Military intelligence specialists from the Ministry of Defence have been helping in the painstaking search for the remains of a mother and son who were murdered nearly 50 years ago.
Renee MacRae, 36, and her three-year-old son Andrew were killed by William MacDowell in November 1976.
Married MacDowell, who had been having an affair with Mrs MacRae, was convicted in 2022 but died behind bars at the age of 81 without revealing where he had disposed of their bodies.
Image:Killer William MacDowell died behind bars. Pic: PA
Police Scotland said a number of sites near Nairnside, east of Inverness, had been subject to detailed analysis since the start of this week.
The force said the survey work was conducted by members of the National Centre for Geospatial Intelligence (NCGI) – part of Military Intelligence Services (MIS) – using drones and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) equipment.
Detective Superintendent Brian Geddes said: “The results of this scoping activity will be studied to assess whether further search activity is required.
“I want to thank our military colleagues who have assisted and provided their expertise to this survey, and also the landowners for their assistance with access through the week.
“Our work continues as we try to ensure the family get the answers they deserve.”
Armed forces minister Al Carns said: “Our world-class professionals have once again shown how the armed forces can bring real value to supporting their civilian partners at home in the UK.
“I want to congratulate our specialists from the National Centre for Geospatial Intelligence on a successful operation to support Police Scotland’s search for Renee and Andrew MacRae.
“This shows our whole-of-society approach in action, and we will continue to support Police Scotland in any way we can.”
Mrs MacRae and Andrew have been missing since 12 November 1976.
The pair left their home in Inverness, with Mrs MacRae’s BMW car found later that day on fire in a layby on the A9 near Dalmagarry.
Image:Mrs MacRae’s burnt out BMW. Pic: PA
MacDowell and mother-of-two Mrs MacRae had been having an affair for more than four years when she vanished.
Mrs MacRae was estranged from her husband, Gordon, who was MacDowell’s boss at Hugh MacRae Builders Limited.
At his trial, MacDowell denied any wrongdoing and was brought to the High Court in Inverness each day in a wheelchair by his wife Rosemary.
However, jurors rejected his claim the killings were committed by somebody else and convicted him of the crimes.
Judge Lord Armstrong described the murders as “executions” as he handed down a life sentence with at least 30 years behind bars.
MacDowell, an inmate at HMP Glenochil in Clackmannanshire, died at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in February 2023.
Image:Police searching Dalmagarry Quarry in 2004. Pic: PA
Investigations have continued since 1976, and an extensive search of Dalmagarry Quarry was carried out during a month-long excavation in 2004.
Officers returned to the area last year following the discovery of an item during roadworks on the A9.
In 2019, Leanach Quarry was excavated as part of the probe.
Image:Police searching Leanach Quarry in 2019. Pic: PA
In August 2023, police said officers were looking into properties linked to MacDowell, as well as other places he may have met Mrs MacRae during their relationship.
DS Geddes added: “This case will never be considered resolved until we find Renee and Andrew.
“We owe it to the family and friends to make every effort to recover Renee and Andrew’s bodies to provide them with the dignity they deserve.”
As the NFL continues to expand its reach and capitalizes on the ever-growing popularity of the sport both domestically and globally, talk of adding an 18th regular-season game has become more apparent.
The NFL Players’ Association has said players “have no appetite for a regular-season 18th game,” while owners like New England Patriots’ Robert Kraft believes “every team will go 18” at some point sooner than later.
For former MVP quarterback Cam Newton, he’s taking a step back and viewing an 18th regular-season game from both sides. That assessment has him believing preseason games, which every team plays three before Week 1 of the regular season, will become even more diluted.
Cam Newton of team J Balvin looks on against team Druski during the Super Bowl LX Celebrity Flag football game on YouTube at Moscone Center South on Feb. 7, 2026 in San Francisco, California.(Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
“Man, it’s a lot on the body,” he told Fox News Digital about another regular-season game added to the schedule, while discussing his Iconic Saga Productions partnership with Offscript Worldwide. “If you really look at it, what’s happening is they’re devaluing preseason games as we know it to be, and they’re trying to put it on the back end.
