Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB said areas in northern, eastern and central Tehran were under attack on Wednesday morning. The broadcaster said on Telegram that explosions were heard in the capital’s north, east and centre, reporting “attacks on Tehran” without immediately providing more details. It is now 6.30am in Tehran.
Stephen Lewis, the Canadian diplomat, politician and human rights advocate, who spent decades tirelessly working to focus global attention on the HIV/Aids epidemic, has died of cancer. Lewis, who served as the Canadian ambassador to the United Nations, as well as the head of Ontario’s New Democratic party (NDP), was 88. “Stephen spent the last eight years of his life battling cancer with the same indomitable energy he brought to his lifelong work: the unending struggle for justice and dignity for every human life,” his family said in a statement. “The world has lost a voice of unmatched eloquence and integrity.” Prime minister Mark Carney paid tribute to Lewis, calling him “a pillar of compassionate leadership in Canadian democracy, and a renowned global champion for human rights and multilateralism” in a statement. Lewis, the scion of former federal NDP leader David Lewis, was also the father of Avi Lewis, who was elected leader of the federal NDP on Sunday. In his victory speech before his father’s death, Avi Lewis paid tribute to him, saying his father was “not doing too well” but was hanging on from his hospital bed to see the next chapter of “the movement”. “Ever the political fanatic, dad has demanded daily updates about our organizing, delivered to his hospital bed – a veritable IV drip of campaign data,” he said. “At age 88 he is more passionate about the promise of democratic socialism than he has ever been in his life.” Stephen Lewis led the Ontario NDP from 1970 to 1978, serving as official opposition leader from 1975 to 1977. After leaving politics, Lewis was appointed Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations. He was then named special adviser to the UN’s secretary general on African affairs and later became deputy director of Unicef and the United Nations special envoy for HIV-Aids in Africa. It was that work, in a region of the world decimated by illness and the neglect of nations with the means to help, that left him shaken. “I cannot remember in my entire adult life scenes of such unendurable human desolation, it was heartbreaking,” Lewis said during his first speech to the UN in 2006. A skilled orator and writer, he reserved his sharpest criticism for wealthy nations and the global institutions capable of ending much of the suffering. “It’s not just the fact that people will die; it’s the fact that those who have made the decision know that people will die. How does that get rationalized?” he said in a 2011 speech at Yale University after donor nations cut funding. “How does that get dealt with in the inner sanctums of development ministries and cabinet discussions? What in God’s name do they say to each other?” Lewis, driven by the desire to make combating disease and poverty his life’s work, then co-founded the Stephen Lewis Foundation with his daughter Ilana Landsberg-Lewis, travelling often to countries in Africa disproportionately affected by pandemics. During the coronavirus pandemic, Lewis called on nations like Canada to recognize the need for vaccine equity, and criticised the government for accessing doses from an international vaccine-sharing pool. “It was always understood from the outset that this was not a source of vaccines for the rich and wealthy countries of the world,” he said in a 2021 interview. There are two schools in Toronto named after him and Lewis holds 33 honorary degrees, among the highest of any Canadian. He was given the Order of Canada, the country’s highest honour, in 2002.
