise their political profile and return their sponsored ‘Ukraine project’ to the focus of the international agenda amid the current escalation in the Middle East," the statement reads.

In addition, the Russian side demanded that Great Britain and France give an explicit public reaction that resolutely and clearly condemns the Ukrainian army’s terrorist attack in Bryansk, the ministry said.

"Its absence will mean solidarizing with terrorist methods, which is disgraceful for the countries that are permanent members of the UN Security Council," the statement reads. #GlobalNews

Investigators work to determine exact reason for attack at Michigan synagogue. Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Lebanon, was killed by security after ramming into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township near Detroit and driving down a hallway in a vehicle that then caught fire, according to authorities.

The FBI, which is leading the investigation, described the attack on one of the nation’s largest Reform synagogues as an act of violence targeting the Jewish community.

About 140 people -- 106 children and more than 30 staff -- were at the synagogue at the time of the attack, said Cassi Cohen, Temple Israel’s director of strategic development. None of them were injured, according to Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin during a news conference Friday praised Temple Israel’s private security for swiftly stopping the attack.

“If they had not all done their jobs almost perfectly, we would be talking about an immense tragedy here with children gone,” Slotkin said.

Whitmer urged Americans to “lower the rhetoric” amid what she called a rising wave of antisemitism. She said the children attending school at the synagogue were 5 and younger.

“This is targeting babies who are Jewish,” Whitmer said. “That is antisemitism at its absolute worst.”

Ghazali came to the U.S. in 2011 on an immediate relative visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen and was granted U.S. citizenship in 2016, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

An Israeli airstrike killed four people in the eastern Lebanon town of Mashgharah on March 5, Lebanon’s state agency and the Lebanese Health Ministry reported. A woman was also wounded.

The ripple effects of the Iran war have spread across the Middle East. Israel has stepped up its attacks on Lebanon following renewed strikes with the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.

A local official in Mashgharah told The Associated Press that Ghazali’s two brothers and a niece and nephew were killed at their home in the airstrike just after sunset as they were having their fast-breaking meal during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The official, who requested anonymity because he could not publicly discuss details of the airstrike, told the AP that Kassim and Ibrahim Ghazali were killed, along with Ibrahim Ghazali’s children, Ali and Fatima. Ibrahim Ghazali’s wife was seriously wounded and remains in the hospital, the official said.

The official said that Kassim Ghazali was a well-known soccer coach and personal trainer while Ibrahim was a school bus driver in the village.

The official said that Ayman Ghazali’s father was in the U.S. and returned to Lebanon recently.

In the minutes after the attack, smoke billowed from the synagogue. One security officer was hit by the vehicle and knocked unconscious but did not suffer life-threatening injuries, Bouchard said. And 30 law enforcement officers were treated for smoke inhalation.

Cohen was in the hallway where the crash happened. She described hearing a loud bang and said she grabbed a few staff members, ran into her office and locked the door.

“When I heard the crash, I knew it was bad,” Cohen said.

She said the crash happened near a classroom and, in addition to the children, there were also more than 30 staff members in the synagogue.

Rabbi Arianna Gordon, from Temple Israel, thanked the security team, law enforcement and early childhood teachers for getting the children out safely and reunited with their parents.

Big names on the street:

Ali Larijani, Secretary of the National Security Council, and Mohammad Eslami, Head of the Atomic Energy Agency of Iran and the Police Chief