“Because, one thing we all know — and I say this with all due respect — America’s new game has been, for some time, American football. It’s just good business. The Super Bowl garners a global audience that no sporting event can attest to, especially domestically in the United States. So, they know, the more they give, the more they’re able to garner from difference audiences.”
So, as Newton sees this simply as “good business” for the NFL, he’s implying the league will once again drop a preseason game from a team’s schedule to add the 18th game. It’s what happened when the 17th regular-season game was added in 2021, as the preseason schedule was reduced from four to three games.
“I think, when you’re talking about the 18th game, it really comes down to if teams are going to really focus on preseason, or negate preseason altogether, just to get right into the regular season. That’s going to be interesting to kind of see,” Newton added.
While the NFLPA has pushed back at the potential of an 18th game, citing player safety as one of the main reasons behind keeping the schedule as is, others like Buffalo Bills left tackle Dion Dawkins see it as inevitable.
“It’s going to happen either way,” he told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.
“Then, 20 years later, guess what? We’re talking about a 19th, then we’ll be talking about a 20th.… Then it’s like, ‘Yeah, we are combat athletes all year long.’ But who knows,” Dawkins added.
ESPN analyst Cam Newton is on the set of “First Take” on Feb. 6, 2026 in San Francisco, California.(Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images)
For now, 17 games is what the NFL schedule will read in 2026. But, as Dawkins noted, who really knows?
To Newton’s point, it’s simply good business as demand continues to skyrocket for the league as each season passes.
EXPANDING CONTENT REACH WITH OFFSCRIPT
Newton may not be on the field any longer, but he remains tuned in with the NFL and every other sports moment through his content creation, most notably his “Funky Friday” and “4th & 1 with Cam Newton” shows as part of his Iconic Saga Productions.
Newton and his production team announced a major partnership with Offscript Worldwide, a creator-owned ecosystem that connects culture-shaping brands and platforms under one roof, which includes REVOLT Sports and 3BlackDot.
Offscript unveiled this new partnership at the 2026 IAB NewFronts, where they will begin collaborating with Newton’s independent production powerhouse, integrating his hit shows and amplifying the reach of athlete-driven storytelling for global brands.
Cam Newton on radio row at the Super Bowl LIX media center on Feb. 7, 2025.(Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
“When you really think about Offscript, it’s like the ecosystem that bridges so many different facets of our lives, from sports, to culture, to lifestyle and so many different things,” Newton explained. “That transition for me wasn’t foreign. Instead of training to be the best football player, or the best athlete. Now, I’m just training to be the best content creator I can possibly be.
“I just always want to be a beacon of the person, in a lot of ways, figured it out as I went. I’m just so thrilled that Offscript gives me and Iconic Saga the opportunity to continue to believe in our vision, and we’re not able to do these things without great partners like this.”
As this partnership kicks off, Newton will also be hitting the road for the “4th & 1 College Tailgate Experience,” visiting HBCU’s across the U.S. to celebrate their heritage and shine a national spotlight on student-athletes, academic programs, and the unique game-day culture that defines what it means to be an HBCU.
Russia has stepped up assaults in Ukraine’s east in what may be the start of a spring offensive, and launched an air assault of record size against Ukraine’s western cities.
Ukraine has responded with strikes against the Ust-Luga and Primorsk oil export terminals in the Baltic Sea, severing as much as 40 percent of Russian oil export revenue – equivalent to 2 million barrels of oil a day – according to reports from the Reuters news agency.
It is the most severe oil supply disruption in the modern history of Russia, the world’s second-largest oil exporter, Reuters reported.
Ukraine attacked Russian oil-exporting infrastructure on Monday and Tuesday this week.
Ukraine’s General Staff said drones struck an oil tank farm and oil loading pier at the Transneft-Port Primorsk oil terminal in Primorsk, west of St Petersburg. Satellite footage suggested at least five of the 18 tanks were damaged.
The General Staff also said drones had struck the Ust-Luga oil offloading platform in the Baltic Sea on Tuesday night.
Posted footage showed both Primorsk and Ust-Luga in flames.
Ust-Luga exported 32.9 million tonnes of oil products last year, and Primorsk 16.8 million tonnes, reported Reuters.
