While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, March 31, 2026
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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the US is hopeful that figures with “power to deliver” will take charge in Iran.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Rubio says US hopeful in private talks after ‘fractures’ in Iran’s leadership
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on March 30 voiced hope for working with elements within Iran’s government, saying the United States privately had received positive messages.
Mr Rubio said there were internal “fractures” inside the Islamic republic and that the United States hopes figures with “power to deliver” take charge.
“We are hopeful that that’s the case,” Mr Rubio told the ABC News programme Good Morning America.
“There are clearly people there talking to us in ways that previous people in charge in Iran have not spoken to us in the past, some of the things they’re willing to do,” he said.
Trump interested in calling on Arab states to help pay for Iran war
PHOTO: REUTERS
US President Donald Trump would be interested in calling on Arab countries to pay for the cost of the Iran war, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on March 30, adding that she thinks Mr Trump would have more to say on the issue.
Ms Leavitt, asked at a news briefing whether Arab countries would step up to help pay for the war, said she would not get ahead of the Republican president but that it was an idea that Mr Trump had.
"I think it's something the President would be quite interested in calling them to do," Ms Leavitt said.
Three UN peacekeepers killed in Lebanon as Israeli strikes pummel south
PHOTO: AFP
Three United Nations peacekeepers from Indonesia were killed in two separate incidents in southern Lebanon after a bloody weekend in which Lebanese journalists and medics were killed in Israeli strikes.
Two peacekeepers were killed on March 30 after an explosion from an unknown origin destroyed their vehicle near Bani Hayyan in south Lebanon, the UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL said in a statement. Two other soldiers were wounded in the blast.
Earlier, another Indonesian soldier was killed overnight March 29 into March 30 when a projectile exploded by one of the group’s positions by the southern Lebanese village of Adchit al-Qusayr. Another peacekeeper was critically injured at the time.
Mexican immigrant died in US immigration custody, ICE says, marking 14 deaths in 2026
PHOTO: REUTERS
A Mexican immigrant died in US immigration custody in Los Angeles on March 25, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said on March 30, marking at least 14 deaths in ICE custody in 2026.
Mr Jose Guadalupe Ramos, who was being held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, was found unconscious and unresponsive in his bunk by security staff, ICE said in a press release. The staff called on-site medical personnel and he was transferred to an area hospital where he was declared dead, ICE said.
Mexico’s foreign ministry said it would file a legal brief in support of a lawsuit brought by detainees alleging poor conditions at the detention centre, including inadequate medical care, unsanitary conditions and punitive use of isolation.
Israel passes death penalty law for Palestinians convicted of lethal attacks
PHOTO: REUTERS
Israel's Parliament passed a law on March 30 making the death penalty a default sentence for Palestinians convicted in military courts of deadly attacks, fulfilling a pledge by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right allies.
The legislation has drawn international criticism of Israel, which is already under scrutiny for increasing violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
The measure includes provisions requiring an execution by hanging within 90 days of sentencing, with some allowance for a delay but no right to clemency and the option of imposing a life imprisonment sentence instead of capital punishment.