Divorced couples in Japan will be able to negotiate joint custody of their children from Wednesday, in the first major change to the country’s laws governing child-rearing in more than a century. Previously, Japan’s Civil Code required couples to decide which parent would take custody of their children when they divorce. But pressure from critics, who say the tug-of-war between parents caused children psychological harm and unfairly punished the “left-behind” parent, culminated in a 2024 parliamentary vote to change the law. Under the amendment, parents will be able to decide whether to arrange for joint or sole custody of their children. In cases in which a divorce has been finalised and sole custody already granted, parents can petition a family court to change the agreement, the Asahi Shimbun reported. The revision – the first of its kind since marriage arrangements were codified in the Civil Code in the late 1800s – calls on parents to respect each other’s positions and cooperate “in the best interests of their child”. The legal change brings Japan – the only G7 member that did not legally recognise joint custody – into line with most other countries, where collaborative child-rearing after divorce is commonplace. Supporters of the change said the previous system prevented the non-custodial parent from playing a role in important decisions affecting their children, including their choice of school, where they live and whether or not they receive vaccinations. Critics, however, say that joint arrangements could allow an abusive former spouse to exploit greater access to continue abusing their former partner or child. Others have said the revision places too much power into the hands of family courts, which will be called on to rule on custody arrangements when divorcing parents are unable to decide themselves. Emi Ishikawa, a domestic abuse survivor, told the Japan Times she had fled from her marriage five years ago when her son was a year old, and now fears that her ex-husband could exploit a provision allowing parents who divorced before 1 April to apply for joint custody. Although family courts are not permitted to grant joint custody when abuse is cited as a factor in a divorce, Ishikawa, who did not want to use her real name, was not reassured. “To be honest, I am truly scared,” she said. “For the next 12 years [until her child reaches adulthood], I will have to live in fear of when my ex-husband might file for joint custody.” Under the current system, mothers were granted custody in 85% of cases, according to health ministry data from 2020. The sole custody system has drawn criticism from divorced parents, including foreign nationals who struggle to maintain relationships with their children if their former partner takes them back to Japan. About 200,000 children in Japan are affected by divorce every year – double the number of 50 years ago. A 2021 government survey found that one in three children with divorced parents said they eventually lost contact with the non-custodial parent.
Politicians hoping to persuade young people in the UK to have more children should prioritise tackling housing affordability, according to research by the Resolution Foundation thinktank. There has been growing concern in recent years about Britain’s declining birthrate, given the long-term fiscal pressures of supporting an ageing population. Sharp falls in the number of children have also led in some cases to the closure of schools as rolls have shrunk, including in London, where some secondaries are next in line to be hit after primaries have shut. In a new report, titled ‘Bye Bye Baby’, the thinktank explains how rapidly change has happened. The proportion of women who are not yet mothers by age 30 has risen from 48% for those born in the late 1980s, for example, to 58% for those born in the early 1990s. The analysis finds the shift has been most pronounced among non-graduate women, aged 25-29. One in three had no children in 2011, which had risen to more than half (54%) by 2023. “This has happened alongside falling partnership rates and a major shift away from home ownership towards costly private renting and living with parents, both of which make starting a family harder,” the report says. In recent years, the share of this group – non-graduates in their late 20s – who are in private rented accommodation, which can be costly and insecure, has doubled, from 16% in 1998-99, to 33% in 2023-24. Home ownership over the same period halved. It remains unclear whether this group will go on to have children in future years. But the Resolution Foundation said there may be a financial aspect to their decision-making. It found that among 32-year-olds who are not yet parents, for example, twice the proportion of those in the lowest quarter of earners said they intended to remain permanently childless, compared with those in the top quarter of earners. Politicians have suggested a range of policies aimed at persuading young people to have children. The significant expansion in free childcare and the availability of breakfast clubs at primary schools introduced by Labour is aimed at making it easier to juggle parenthood and work. The leader of the Reform party, Nigel Farage, has meanwhile called the declining birthrate an “existential crisis”, and promised to increase the married tax allowance “to encourage people to have children, to make it easier for them to have children”. However, the Resolution Foundation’s research suggests focusing on the housing struggles facing many young people may ultimately be a more successful approach. “Deciding whether to have children is a deeply personal choice, but it’s clear that financial constraints are at play too,” said the thinktank’s senior economist, Charlie McCurdy. “Policymakers should look to address the financial barriers that are hindering young people’s ability to start a family – such as increasing housing affordability and opportunities to get on the housing ladder – to make parenthood more achievable for those who want it.’’ It recently suggested a system of taxpayer-backed loans to help potential first-time buyers afford the deposit on a property, helping to lower their monthly costs.