Russia had enjoyed a boon in the rising price of oil following the United States and Israeli air attacks on Iran since February 28. Brent crude has gone from $70.71 a barrel on February 27 to $108.01 on March 26. Ukraine’s strikes seemed designed to prevent the Kremlin from refilling its war chest.
Ukraine said it also struck the Saratov Oil Refinery on Sunday, and the Bashneft-Ufaneftekhim oil refinery in the Republic of Bashkortostan on Monday.
(Al Jazeera)
Russia’s apparent spring offensive
Increased Russian ground assaults came over four days, from March 17-20, said Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskii, who said it was an attempt to take advantage of worsening weather conditions.
“The adversary attempted to break through our troops’ defensive lines in several strategic directions. Fierce battles unfolded along the entire line of combat,” he said.
Of 619 assaults over four days, 163 emanated from Pokrovsk, a town of 60,000 people before the war in the eastern Donetsk region, which Russian forces seized last month following a two-year battle.
Russia also tried to push towards Lyman and Kupiansk, in the northeastern Kharkiv region, which it sees as gateways to conquering Donetsk from the north. It has partly infiltrated Kupiansk, but its claims to have seized it late last year were proven false when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy broadcast a message from inside the city.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made no secret of his desire to seize the “fortress” belt of heavily defended cities in Donetsk – Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka and Konstiantynivka – and has repeatedly demanded their surrender as a precondition for a ceasefire.
Russia’s “colossal pressure and the deployment of significant reserves” failed to buckle Ukraine’s defensive line, but it did raise Russian casualties, said Syrskii.
“Over four days of intense assault operations, the enemy lost more than 6,090 soldiers killed and wounded. While over the course of a week, the enemy’s total losses amounted to about 8,710 people killed and seriously wounded,” he said.
Ukraine’s southern forces spokesman, Vladyslav Voloshyn, told Interfax news agency that all mobilised personnel in Russian-occupied Crimea were preparing to join the front by April 1.
“Russian forces are unlikely to seize the Fortress Belt in 2026 but will likely make some tactical gains at a significant cost,” said the Washington-based think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in its daily assessment of the Russian offensive operation on March 24.
(Al Jazeera)
Russia’s air war
A Russian air assault came overnight on Monday-Tuesday this week, during hours when Russia usually attacks Ukrainian infrastructure and homes. This time, it was then followed by a further wave of attacks during the day on Tuesday.
Combined, the attacks involved 948 drones and 34 missiles, a record number in 24 hours, according to the ISW.
The attacks killed at least five people and wounded more than 40, and would likely have involved more missiles had Ukraine’s military intelligence not intercepted and destroyed two Zircon antiship missiles and their truck mount, as they were being moved into launch position on the night of the attack.
“The scale of today’s attack strongly indicates that Russia has no intention of really ending this war,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Over the weekend, his negotiating team was in Washington for its first round of shuttle diplomacy since the Iran war began, but returned without announcing any results.
During this week, Ukraine has intercepted 91 percent of the 1,968 drones Russia launched, and 25 of the 34 missiles. It has also scaled up its drone expertise in an impressively brief time.
In July 2025, Zelenskyy confirmed Ukraine had intelligence that Russia intended to scale up its strike packages to 1,000 drones a day, and signed orders commissioning at least as many interceptor drones.
In January 2026, Zelenskyy praised Defence Minister Denys Shmyal for reaching that target.
Earlier this month, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was “capable of producing at least 2,000 effective and combat-proven interceptors every day” and offered half of them to Gulf states.
Russia has been scaling up, too, over the same period. Last July, it was only able to build 90 Shahed drones a day. In January, Syrskii said its production was averaging just more than 400 a day.
(Al Jazeera)
Ukraine strikes deep inside Russia
Ukraine has held a campaign of interdicting Russian logistics and breaking down Russia’s ability to produce fuel and weapons for the front.
A Ukrainian open-source analyst reported Ukrainian strikes 50-250km (30-155 miles) inside Russia had quadrupled to 45 a month during the past year.
