“The muscle-flexing of the hostile forces near the areas of our state’s sovereignty and security may cause unimaginably terrible consequences,” Kim Yo Yong said on Tuesday, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

“The enemies should never try to test our patience, will and capability,” Kim said.

“We will watch to what extent the enemy violates the security of our state and what it is playing at,” she continued.

Kim’s remarks follow the start of the joint Freedom Shield exercises on Monday, which will run for 10 days and involve 18,000 South Korean and US military personnel.

The military manoeuvres are designed to “enhance the combined, joint, all-domain, and interagency operational environment, thereby strengthening the Alliance’s response capabilities,” United States Forces Korea said.

This year’s Freedom Shield will involve 22 field training drills, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency, which is fewer than half the number carried out last year.

Kim added on Tuesday that there was no justification to hold the exercises, which have been called a “defensive” action by Washington and Seoul in the past.

“No  matter what justification they may establish and how the elements of the drill may be coordinated, the clear confrontational nature of the high-intensity large-scale war drill staged by the most hostile entities in collusion at the doorstep of [North Korea] never changes,” she said.

“The recent global geopolitical crisis and complicated international events prove that all military manoeuvres of the field warfare troops, to be conducted by the enemy states, assume no distinction between defence and attack, training and actual warfare,” she continued, in an apparent reference to the US-Israel war on Iran.

South Korea and North Korea have technically been at war since 1953, when an armistice agreement paused fighting but did not formally end the armed confrontation.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in 2024 that he would no longer pursue reconciliation with South Korea, although it remains Seoul’s long-term goal.

An official at South Korea’s Ministry of Unification told Yonhap that Kim’s remarks on Tuesday were relatively muted by North Korean standards.

The statement did not refer directly to the US or threaten to use nuclear weapons, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Kim appears to have limited her response to merely pinpointing the South Korea-US exercise, taking the current security situation into account,” the official told Yonhap.

In an Oval Office meeting on Tuesday with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump declined to specify anyone else, saying that “most of the people we had in mind are dead”.

Pahlavi, 65, has claimed that he is “uniquely placed” to lead a transitional government and indicated that he would be willing to return to Iran as soon as possible for the first time in 47 years.

Trump, however, has publicly repeated doubts about whether the exiled crown prince has the support necessary among Iranians in his homeland.

Speaking alongside Merz, Trump said that while “some people like him”, the administration has not “been thinking too much about that.”

Trump said he was unsure “how he’d play within his own country.”

“I don’t know whether or not his country would accept his leadership,” he added. “Certainly if they would, that would be fine with me.”

Instead, Trump said that he believes someone already within Iran “would be more appropriate.” However, he did not identify a potential option.

“Most of the people we had in mind are dead,” he said.

The country’s last leader, Ayatollah Khamenei – along with a large swathe of the country’s senior-most leaders – was killed in the initial wave of US and Israeli strikes. Another strike reportedly targeting surviving Iranian leaders took place on Tuesday, Trump confirmed.

As a potential successful model, he pointed to Venezuela, where “we kept the government totally intact” after the capture of Nicolas Maduro on 3 January.

Pahlavi has been in exile in the US, primarily in the Washington DC area. He is scheduled to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, the largest gathering of conservative activists in the country, in Texas later in March.

In an interview with CBS, the BBC’s US partner on 1 March, Pahlavi said that he believes Iranians trust him because “they cannot associate me in any way or form to the revolution or part of this regime.”

Pahlavi’s father, the last Shah of Iran, was overthrown in a 1979 revolution largely led by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the predecessor of the recently slain Khamanei.

The revolution brought together a broad coalition of opposition groups that had grown weary of what they saw as the Shah’s authoritarian rule and economic problems, as well as modernisation efforts that destabilised rural areas and angered traditional clerics who resented secularisation.

While Pahlavi said that he does not expect an “official endorsement” of any foreign leader, “millions of Iranians inside Iran and outside Iran are calling my name.”

Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets of US and European cities in February following Pahlavi’s call for a “global day of action” in solidarity with protests that had swept across Iranian cities in December and January.

Tens of thousands of people were killed in the Iranian government’s crackdown on those protests, with Trump on Tuesday putting the estimated casualties at 35,000.

Since the beginning of the conflict on Saturday, more than 1,700 targets have been struck in Iran, according to US Central Command, the combatant command that oversees the Middle East and parts of south and central Asia.

Authorities shut all public and private universities across the country from Monday, bringing forward the Eid ⁠al-Fitr holidays as part ⁠of emergency measures to conserve electricity and fuel.

Officials said the move will not only ⁠reduce electricity consumption but also ease traffic congestion, which leads to fuel wastage.

They said the university campuses consume large amounts of electricity for residential halls, classrooms, laboratories and air conditioning, and the early closure would help ‌ease pressure on the country’s strained power system.

“The decision has been taken to reduce electricity and fuel consumption considering the current global situation,” Bangladesh’s Ministry of Education said in a directive circulated to university authorities.

Government  and private schools are already closed for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, meaning most educational institutions across the country will now remain shut during the period.

Bangladesh, which relies on imports for 95 percent of its energy needs, on Friday also imposed daily limits on fuel sales after panic buying and stockpiling.

As part of ⁠broader austerity measures, the government has also asked all foreign-curriculum schools and private coaching centres to suspend ⁠operations during this period to limit electricity use.

Alongside the closures, the government has issued guidelines encouraging institutions and offices to use electricity more efficiently, including maximising natural daylight and minimising unnecessary lighting and power consumption.

The moves came as Bangladesh faces mounting uncertainty over fuel and gas supplies following disruptions to global energy markets ⁠caused by the United States-Israel war on Iran.

The  war has snowballed into a wider conflict in the ⁠Middle East, severely hampering oil and gas exports, and driving up costs.

Severe  ⁠gas shortages have already forced Bangladesh to halt operations at four of its five state-run fertiliser factories, redirecting available gas to power plants to avoid widespread outages.

The country of 170 million people – the world’s eighth most populous – has ‌also bought LNG from the spot market at sharply higher prices while seeking additional cargoes to bridge supply gaps.

“We are doing everything ‌we ‌can to reduce consumption and ensure stability in power, fuel and import supplies,” a senior official in the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources said.

Energy analysts say such steps can offer short-term relief for the power sector while authorities work to stabilise fuel imports and manage distribution. However, they warn that prolonged interruptions to the academic calendar could create challenges for students if the energy crisis continues.

Authorities have not indicated how long the closures will remain in place, though institutions are expected to resume normal academic schedules after the Eid holidays if the energy situation improves.

Meutya Hafid, the country’s communications and digital affairs minister, announced that accounts for under 16s on “high risk” platforms would be deactivated from 28 March.

“This will start with platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live, and Roblox,” said Hafid, adding that the ban would make Indonesia “the first non-Western country to delay children’s access to digital spaces according to age”.

There was no immediate response from the affected platforms.

“Our children are facing increasingly real threats—ranging from exposure to pornography, cyberbullying, and online scams, to addiction, which is the most significant concern,” said Hafid.

“The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of algorithm-driven platforms.”

Children’s charity Unicef reported in 2023 that roughly half of the 510 Indonesian children it surveyed had been exposed to sexual images on social media.

“As a working mum with two children, especially with a teenage son, I don’t have much time to constantly monitor what my son is doing in the digital world,” Amanda Kusumo, 42, told the BBC in response to news of the ban.

“With government regulations like this, it really helps ease our worries as parents,” she said, adding: “I’m confident that the government’s decision will ultimately bring positive benefits for both children and parents.”

Amanda’s 17-year-old son, Matt Joseph, said he saw the arguments both for and against the ban.

“It’s true that children still can’t fully manage their own screen time or control themselves when using their phones. But if the government chooses to completely block all platforms considered “risky” for them, I feel there might be a gentler, wiser way to approach it,” he said.

