​ Five Iranian footballers granted Australian visas after anthem protest. 2 hours ago. Katy Watsonand. Simon Atkinson,reporting from the Gold Coast. Five members of the Iranian women’s football team have been granted humanitarian visas in Australia after their elimination in the Asian Cup, the government in Canberra says.. Immigration Minister Tony Burke said the women “were moved to a safe location” by Australian police. He said other squad members had been told they are welcome to stay in the country.. The women had been due to fly home, but supporters had raised fears for their safety after the team declined to sing the national anthem ahead of their match against South Korea last week.. This prompted criticism in Iran, with one conservative commentator accusing the team of being “wartime traitors” and pushing for harsh punishment.. Australia’s humanitarian visa programme grants permanent protection to refugees and people in humanitarian need. Visa holders can live, work and study in the country.. The remainder of the team has been taken to Gold Coast Airport and is expected to fly to Sydney later this evening.. The team’s coach was briefly stopped by dozens of activists who tried to persuade the other players to stay in Australia. Some protesters lay on the ground in an attempt to block the coach from moving forward. The players watched from inside the bus.. Speaking early on Tuesday, Burke said the five players were happy for their names to be confirmed as Fatemeh Pasandideh, Zahra Ghanbari, Zahra Sarbali, Atefeh Ramazanzadeh, and Mona Hamoudi.. “They want to be clear they are not political activists. They are athletes who want to be safe,” he said, adding that talks had been going on over several days.. He said that on Monday “it was made clear that there were five women who wanted to be able to stay in Australia”.. The group left their hotel the same day and were moved to a safe location by police. Shortly after they left the BBC witnessed some of their minders running across the hotel to try to find them – but they had already gone.. Follow live updates. Burke said he met the women at the safe location and then signed off for their applications to go onto humanitarian visas – a process completed at about 01:30 local time on Tuesday (15:30 GMT Monday).. It’s unclear what repercussions there might be for the players’ families as a result.. “I say to the other members of the team, the same opportunity is there. Australia has taken the Iranian women’s soccer team into our hearts. These women are tremendously popular in Australia.. “But we realise they are in a terribly difficult situation with the decisions that they’re making,” Burke said.. Reuters. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese later confirmed that the five players had been given humanitarian visas.. On Sunday evening, hundreds of supporters surrounded the Iranian Lionesses’ coach as it left the stadium on the Gold Coast, with chants of “save our girls”.. On Monday, US Presiden  

​ China exports surge in first two months of the year despite Trump tariffs. 19 minutes ago. Osmond ChiaBusiness reporter. Getty Images. China’s exports surged in the first two months of this year despite trade tensions with the US.. Official figures show exports jumped by more than 20% in January and February, which is almost three times the rate predicted by economists. It puts the country on track to top the record-breaking annual trade surplus it saw in 2025.. The announcement comes as US President Donald Trump is expected to visit China in early April to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.. The world’s second largest economy is heavily reliant on exports as it faces a number of issues including weak consumer spending, a shrinking population and a property market crisis.. Beijing typically combines January and February trade data to adjust for distortions caused by the Lunar New Year holiday, which falls on different dates each year.. China’s exports were boosted by strong demand for electronics while shipments of agricultural and manufactured goods also rose.. Trade with European countries grew by 27.8%, while exports to Asean countries – a group of South East Asian nations including Thailand, Singapore and Philippines – climbed by nearly 30%.. But China’s exports to America fell more than 10% as Trump imposed tariffs and other measures to address trade imbalances between the two countries.. Last week, China set an annual economic growth target of 4.5%-5%, down from its 5% goal in 2025, which had been met largely due to exports.. Exports have been the key driver of China’s economy, lifting it in spite of poor domestic spending and a property slump.. The meeting between Trump and Xi come as China, like many country’s in Asia, is dealing with the economic impact of the US-Israeli war with Iran, which has disrupted the global energy market.. China sets lowest economic growth target since 1991. ‘What is the game plan?’: The Iran war is unsettling China and its ambitions. International Business. Economics. China. Global trade. Donald Trump  

​ Two men charged with terror offences after homemade bomb thrown outside NYC mayor’s home. 6 hours ago. Brandon Drenonand. Madeline Halpert,New York City. Two men have been charged with terror offences after police said they attempted to bomb a protest outside the New York City mayor’s home in an attack allegedly inspired by the Islamic State group (IS).. The suspects, 18-year-old Emir Balat and 19-year-old Ibrahim Kayumi, allegedly told police that they aimed for the Saturday attack to be “even larger” than the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 that left three dead.. New York police say the pair attempted to detonate two explosives outside Gracie Mansion, where Mayor Zohran Mamdani lives. Authorities found a third bomb in their car.. The incident happened during an anti-Islam protest. None of the explosives went off as intended.. Footage of the incident shows one of the suspects being detained just seconds after igniting one of the explosives, which did not detonate.. New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the two suspect had admitted to being inspired by IS and had watched IS propaganda videos. The two did not have any previous criminal history, she said.. They are facing charges, including attempting to provide material support to IS and using a weapon of mass destruction.. “We were fortunate that the devices used this weekend did not cause the kind of harm that they were certainly capable of causing,” Tischsaid during a news conference on Monday. “But luck is never a strategy. Devices like these have the potential to cause devastating harm.”. Tisch said one of the defendants, Balat, made several statements about IS while being transported to the police station, including saying: “If I didn’t do it, someone else will come and do it”.. Later, she said, Balat allegedly said he hoped the attack would be “even bigger than the Boston Marathon bombing, which he noted resulted in only three deaths”.. That attack, which happened in 2013 as runners were crossing the finish line of the Boston Marathon, left three people dead and hundreds of runners and spectators injured, including many who lost limbs.. During their first court appearance on Monday, the two wore prison jumpsuits and a federal magistrate judge ordered them to be detained until their next court appearance on 8 April.. Following the hearing, Balat’s lawyer said his client is a high school senior and a US citizen with no prior arrests and that he has “complicated stuff going on” in his personal life, the New York Times and Associated Press said.. The BBC has contacted both Balat and Kayumi’s lawyers for comment.. According to court documents, both waived their constitutional rights to remain silent after their arrest.. Balat requested a piece of paper and wrote on it that he pledges allegiance to IS and called for death of nonbelievers or infidels, according to the criminal complaint obtained by the BBC.. Kayumi stated that he was affiliated with IS, watched IS propaganda on his  