On March 20, Ukrainian drones struck a repair plant in Russia’s Novgorod region, damaging a $500m Beriev A-50 early warning and control aircraft, said Ukraine’s General Staff. Russia uses these airborne radar aircraft to identify Ukrainian air defence systems and coordinate Russian fighter jet targeting.
Ukraine shot down two of them in early 2024, leaving Russia with just six, according to then-military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov. One more was damaged in last year’s Operation Spiderweb, when Ukrainian drones attacked Russian airfields. The Novgorod strike may have left Russia with just four in the Ukrainian theatre.
A Department of Education (ED) official told Fox News Digital that staff are working to put themselves out of a job under President Donald Trump’s orders because the agency is not needed.
“We are going to continue to take steps every single day to wind down the agency to return education to the state to put more power back in the hands of governors and state legislatures and state superintendents and local school board members,” Nicholas Kent, Undersecretary of Education, told Fox News Digital on Monday.
“That is our charge every single day,” he added.
The Department of Education announced on Thursday that the agency will move out of the Lyndon B. Johnson headquarters building, so the Department of Energy can eventually move in by August. The move is what the officials call “a prudent step to save hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars and further reduce the federal education bureaucracy.”
A Department of Education (ED) official told Fox News Digital that staff are working to put themselves out of a job because the agency is not needed.(Getty Images)
ED staff just took its ‘largest’ step closer to shutting down
Kent’s comments came after the department took a major step toward shutting down for good.
The Trump administration announced last week an interagency agreement between the ED and the Department of Treasury, with an official calling it the “largest” step to shutting the agency down.
The agreement entails moving student lending operations from the ED to the Treasury, which will “assume operational responsibility for collecting on defaulted Federal student loan debt and provide operational support to ED’s efforts to return borrowers to repayment.”
This agreement follows nine agency partnerships over the past year as the ED seeks to minimize itself, shifting power from some of its offices and programs to other federal agencies.
While Congress holds the key to shutting the operation down for good, Secretary Linda McMahon plans to show legislators that the interagency agreements are “proof of concept” that the ED is not needed for federal grant aid and federal student loans to continue flowing to borrowers.
“We are showing Congress and others that this proof of concept works and that we want to continue to work with Congress to memorialize these changes in legislation with the ultimate goal of closing down the department and putting ourselves out of a job,” Kent told Fox News Digital.
McMahon articulated before that the ED is merely a “pass through” for federal funding as opposed to controlling curriculum as others often expect. McMahon also explained that it’s often misunderstood that the ED controls curriculum.
“We don’t. We don’t hire teachers, we don’t buy books, we don’t do any of that. We are a pass through for federal funding to make sure it gets to states. There are competitive grants that the Department of Education works to make sure that that funding that comes from Congress – there is competitive bidding for that,” she said.
Pushback from Democrats and teachers unions
Once the administration made progress in shutting down the Department of Education, many critics slammed the idea, especially Democrats. Republicans, on the other hand, have embraced it. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., posted on Tuesday giving “Kudos to President Trump for attempting what even Reagan failed to do —eliminate the Federal Dept. of Education!”
However, Democrats on Capitol Hill denounced the effort.
Democrats slammed the mass layoffs of ED staff. In March last year, McMahon laid off half of the department’s workforce as part of the Trump administration’s broader reduction in government efforts.
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, hosted a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol on March 11, denouncing the administration’s interagency agreements with other departments.
“Trump is setting these programs up to fail,” Hirono said, joined by fellow Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. She added that by “shoving these programs to departments that do not have the experience or wherewithal to run these programs, he is setting [up] these programs that our kids rely on for failure.”
The largest teachers union in the country, the National Education Association, called the effort to dissolve the ED “illegal” soon after the Trump administration announced the partnerships with other agencies. A writer for NEA argued last year that the ED is needed to enforce federal statutes “prohibiting discrimination and ensuring every student has access to an education that will help them reach their full potential.”
Randi Weingarten, the president of the second-largest teachers union in the country, the American Federation of Teachers, said that “our members across the country are worried about the impact this will have on their students.”
Another method the Trump administration is employing to reduce the ED’s footprint is returning more power to the states.