Matt Joseph feels that much of what young people enjoy comes from social media. If the government wants them to use it less, they need an incentive – such as improving what is available to watch on TV – he suggested.

“It would be nice to have entertainment that feels like it’s really meant for us, something that supports learning while still giving us joy.”

Indonesia’s child protection agency, meanwhile, said it could not comment on the government’s plans until it had studied them.

Nurul Izmi, at the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM), could not access the final draft of the regulation, but said in general that protecting children is not just about age restrictions, pointing out the European Union bans profiling ads targeting children.

“The basis of safe child protection regulation should also be safety by design,” she said.

Izmi also said implementing age verification means collecting children’s sensitive personal data, so it was crucial to ensure data collection follows the right principles.

She continued: “In protecting children in digital platforms, it’s essential not to overlook guarantees of access to information or children’s freedom of expression. In human rights, every restriction on rights must be based on lawfulness, necessity, and proportionality.”

The announcement comes after Australia became the first country to start forcing social media firms to block users under 16 from having accounts on their platforms in December – a policy being closely watched by other world governments.

Critics have called on the Australian government to extend the ban to cover online gaming sites like Roblox and Discord, which are not currently included.

There have also been concerns that age assurance technologies would wrongly block adults while failing to spot underage users.

Spain is among other countries that have said they will follow Australia’s lead.

Earlier this week, the UK launched a public consultation on whether to introduce a similar ban, inviting young people and their parents and guardians to submit comments ahead of a government decision on the proposal.

Indonesia has previously taken steps to prevent access to sexually explicit material online, including blocking access to the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Grok.

Other online sources of pornographic material, including OnlyFans and Pornhub, have also been banned in the country.

“Plotting a ‘colour’ revolution or seeking government change will find no popular support,” China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a news conference on the sidelines of an important annual gathering in Beijing, state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.

Wang also called for the sovereignty of Iran and all countries to be respected, and demanded an “immediate stop to military operations” in the Middle East to prevent an escalation and avoid a spillover of the conflict.

“This is a war that should not have happened, and it is a war that does no one any good,” Wang said. “Force provides no solution, and armed conflict will only increase hatred and breed new crises.”

The people of the Middle East are the true masters of this region, and the region’s affairs should be determined by the countries there independently, he said, urging noninterference in internal affairs.

“A strong fist does not mean strong reason. The world cannot return to the law of the jungle,” he told reporters.

Wang urged “all sides” to return to the negotiating table “as quickly as possible” to resolve differences through dialogue, and work to realise common security.

China, he added, stands ready to work with the regional countries to “restore order to the Middle East, calm to its people, and peace to the world”.

According to a classified US National Intelligence Council report, even a large-scale US military offensive would be unlikely to overthrow Iran’s military and clerical power structure.

The  report – published on Saturday by The Washington Post, citing three sources familiar with the classified document – undercuts US President Donald Trump’s assertion that he could “clean out” Iran’s leadership and install a preferred successor, indicating that such an outcome would be far from certain.

Beijing has condemned the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Wang also maintained that China’s relations with Russia, which has been criticised by the West for sustaining the war in Ukraine, remained “steadfast and unshakeable”.

Nepal’s Election Commission confirmed on Saturday that Shah, 35,received 68,348 votes compared to Oli’s 18,734 to unseat the former leader in his constituency.

Thursday’s general election – the first since violent youth-led protests toppled the government in September – pitted the establishment against a new generation of politicians advocating for angry, young Gen Z voters hungry for change.

Shah’s Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is now seemingly on course to win the general election.

The party has a majority in directly elected seats in the general election counted so far, according to partial official results on Sunday, and could be heading for a landslide, official trends suggest.

The 35-year-old is also leading in the proportional representation vote count so far, according to the election commission.

For more than two decades, Nepal has seen a revolving door of coalition governments, largely dominated by three parties, two of them communist.

Ahead of this election, it looked set to test whether Gen Z voters had succeeded in convincing the rest of the country that it is time for a new, untested generation to shape their future, or whether veteran heavyweights – who have dominated for decades – would keep hold of power.