Polish and Irish leaders have called the Hungarian government’s actions “repulsive” and “sinister”, after leaked audio appeared to capture its foreign minister telling Moscow he would try to amend the EU sanctions list to its liking. On Tuesday – days before an election in which Hungary’s Viktor Orbán is facing the toughest battle of his 16 years in power – a joint media investigation published a report that it said was based on leaked phone calls between Péter Szijjártó and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. In one, Szijjártó is alleged to have told Lavrov: “I am always at your disposal.” In another, he appears to offer help with other EU sanctions that have affected Russia. The report, published by The Insider, an independent Russian media outlet, along with four regional media organisations – VSquare, Delfi, FrontStory and the Investigative Center of Ján Kuciak – has added to the growing sense that Hungary is working from within the bloc to carry out Russia’s bidding. It prompted strong criticism from several EU leaders. The prime minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, described the audio as “disheartening”, and a confirmation of the “deeply disturbing” relationship between Budapest and Moscow. “What these recordings have revealed is more than just the political dependency of the Budapest government on Moscow; it has exposed just how unacceptable and bizarre this relationship truly is,” he said. A foreign minister of an EU country, noted Tusk, was facing accusations of reporting to the Russian foreign minister and asking for patience as he carried out tasks seemingly in Russia’s interest: “One could hardly imagine anything more repulsive.” Ireland’s prime minister, Micheál Martin, said the investigation had reportedly confirmed what many had long suspected. “I think it is a very sinister development,” he said. “The deferential tone in the conversation was alarming … It’s unacceptable.” The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said that European ministers should work for Europe, not Russia. Szijjártó did not deny that the calls with Lavrov had taken place. Instead, he said his conversations had been intercepted. “It is a huge scandal … that foreign secret services were continuously wiretapping my phone calls and that these foreign secret services have now made these phone calls public one-and-a-half weeks before the Hungarian parliamentary election,” he said in a video posted to social media. The leaked audio comes as Orbán and his Fidesz party – whose 16-year rule has been plagued with criticism for weakening democratic institutions, eroding media freedom and undermining the rule of law – are facing a tough battle ahead of elections on 12 April. Most polls suggest that Orbán and Fidesz are trailing behind Péter Magyar, a former top member of Fidesz, and his opposition Tisza party. The election is being watched far beyond Hungary, as the result could shake up the EU and rattle the global far-right movements across the globe. In the EU, Orbán has remained close to Vladimir Putin after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and has repeatedly blocked efforts by Brussels to present a united front in support of Ukraine, leading some critics to refer to him as Putin’s Trojan horse in the EU. Last week it was alleged that Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister, had routinely called Lavrov to pass on the details of confidential EU meetings. After initially dismissing the allegation, Szijjártó later acknowledged that he had conferred with Lavrov before and after EU foreign minister meetings about their agenda and decisions, describing such conversations as “diplomacy”.