The ED launched a new process that would allow states to reduce administrative burden in order to use federal money as they see fit. Iowa became the first state to join the effort. The Department of Education sent states a letter in July last year encouraging all states to apply for the waiver to allow their state education officials to have more discretion over federal dollars and reduce compliance costs.
McMahon touted Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ decision to funnel federal dollars directly to students after they were typically gobbled up by compliance costs, a burden imposed upon states by the federal government.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Kent argued to Fox News Digital that the ED “spent over $3 trillion since 1980 in supporting education from the federal level.”
“Yet our K through 12 NAEP scores continue to decline,” he said.
Fox News Digital previously reported on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), commonly called the “Nation’s Report Card,” showed that 12th-graders’ scores in math and reading plummeted to record lows, continuing an ongoing decline.
“The Federal Education Department is not doing right by students and families. And so our goal in these interagency agreements is to show Congress that there is a better path forward for students and family,” Kent said.
Joshua Q. Nelson is a reporter for Fox News Digital.
Joshua focuses on politics, education policy ranging from the local to the federal level, and the parental uprising in education.
Joining Fox News Digital in 2019, he previously graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in Political Science and is an alum of the National Journalism Center and the Heritage Foundation’s Young Leaders Program.
Story tips can be sent to joshua.nelson@fox.com and Joshua can be followed on Twitter and LinkedIn.
The United States-Israeli war on Iran has hit critical liquified natural gas (LNG) supplies in the Gulf, triggering the most severe disruptions in recent years to the global energy market.
Shipping through the critical Strait of Hormuz, which accounts for 27 percent of the world’s maritime oil trade and 20 percent of LNG, has been brought to a near standstill, with oil-producing nations such as Saudi Arabia rerouting oil through alternative pipelines and Qatar halting LNG production.
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Natural gas makes up about a quarter of global energy consumption, raising concerns about how much the disruption to LNG will affect those most reliant on gas.
What is LNG?
Natural gas is formed over millions of years from decomposed organic matter subjected to intense heat and pressure beneath the Earth’s surface.
LNG is natural gas cooled to -162 degrees Celsius, known as cryogenic processing, shrinking it to a 600th of its gaseous volume.
In its liquid state, LNG is colourless, odourless and non-flammable, making it safe and efficient to transport across vast distances.
Composition and purification
Before liquefaction, the gas is purified through water-based solvents and molecular sieve beds to remove impurities including carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, water and mercury.
Heavier hydrocarbons are then separated from methane and ethane through fractionation, and stored, used or sold as byproducts. The result is a fuel typically composed of 85 to 95 percent methane, with small amounts of ethane, propane, butane and nitrogen.
Storage and transport
LNG is stored in large insulated tanks without the need for high-pressure infrastructure. It is then pumped onto double-hulled carriers and shipped to terminals around the world.
Regasification
At its destination, LNG is heated using seawater or a warm water bath until it vaporises, a process known as regasification, before being moved through pipelines for consumption. It is sometimes blended with nitrogen or propane to ensure compatibility with local gas networks.
What is it used for?
Once LNG is returned to a gaseous state at import terminals, it is dispersed through pipelines for use in homes, businesses and industries around the world.
Residential uses include cooking, heating and generating electricity. In many parts of the world, LNG also supports hot water systems in homes and heating for commercial buildings.
It is used for power generation broadly, offering a comparatively low-carbon alternative to coal and oil.
In industry, it is used for fertilisers, plastics, paints and medicines. It is also used in transport to fuel heavy-duty vehicles and ships.
A man walks through a mustard field during the spring season on the outskirts of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, on March 24, 2026 [Farooq Khan/EPA]
Gulf nations export close to half the world’s traded urea – commonly used in fertilisers globally, leaving international agriculture deeply vulnerable to any interruption in the LNG shipping lane through the Strait of Hormuz.
The disruption has already forced fertiliser producers across the region to suspend or reduce operations, since natural gas is both the primary feedstock and the fuel that powers the manufacturing process.