The country’s youth included 800,000 first-time voters, making them a key voter bloc.

Shah, who is popularly known as Balen, has been a member of the Nepali hip hop scene for several years, with one of his songs “Balidan” about sacrifice in the Nepali language cultivating millions of YouTube views.

In September 2025 unrest erupted in Nepal with so-called Gen Z demonstrations, triggered by Oli’s banning of social media platforms.

The demonstrations escalated with protesters criticising Nepal’s political system and the symbolism of class inequality “nepo babies” – children of the country’s politicians.

A total of 77 were killed during the protests, and a BBC investigation revealed the country’s police chief issued an order of lethal fire against thousands of unarmed protesters.

Shah spoke in support of the protesters and at one stage called Oli a “terrorist” who had betrayed his country.

The rapper typically shuns the media, but told the Financial Times while he was on the campaign trail he would be “the candidate for all of Nepal”.

Shah’s RSP released its manifesto in February which vowed to create 1.2 million jobs and reduce forced migration, in an effort to tap into frustration over unemployment and low wages that has pushed millions of Nepalis to move overseas.

The party has also pledged that within five years it would raise Nepal’s per capital income from $1,447 to $3,000, more than double the country’s economy to $100 billion GDP and provide safety nets such as healthcare insurance for the population.

The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on social media: “Indonesia calls on all parties to exercise restraint and to prioritize dialogue and diplomacy.

“If agreed by both parties, the President of Indonesia is prepared to travel to Tehran to carry out mediation,” it said.

But President Prabowo’s offer to help mediate between the sides has provoked debate across Indonesia, coming at a time of increased criticism of his approach to foreign policy and warm ties with the Trump administration.

“I’m puzzled as to why this idea wasn’t vetted before being made public,” Dino Patti Djalal, Indonesia’s former deputy foreign minister and former ambassador to the US, said in a statement on Instagram.

“It is highly unrealistic,” Djalal said.

Others agreed, adding that the offer could further alienate Indonesians already wary of the president’s perceived cordial relationship with US President Donald Trump.

“It is clear that any negotiations between Iran and the US have completely ended, so to propose this seems to be not reading the room,” Ian Wilson, a lecturer in politics and security studies at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia, told Al Jazeera.

“Domestically, people are likely to interpret this as a further alignment with Trump and therefore Netanyahu,” Wilson said.

In recent months, Prabowo has faced domestic scrutiny after volunteering to deploy 8,000 Indonesian troops to Gaza as part of an International Stabilization Force under the umbrella of Trump’s Board of Peace (BOP) – a so-called “international peacekeeping” organisation of which Israel is also a member.

Indonesia does not have any formal diplomatic relations with Israel, and has long supported an independent Palestine.

Joining Trump’s board and offering to participate in the US president’s plan for Gaza has not gone down well domestically.

“Indonesia is being used to legitimise the BOP’s dystopian plan to divide Gaza into quadrants and bypass the role of the United Nations,” Wilson said.

“For Indonesia to be involved fundamentally betrays its longstanding tradition of being a principled voice for the Global South, and its approach to foreign policy, which historically has been deeply respected,” he said.

It is the first time the target has been lowered since it was cut to “around 5%” in 2023. A target was not set in 2020 due to the pandemic.

The details were released during China’s biggest political gathering, known as the “two sessions”, alongside the release of some details of the 15th Five Year Plan for the world’s second largest economy.

Beijing aims to reshape its economy as it faces issues like weak consumption, a shrinking population, an ongoing property crisis, global trade tensions and an energy crunch due to the Iran war.

One China analyst told the BBC that the lower target gives China “more room to manage the economy” without being forced into making huge financial commitments just to hit a precise goal.

“China has used flexible targets before, particularly during the pandemic, but it’s not the norm,” Jason Bedford fromthe East Asian Institute research group added.

The two sessions event, which began on Wednesday and usually runs for at least a week, brings the country’s leaders together for back-to-back meetings.