Tendzin Choegyal Taklha, who has died aged 79, was confidant, sounding board and chief support of the Dalai Lama, his elder brother, throughout the transformation of the Tibetan leader from national political figure to global spiritual powerhouse. Although Tendzin Choegyal himself was recognised at birth as the 16th incarnation of the Ngari Rinpoché – meaning “precious one of Ngari” – an important reincarnation lineage whose origins lay in western Tibet (modern-day Ladakh), he took the opportunity to forswear monastic life as soon as he could after going into exile in India at the age of 13. Subsequently educated, at the Dalai Lama’s behest, at an English-style public school run by Jesuits in Darjeeling, Tendzin Choegyal gained a psychological insight into western ways. It was this that enabled him to counsel the Dalai Lama as his elder brother began his spiritual mission to the world. Born in Lhasa, on an unknown date during the March new year festival of the Fire Dog, Tendzin Choegyal was the youngest child of Dekyi Tsering and her husband, Choekyong Tsering, from a family of petty-landowners who, when their fourth child was recognised as the reincarnation of the Great 13th Dalai Lama, had since become the most important in Tibet. Tendzin Choegyal himself was recognised not only as a reincarnate lama but also as the rebirth of an elder brother who had died shortly after childbirth. A senior monk then visiting the mourning family comforted the mother by assuring her that the child would come back. Taking some butter on his thumb, he anointed the baby’s corpse by pressing it on to one of its buttocks. She should look for such a mark on her next baby which, he told her, would be healthy. In later life, Tendzin Choegyal would delight in showing off the birthmark to friends – even while expressing scepticism as to the truth of the connection. Although he was formally inducted as a novice monk aged three, Tendzin Choegyal initially lived the life of a spoiled young aristocrat at his parents’ mansion in Lhasa, until being sent away to Drepung monastery at 12, an experience that he loathed. In the meantime, his youthful escapades included taking his ponies on to the palace roof as a prank. On another occasion, having discovered his songbirds had been killed by the family cat, he herded the cat and its litter of kittens into a sack and clubbed them to death. He told both stories against himself without any attempt at justification. When he was just three years old, China had moved to assert itself in Tibet by sending in the People’s Liberation Army to take over its administration. When the Dalai Lama went to visit Beijing in 1954, he took his youngest brother with him. The little boy quickly picked up some Chinese, becoming a serious liability for the delight he took in saying out loud what the adults would not say to their hosts. On the eve of the Dalai Lama’s flight from Lhasa in 1959, the PLA having made life impossible for the Tibetan leader, Tendzin Choegyal was collected from the monastery and taken to the Norbulingka Palace, where the Dalai Lama was then quartered. From there, the two brothers and their mother escaped under the noses of the Chinese army, which Mao Zedong had belatedly ordered to detain the Tibetan leader. They arrived safely in India a month later, having trekked across the southern reaches of the Himalayas. At 13 years of age, it was the boy’s special joy to be given a pistol to carry. Shortly after reaching Mussoorie, the British-Indian hill station that was the Tibetan exiles’ temporary home for a year, the Dalai Lama gave instructions for Tendzin Choegyal to be enrolled at St Joseph’s college in Darjeeling. Founded in the late 19th century, and run by the Jesuits, the school was modelled on the British public schools of the day but with a strongly Catholic ethos. The former Tibetan Buddhist monk was so taken by this unfamiliar religion that he became an altar boy, helping to serve at mass. While away at school, he kept up an occasional correspondence, in English, with the Dalai Lama – who signed himself “John” in order to keep his identity hidden. After leaving St Joseph’s, now highly proficient and widely read in English, Tendzin Choegyal spent a period studying in North America. In 1972, he took up a teaching position back in India at the Tibetan children’s village school in Dharamsala. There he met Rindchen Khando, whom he married that same year. They had a son, Tendzin Lodro, and a daughter, Tendzin Choensum. Tendzin Choegyal subsequently enlisted in the Special Frontier Force, the Indian army’s elite and secretive airborne mountain warfare unit set up in the aftermath of the 1962 Sino-Indian war. He rose to the rank of captain. Returning to civilian life, Tendzin Choegyal joined the Dalai Lama’s private office, serving for some years in the security department before being elected to the Tibetan government in exile, representing the people of Amdo province from 1991 to 1996. During the mid-1980s his mental health had begun to deteriorate, and he became known for flying into rages. On one occasion, he told me, he physically ejected a nun from the Dalai Lama’s helicopter as it took off in Zanskar, in 1988. Afterwards, he spoke of feeling that he was channelling a wrathful deity. He was eventually diagnosed with what is now known as bipolar disorder. Retirement from public service gave Tendzin Choegyal the opportunity to cultivate friendships among the westerners who had begun to flock to Dharamsala in search of spiritual nourishment. The role he subsequently carved out for himself was to act as a bridge between two radically different cultures. Increasingly relied on by the Dalai Lama for his insight, from the early 90s until the Dalai Lama ceased travelling, Tendzin Choegyal was invariably at his brother’s side offering support, counsel and, sometimes, contrary opinion. He also became a highly sought-after – if always reluctant and self-effacing – speaker on Buddhism. While he never accepted his identification as a reincarnate lama, and repudiated the elaborate teachings of the tantric tradition, in the last 10 years of his life, he became an increasingly devoted Buddhist practitioner. He is survived by his wife and their two children, as well as by a sister and the Dalai Lama. • Tendzin Choegyal Taklha, spiritual and political adviser, born March 1946; died 17 February 2026