​ Rising prices, mixed messages: Iran war is fraught with political risk for Trump. 3 hours ago. Anthony ZurcherNorth America correspondent. President Donald Trump and his administration have so far offered mixed messages and contradictory explanations on the joint US-Israeli military campaign against Iran. And Monday – the 10th day of an operation that has rattled allies and shaken markets – typified this confusion around the war’s timeline and ultimate goals.. After a tumultuous morning during which US stock market indexes dropped and oil prices surged, the American president began speed-dialing reporters in an apparent effort to soothe nerves. His comments, however, were lacking in clarity even when he was pushed for more detail.. “I have a plan for everything, okay?” he told a reporter from the New York Post when asked about spiking oil prices. “I have a plan for everything. You’ll be very happy.”. To CBS News, he said the war “is very complete, pretty much”.. “We’re very far ahead of schedule,” he added. When asked whether the operation could therefore end soon, Trump said: “I don’t know, it depends. Wrapping up is all in my mind, nobody else’s.”. His telephone spree, at least in an economic sense, had the desired effect. Stock markets rallied, and the price of a barrel of oil – which had reached $120 earlier in the day – dropped below $90.. Just days ago, Trump said that he would not stop the war until Iran’s “unconditional surrender”. But after his comments on Monday, it appeared as though an end to a military operation that has roiled the Middle East and led to the near complete shutdown of shipping traffic through the Straits of Hormuz could be in sight.. Follow live updates. Why the price of oil matters more than you might think. In maps: Ten days of strikes across the Middle East. Iran’s new leader has never been tested. He now faces an existential battle. By evening, however, Trump was walking back those comments.. “We could call it a tremendous success right now,” he said. “Or we could go further. And we’re going to go further.”. He said the US was “very close to finishing” what he called an “excursion”, but warned that the US would intensify its strikes if Iran continued to threaten oil tankers exiting the Persian Gulf.. “We will hit them so hard that it will not be possible for them or anybody else helping them to recover that section of the world,” he said.. Trump also laid out an expansive mission for the war. His goal, he said, was to ensure that Iran could not develop weaponry to target the US, Israel or any American allies “for a very long time”.. That ultimately might require the kind regime change that Trump has been unable to secure so far, as the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been replaced as leader by his son.. Within a space of hours, the messaging from the president had been dizzying. Those looking for signs of when this massive military operation could end or clues as to its concrete goals were left with more questio  

​ High-profile real estate brothers convicted in sex trafficking case. 6 hours ago. Reuters. Two famous brothers who worked as real estate brokers have been convicted of drugging and raping dozens of women over the course of decades.. Tal Alexander, 39, and Oren Alexander, 38, rose to prominence from their sales of luxury real-estate properties in New York and Miami. Along with a third brother Alon, 38, a jury found all three guilty of sex trafficking by a jury in New York.. Prosecutors had accused the brothers of using their wealth to lure women to parties and luxury homes, then taking advantage of them. But their attorneys argued the women were willing participants.. They were found guilty on all 10 criminal counts, including sex trafficking and sexual exploitation of a minor.. Sentencing in the case is scheduled for 6 August and the brothers could face up to life in prison.. In closing arguments, Assistant US Attorney Andrew Jones said the brothers committed crimes without remorse and with “callousness” and “a perverse sense of pride”.. Lawyers for the brothers had argued they were womanisers – but not rapists.. “They’re not drugging them, they’re not raping them, but they’re certainly pursuing them,” said Marc Agnifilo, a lawyer for Oren Alexander. Agnifilo had previously represented rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs in his sex trafficking trial last year.. During the five-week trial, 11 women – including several who said they were minors at the time of the incidents – testified against the brothers, alleging they gave them gifts and flew them to locations and parties where they fed them drugs before assaulting them.. Prosecutors said the brothers “surreptitiously” put drugs in women’s drinks, and told jurors that they “physically restrained and held down their victims during the rapes and sexual assaults and ignored screams and explicit requests to stop”.. Jurors were shown a video during the trial of Oren Alexander allegedly raping a drugged 17-year-old at his Manhattan apartment in 2009.. During the trial, a new allegation surfaced as part of a separate lawsuit, when reality television star and top real estate agent Tracy Tutor accused Oren Alexander of drugging and sexually assaulting her in New York City in 2024.. A lawyer for Alexander called the civil suit a “demonstrably false lawsuit for maximum media impact”.. US Attorney Jay Clayton, whose office in the Southern District of New York prosecuted the case, said the verdict is “an important step in our fight against sex trafficking”.. “The jury saw the Alexander’s [sic] conduct for what it was—calculated, brutal sexual abuse that, unimaginably, the defendants celebrated,” Clayton said in a statement.. “This verdict cannot undo the effects of heinous abuse the Alexanders’ many victims endured, but it does send a message: New Yorkers want to bring an end to sex trafficking in all our communities.”. Agnifilo said that that it was “not the verdict we were looking for, but we’re going to keep fight