Details of China’s gross domestic growth (GDP) target and its objectives under its latest Five Year Plan were included in a 46-page report published by Premier Li Qiang, seen by the BBC.

The full text of the plan, which will outline China’s economic development objectives to 2030, will be voted on during the closing day of the gathering.

It is expected to be released by state media one or two days later.

Li told delegates that the Five Year Plan will include investments in innovation, high-tech industries, scientific research and more efforts to boost household consumption.

His comments underline Beijing’s concerns that weak domestic consumption makes the country too reliant on exports, as well as highlighting its ambitions to upgrade the country’s manufacturing industries.

The report outlines plans for more than 100 major projects over the next five years to expand China’s industrial capacity, with a focus on science and technology, transportation and energy.

China aims to lead a green energy push, reducing carbon emissions and improving environmental protection, Li wrote.

The country will also build a “childbirth-friendly society” as it addresses concerns over employment, education and healthcare, the report said.

China faces an ageing population and falling birth rates, complicating Beijing’s plans to boost its economy.

In January, official figures showed that China hit its 5% economic growth target for 2025 as a whole. But Beijing also said economic expansion had slowed to 4.5% in the last three months of the year, weighed down by weak domestic spending and a long-running property crisis.

More than two-thirds of China’s provinces have scaled back their growth ambitions, either lowering targets or shifting language from aiming higher than a certain rate to targeting “around” that level.

Zhou Zheng, a policy analyst at China Macro Group, said Beijing’s new growth target reflects that it is “being realistic” as it deals with complex domestic challenges and a difficult global trade environment.

China’s economic growth still marks a “great achievement” given it has been simultaneously tackling major issues that are deeply interlinked and will take time to solve, Zhou said.

But Georgetown University researcher Ning Leng said China’s growth figures should be taken with “a grain of salt”, as other data suggests a weaker economic picture.

The crisis in China’s property sector has hit the country hard and is a key reason for its domestic consumption being weak, she added.

The real estate market once accounted for nearly a third of the Chinese economy and was a key source of income for local governments – many of which now have huge debts.

The industry’s problems have also led to layoffs and pay cuts across the country.

Manufacturing and exports have helped support China’s economy, recording the world’s biggest-ever trade surplus last year – the value of goods and services sold abroad compared to its imports – of $1.19tn (£890bn).

But has means China has become particularly reliant on exports to plug the gaps, which is a weakness the US can sense, Ning said.

US President Donald Trump’s tariffs have put further pressure on China’s export-reliant economy.

The country has responded by pouring huge resources into redirecting trade to other countries to ensure its products can be sold, sustaining its manufacturing sector, said Ning.

Trump is expected to visit China in April and meet President Xi Jinping for their first face-to-face talks this year.

Meanwhile, the US-Israel war with Iran means Beijing has now lost two key sources of cheap oil this year.

It also can no longer access Venezuelan oil after the US seized President Nicolás Maduro in January.

But Beijing has highlighted that it is far less dependent on fossil fuels as it has for several years been transitioning to renewable energy.

Chloe Jeffries, from the Gold Coast, was riding on a snowmobile with her mother in Hakuba Valley, Nagano prefecture, on Saturday when it overturned, trapping her underneath. She was airlifted to hospital but later died.

In a tribute from her netball club, Jeffries was remembered for her “beautiful nature” and “her cheeky, infectious smile”.

Tour operator Hakuba Lion Adventure said the vehicle flipped after going up an embankment along a forest road and that police were investigating. Jeffries is the fourth Australian to have died at a Japanese ski resort this year.

In a statement, the tour company’s CEO Shinji Wada said the “tragic accident” happened just before 11:00 local time on Saturday.

The tour was made up of nine snowmobiles including three guides, he said.

“During the tour, near an uphill curve along a forest road, the snowmobile from the front left the course while navigating the curve and rode up onto the embankment at the side of the trail.

“The vehicle subsequently overturned back onto the course. As a result of the overturn, the passenger riding tandem on the snowmobile became trapped beneath the vehicle.”