Friedrich Merz has drawn condemnation from NGOs and members of his own government after he called for the vast majority of Syrians living in Germany to “go back to their homeland”. The German chancellor, who was elected last year after promising a tough line on immigration in a bid to beat the far right, made the remarks during a visit to Berlin on Monday by the interim Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa. Explaining that Berlin’s priority in terms of removals was to send back Syrians who had committed crimes, Merz said he and al-Sharaa would in the longer-term work toward broad-scale returns from Germany, home to the biggest Syrian diaspora in the EU. “In the longer perspective of the next three years, that … was the wish of President al-Sharaa: [that] about 80% of the Syrians currently living in Germany should go back to their homeland,” Merz said, citing the necessity to rebuild the war-ravaged country. Al-Sharaa, a former Islamist rebel leader, did not confirm the goal of returning 80% of the more than 900,000 Syrian citizens registered in Germany by 2029, and the figure seemed to take political officials in Berlin by surprise. Anke Rehlinger, deputy leader of the co-ruling Social Democrats (SPD), tacitly accused Merz of playing into the hands of the anti-migration, anti-Islam Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) by setting a target for repatriations for 2029, when Germany’s next general election is expected. “It’s not a wise move on the part of the chancellor to put forward specific figures within specific timeframes, because that raises expectations he may not be able to meet,” she told newspaper group Funke. Rehlinger voiced understanding for al-Sharaa’s call for Syrians to help their country’s reconstruction. “However, many Syrians are now our fellow citizens because they have integrated here, work in occupations in which there are shortages, care for elderly people or drive buses, and have often even become German citizens,” she said. About 244,000 Syrian citizens received a German passport between 2016 and 2024, the largest group among those newly naturalised. Criticism also came from within Merz’s conservative CDU party, with its foreign policy spokesperson Roderich Kiesewetter calling the figures the chancellor cited “problematic in several respects”. He stressed that the AfD could capitalise on any unkept promises and also noted the role played by skilled Syrian workers in the German economy. “If they return, we face a challenge,” Kiesewetter told business newspaper Handelsblatt. The German Hospital Society, representing the sector’s interests, underlined the “considerable importance” of Syrian doctors, with 5,745 working in German clinics – the largest group of foreign physicians. Another 2,000 Syrians work as carers. “If these skilled workers were to leave the country again, it would have a significant impact on healthcare,” said its deputy chair Henriette Neumeyer. Franziska Brantner, co-leader of the opposition Greens, called Merz’s repatriation goal “reckless”. “For many people, returning to Syria is simply not an option at all,” said Brantner, given security risks and lack of faith among many Syrians in the political transition. Fellow Greens MP Luise Amtsberg denounced Merz’s remarks as “shameful”. Given Syria’s ongoing instability and the continued threats faced by minority groups there, immigration advocacy group Pro Asyl called for an immediate end to deportations to Syria and a policy “guided not by short-term deterrence in migration policy, but by human rights, protection and long-term stability”. Merz took office last May in a coalition with the centre-left SPD, vowing to break with the more welcoming border policy endorsed by fellow Christian Democrat Angela Merkel. Merkel, who governed Germany for 16 years until 2021, allowed about 1.3 million people fleeing war and oppression from across the Middle East and Afghanistan into Germany in 2015-16. That initially popular move eventually led to a backlash that has provided political fodder for the AfD, now the country’s largest opposition party. Merz acknowledged that many of the Syrians who arrived in Europe’s top economy under Merkel had made a vital contribution to German society. But he said that most wanted to return now that the regime of Bashar al-Assad was gone. Official statistics show more than 3,700 Syrians have voluntarily returned from Germany as of November 2025. Experts noted that forced deportations usually face lengthy legal challenges. In the face of criticism, Merz appeared on Tuesday to backtrack from the specific target. “The figure of 80% returnees within three years was cited by the Syrian president,” Merz was quoted by Bild newspaper as saying. “We have taken note of this figure, but we are aware of the scale of the task.”