A picture of QatarEnergy’s operating facilities on March 3, 2026, in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar. QatarEnergy announced a complete halt to liquefied natural gas (LNG) production at its Ras Laffan and Mesaieed facilities on March 2, 2026, after Iranian attacks targeted energy facilities [Getty Images]
QatarEnergy’s decision to halt gas production following attacks on its LNG infrastructure brought the world’s single largest urea plant to a standstill. In addition, the Omani port of Salalah on the Arabian Sea has been closed, which holds an ammonia storage terminal. The port was hit in a drone attack on March 11.
What are the by-products?
While LNG is primarily valued as an energy source, the processing and liquefaction of natural gas yield a range of by-products with industrial and medical applications.
The most notable by-product is helium, which is extracted during cryogenic processing at LNG facilities using distillation to separate the concentrations of helium from the gas.
Global helium production is estimated to be about 180 million cubic metres annually. The disruption to LNG facilities in Qatar means some 5.2 million cubic metres of helium is taken out of the market each month, accounting for about a third of global monthly production.
Helium is used primarily as a cooling agent for superconducting magnets in MRI and CT scanners, with the average MRI machine needing about 1,700 litres of liquid helium, and some older MRIs needing replenishment every two to three years.
A brain-scanning MRI machine is seen in Pittsburgh, United States, on November 26, 2014 [File: Keith Srakocic/AP]
Helium is also critical to the data centre industry, where it is used to conduct heat away from silicon, preventing parts of semiconductors from being damaged.
The natural gas value chain generates petrochemical derivatives that also form feedstock for manufactured goods.
For example, ethane and propane are cracked to produce ethylene and propylene, which are materials used in plastics such as IV bags, syringes and other medical-grade plastics.
Which countries supply LNG?
According to the International Gas Union (IGU) 2025 World LNG Report, some 411.24 million tonnes (mt) of LNG were traded in 2024.
The largest exporter of LNG is the United States, which in 2024 exported a total of 88.4mt, followed by Australia (81mt), Qatar (77.2mt), Russia (33.5mt) and Malaysia (27.7mt).
Together, the top five countries account for more than three-quarters of global supply.
Which countries import it?
China was the largest importer of LNG with 78.6mt imported in 2024, followed by Japan (67.7mt), South Korea (47.1mt), India (26.1mt) and Taiwan (21.8mt). The top five importers accounted for nearly 59 percent of all global LNG imports in 2024.
South Asian nations such as Pakistan and Bangladesh are also at high risk from the current conflict.
Motorists queue to refuel their motorcycles at a petrol station amid concerns over supplies amid the United States-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on March 15, 2026 [Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters]
Pakistan’s primary energy source is natural gas, which accounts for 28 percent of electricity generation for the country of more than 250 million people.
In Bangladesh, with a population of about 176 million, gas accounts for half of all electricity generation.
Qatar and the United Arab Emirates supply about 99 percent of Pakistan’s LNG imports and 72 percent of Bangladesh’s, according to trade intelligence firm Kpler.
Earlier in the month, Pakistan introduced emergency measures to tackle the energy shock, including moving to a four-day workweek for government employees and announcing spring holidays for schools from March 16 to the end of the month.
As a precautionary measure, the Bangladeshi government has also reduced gas supplies. Bangladesh is seeking nearly $2bn in loans from international lenders in a bid to fund energy inputs and keep prices stable.
Some petroleum gas tankers heading to India have managed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz despite the conflict — at least one Pakistani tanker has crossed the strait, too. In India, where 5 percent of electricity generation comes from gas, they are now relying more on coal as LNG disruptions continue. India gets about half of its LNG from the Gulf.
On March 9, an Indian government order redirected natural gas and regasified LNG to priority sectors, with curtailments affecting consumers and the petrochemical industry, according to S&P Global.
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Grieving mother Mohaddeseh Fallahat, whose two children were killed, and Iran’s foreign minister address Human Rights Council.
Mohaddeseh Fallahat remembers combing her children’s hair on the morning of February 28, then tying their shoes and lifting their backpacks onto their shoulders before kissing them goodbye.
“That morning was like any other,” Fallahat told a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva via videolink on Friday. “There was no sign that this would be the last time.
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“As they walked out the door, they simply said, ‘Mum, come pick us up after school.’ That simple sentence now repeats in my mind 1,000 times, and each time my heart burns with pain,” she said.
