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Ongoing diplomatic efforts involving Ukraine, the US and Russia have been temporarily put on hold as Washington focuses its attention on escalating tensions in the Middle East, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi told reporters in Kyiv that several rounds of planned trilateral consultations have already been postponed, and further delays are now expected.

“Several upcoming rounds of trilateral consultations between Ukraine, Russia, and the United States have already been rescheduled multiple times. As of now, they have been pushed back again,” he said.

“They haven’t been canceled or abandoned, just delayed. There’s no need to read anything more into it,” Tykhyi continued.

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The United Nations' nuclear watchdog chief says he does not believe the war in Iran can entirely eliminate the nation's nuclear program, even if the main facilities are heavily damaged.

And Iran confirmed a third senior official killed by Israel in about 24 hours.

Iran retaliated to Israel's killing late Tuesday of the head of the Supreme National Security Council with missile attacks at Israel overnight, killing two people near Tel Aviv.

Health authorities have reported about 1,300 killed in Iran, 968 in Lebanon and 16 in Israel since the war began on Feb. 28. U.S. Central Command has said 13 U.S. service members have been killed and eight severely injured. Several Gulf Arab countries have also reported lower fatalities.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, says he believes some part of Iran's nuclear program will remain, even after the heavy damage done by U.S. and Israeli military strikes.

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When Mayor Zohran Mamdani took the stage at the Museum of the City of New York last week, he was surrounded by city workers invited to share iftar, the dinner held after sunset to break the daily Ramadan fast.

"It is not every day that we see in one room the sheer breadth of Muslim life in New York City," Mamdani said, flashing his trademark grin and offering the traditional holiday greeting. "I will say it once again, Ramadan mubarak, my friends."

It was a moment of celebration and pride not only for New York City's community of roughly one million Muslims but also for many Muslims across the country.

Over the last year, Mamdani had risen with astonishing speed from a Democratic Socialist backbencher in the state legislature to the pinnacle of power in the U.S.' largest city.

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White House officials have grown increasingly frustrated with Republican congresswoman Nancy Mace, accusing her of complicating efforts to evacuate Americans stranded in the Middle East by attempting to conduct her own rescue missions, according to people familiar with the matter.

The irritation with Mace has been building for days after she traveled to the region to try to transport US citizens across international borders and engaged with foreign governments without informing the state department, which has been coordinating evacuation flights.

Trump administration officials have taken particular issue with Mace’s outreach to Saudi Arabia, where she unilaterally engaged with officials to facilitate departures for Americans – and then asked the state department to requisition a Saudi commercial plane to transport 300 people.

“Secretary Rubio, I am asking you directly: please authorize this Saudi aircraft mission without delay. I have done the diplomatic work and secured the commitment,” Mace wrote in a 16 March letter, addressed to Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, reviewed by the Guardian.

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation has started buying location data on Americans, Kash Patel, FBI director, said under oath at the Senate intelligence committee worldwide threats hearing on Wednesday.

Patel’s admission came in response to a question from the senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who is a longtime opponent of the warrantless surveillance of Americans. Wyden told Patel that his predecessor, Christopher Whttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/18/kash-patel-fbi-location-dataray, testified in 2023 that the FBI did not at that time purchase location data derived from internet advertising, although he acknowledged that it had done so in the past.

“Is that the case still?” Wyden asked. “And if so, can you commit this morning to not buying Americans’ location data?”

“We do purchase commercially available information that’s consistent with the constitution and the laws under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and it has led to some valuable intelligence for us,” Patel responded.

“So you’re saying that the agency will buy Americans’ location data,” Wyden said. “I believe that that’s what you’ve said in kind of intelligence lingo. And I just want to say as we start this debate, doing that without a warrant is an outrageous end run around the fourth amendment. It’s particularly dangerous given the use of artificial intelligence to comb through massive amounts of private information.

“This is exhibit A for why Congress needs to pass our bipartisan, bicameral bill, the Government Surveillance Reform act,” Wyden said, referring to legislation he is working to pass to rein in surveillance.

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A New York high school student who was detained at an immigration courthouse in May last year, sparking national outrage, was released on Wednesday.

Dylan Lopez Contreras, 21, of Venezuela was a freshman at Ellis Prep academy, a Bronx public school dedicated exclusively to students who have recently arrived in the US. It was the first widely known instance of a public school student being arrested by federal immigration agents.

On Wednesday, he was released from the Moshannon Valley Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing center in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, after 10 months in detention.“It is both a relief and a blessing,” his mother, Raiza Contreras, said. “All glory and honor belong to God, who opened doors and made the impossible possible.” He arrived home on Wednesday evening, according to his lawyers.

Contreras’s arrest last year shocked his community, and previewed the Trump administration’s indiscriminate approach to immigration enforcement. In an essay he wrote for the Guardian from Moshannon Valley, Contreras said that his life in detention was “uncomfortable, stressful and monotonous”.

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Former national security adviser John Bolton on Wednesday applauded the resignation of Joe Kent, one of the nation’s top counterterrorism officials, who stepped down in opposition of the ongoing U.S. military operation in Iran.

Bolton then suggested that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard should follow her former top aide’s lead.

“I’m glad he resigned. I hope Tulsi Gabbard resigns soon afterward. If you don’t believe in the administration’s policy, you should resign,” he said during an appearance on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe.”

“There is division within the top ranks of the administration. This is proof of it,” he continued, highlighting the internal GOP rift that was exposed by Kent’s exit.

Kent became the first senior Trump administration official to voluntarily leave his post in objection to the Middle East conflict, saying he could not “in good conscience” support the military operation.

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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has none of President Trump’s penchant for controversy or headline-grabbing language — but these days, he’s putting emphatic distance between Berlin and Washington all the same.

Merz is not only declining to answer Trump’s call for help in reopening the vital Strait of Hormuz. He is being scathing of the president’s decision to wage war on Iran in the first place.

“To this day, there is no convincing plan for how this operation could succeed,” Merz told German legislators on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

“Washington has not consulted us and did not say European assistance was necessary. … We would have advised against pursuing this course of action as it has been pursued.”

Trump’s call for help has found few takers elsewhere.

French President Emmanuel Macron said at a Tuesday Cabinet meeting that his nation would “never take part” in efforts to open the Strait of Hormuz while the current conflict rages.

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