A new Israeli law that would allow the execution of Palestinians convicted on terror charges for deadly attacks, but not Jewish extremists accused of similar crimes, would constitute a war crime if enacted, according to one of the UN’s most senior human rights officials. Speaking amid mounting international condemnation of the bill, the UN’s high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, described the law as “patently inconsistent with Israel’s international law obligations, including in relation to the right to life”. He added that it “raises serious concerns about due process violations, is deeply discriminatory, and must be promptly repealed”. “Its application in a discriminatory manner would constitute an additional, particularly egregious violation of international law. Its application to residents of the occupied Palestinian territory would constitute a war crime,” Türk said. The legislation, passed on Monday by the Israeli Knesset, has faced a wave of criticism, including from European leaders and human rights groups. “The death penalty bill in Israel is very concerning to us in the EU,” the EU spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said in Brussels. “This is a clear step backwards – the introduction of the death penalty, together with the discriminatory nature of the law.” The Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, wrote on X: “It is an asymmetric measure that would not apply to Israelis who committed the same crimes. Same crime, different punishment. That is not justice. It is a step closer to apartheid.” Germany, traditionally one of Israel’s closest allies in Europe, said it could not endorse the law. “The German government views the law passed yesterday with great concern,” the government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said in a statement. “The rejection of the death penalty is a fundamental principle of German policy,” Kornelius said, adding: “Such a law would likely apply exclusively to Palestinians in the Palestinian territories.” The legislation makes the death penalty the default punishment for Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank found guilty of intentionally carrying out deadly attacks deemed acts of terrorism by a military court. According to the bill, those sentenced to death would be held in a separate facility with no visits except from authorised personnel, and legal consultations conducted only by video link. Executions would be carried out within 90 days of sentencing. Israel has rarely used the death penalty, applying it only in exceptional cases. The Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was the last person to be executed, in 1962. The national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of the bill’s strongest backers, has repeatedly worn a noose-shaped lapel pin, symbolising executions under the proposal. A security committee made some amendments to the bill, which last week passed its first vote. Israel’s public broadcaster, KAN, reported that executions would be carried out by hanging. The measure would allow courts to impose the death penalty without a request from prosecutors and without requiring unanimity, instead permitting a simple majority decision. Military courts in the occupied West Bank would also be empowered to hand down death sentences, with the defence minister able to submit an opinion. Adam Coogle, the deputy Middle East director of Human Rights Watch, said: “Israeli officials argue that imposing the death penalty is about security, but in reality it entrenches discrimination and a two-tiered system of justice, both hallmarks of apartheid. “The death penalty is irreversible and cruel. Combined with its severe restrictions on appeals and its 90-day execution timeline, this bill aims to kill Palestinian detainees faster and with less scrutiny.” Shaista Aziz, Oxfam’s campaign engagement lead, said: “This bill is another horrifying act of violence. Israel is violating international law. This new law effectively ensures that the death penalty in Israel will apply only to Palestinians, even as the illegal Israeli occupation has lately seen a surge in the coordinated attacks and executions of Palestinians by settler militias and military. “Israel holds more than 9,000 Palestinians in its jails – many unlawfully and subject to inhumane conditions, starvation and torture as state policy.” In Israel, the law is already facing legal challenges. Several Israeli human rights groups and three members of parliament filed petitions to the supreme court seeking to overturn it. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel said the law created “two parallel tracks, both designed to apply to Palestinians” and should be struck down on constitutional grounds.