Her two children were among more than 170 people killed by United States Tomahawk missiles that hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh Girls’ School in Minab, southern Iran, during the opening hours of the US-Israeli assault. Most of the victims were schoolgirls.
Speaking to the UN’s top rights forum as it held an urgent debate on the crisis in the Middle East, Fallahat said: “No mother ever thinks she will send her child off to school with a smile, only to be met with silence. No mother is prepared to hear the words: ‘Your child is not coming back.’”
Attack was ‘deliberate and intentional’: Iranian FM
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told the council via videolink that the attack was no “miscalculation”.
“At a time when the American and Israeli aggressors, in their own assertion, possess the most advanced technologies and the highest precision military and data systems, no one can believe that the attack on the school was anything other than deliberate and intentional,” he said.
Araghchi said the victims were “slaughtered in cold blood”.
He claimed the US and Israel had “the audacity to commit the worst humanitarian crimes with impunity”, which is “the direct result of silence in the face of earlier manifestations of lawlessness and atrocities in occupied Palestine, Lebanon and elsewhere”.
The foreign minister called on UN member states to denounce the illegality of the “blatantly unjustified” war on Iran. “Indifference and silence in the face of injustices will bring no security and peace,” he added.
‘Outdated intelligence’
The UN special rapporteur on the right to education, Farida Shaheed, told the council that the school and other buildings in the compound were “each struck individually by precision munition, meaning that the US military clearly intended to strike the school”.
Ongoing investigations suggest the attack may have been the result of a mistake by the US military due to the use of outdated intelligence.
“If officially confirmed, this would mean that the principle of taking feasible precaution in attacks was most likely violated,” Shaheed said.
More than 600 schools and education facilities have been destroyed or severely damaged by US-Israeli attacks so far in Iran, while at least 230 children and teachers have been killed, according to her office.
“The killing of children can never, ever be justified,” she said.
UN Human Rights chief Volker Turk told the council that targeting schools constituted a grave violation of international law.
“Whatever differences countries have, we can all agree they will not be solved by killing schoolchildren,” he said.
Last year, the UN said Israeli attacks damaged 97 percent of Gaza’s education facilities.
The Oscars ceremony is leaving Hollywood, organisers have announced.
Coinciding with the previously announced broadcast switch to YouTube, the show will move from the Dolby Theatre on HollywoodBoulevard to the Peacock Theatre about nine miles (14.5km) away, in downtown Los Angeles‘s LA Live complex, in 2029.
The Peacock Theatre has a capacity of about 7,000 – roughly twice the current amount.
Image:The Peacock Theater is already home to the Emmys, where British actor and Adolescence star Owen Cooper won the award for outstanding supporting actor last year. Pic: Danny Moloshok/Invision for the Television Academy/AP
It will come after more than 25 years of Oscars ceremonies at the Dolby Theatre, which has been home to the show since 2002.
The Academy Awards will mark its 100th anniversary at the venue in 2028, before the new-look show and broadcast begins.
“For the 101st Oscars and beyond, the Academy looks forward to closely collaborating with AEG to make LA LIVE the perfect backdrop for our global celebration of cinema,” the Academy’s chief executive Bill Kramer and its president, Lynette Howell Taylor, said in a joint statement.
AEG will make improvements to the venue as part of the deal, they said, including upgrades to its stage, sound and lighting systems, backstage and other areas.
Image:Hamnet star and Irish actress Jessie Buckley with her Oscar at the Dolby Theatre earlier this month. Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Surrounded by the Walk of Fame, next to the celebrity handprints of The Chinese Theatre and with the famous Hollywood sign as a backdrop, the Dolby Theatre was developed by the Academy itself and seemed a perfect location for the biggest awards show in entertainment.
However, this is not the first move out of Hollywood. The show took place at various hotels throughout Los Angeles in the early years before a move to theatres in the mid-1940s.
The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, a fine arts facility in downtown LA, hosted the ceremony from 1968 to 1986. It then alternated between the Chandler and the Shrine Auditorium, next to the University of Southern California, until the long-term move to Hollywood.
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