Wada said it had cancelled all its snowmobile and snowshoe tours until further notice and it would conduct a review of its operations and safety procedures.

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was providing consular assistance to the family.

Last month, Melbourne man Michael ‘Micky’ Hurst, 27, died after he became separated from his group of skiers between two ski resorts in the Hokkaido region.

It’s understood he collapsed suddenly and was taken to hospital but later declared dead.

In the same week, a 22-year-old Australian woman died after becoming trapped in a ski lift at a resort in central Japan.

Brooke Day was using a chairlift at Tsugaike Mountain Resort in Otari, Nagano prefecture, when part of her backpack got tangled in the lift, leaving her suspended in midair.

The woman suffered a heart attack and was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead, officials said at the time.

In January, Australian-Indonesian teenager Rylan Henry Pribadi died while skiing at Niseko Ski Resort in Kutchan Town, Hokkaido.

It is believed he collided with a course boundary role. The cause of death was asphyxiation, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The woman had wanted to terminate the pregnancy at 36 weeks. The surgeon who operated on her and the director of the hospital were also found guilty of murder. They were sentenced to four and six years in prison respectively.

The case has highlighted the legal limbo surrounding abortion regulations in South Korea after its Constitutional Court struck down a ban on the procedure in 2019.

Since then, abortions have existed in a legal grey area, as there are no official restrictions on how far into the pregnancy it can be carried out.

Prosecutors said the baby was born alive through a Caesarean section and placed in a freezer until it died.

The woman, in her 20s and identified by her surname Kwon, argued that she did not know the procedure would be carried out that way.

On Wednesday Kwon was handed a three-year suspended jail sentence. She has also been ordered to do 200 hours of social service work.

In 2024, Kwon posted a YouTube video about how she terminated her pregnancy at 36 weeks. The video triggered public uproar and a criminal complaint from the health ministry. Police then launched an investigation into her and her doctor.

Prosecutors said that after the woman’s baby was born alive, the hospital’s director and the surgeon put it into a freezer, where it died.

The hospital staff then falsified Kwon’s medical records to make it look like she had a stillbirth, prosecutors said.

During the trial, the hospital director and surgeon admitted to killing the baby. They were taken into custody immediately after the judge read out the verdict.

The hospital had allegedly received a total of 1.4 billion won to perform abortions on more than 500 patients, prosecutors said. Their patients, like Kwon, had been introduced to the hospital through brokers.

In January, prosecutors sought a 10-year prison sentence for the hospital’s director, and six years in prison for Kwon and the surgeon who operated on her.

Kwon’s lawyer argued that she did not know that the baby would be killed after being removed from her womb.

Kwon told the court that she had only learned of her pregnancy seven months in, and sought abortion because she had no stable income. She also feared the baby would be born with defects as she had drunk alcohol and smoked throughout her pregnancy, she said.

On Wednesday, the judge found that Kwon had been informed by medical staff that her baby was healthy, and she had also heard its heartbeat via ultrasound. The judge also found that she knew the baby would be born alive through Caesarean section.

However, the legal vacuum surrounding abortions in South Korea was taken into consideration during Kwon’s sentencing, as she could not receive support to navigate her late-stage pregnancy, the judge added.

The judge said that although this was a crime that deserved a harsh penalty, they were exercising leniency considering the lack of society’s support for mothers in situations like this.

In 2019, South Korea’s Constitutional Court removed a long-standing ban on abortion and gave lawmakers until the end of 2020 to revise the laws. The court recommended that the parliament amend the law to allow abortions up to 22 weeks of pregnancy.

In 2020, the government drafted legislation that permitted abortion up to 14 weeks – or up to 24 weeks in special cases, such as health reasons or if the pregnancy was a result of rape.

However, that bill was held by a gridlock in parliament. By the time the ban’s removal took effect in 2021, the country was left with no legislation to regulate abortion.

As a result, prosecutors have pressed murder charges in cases of late-stage abortion, by arguing that the baby was killed outside the womb.