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Reports are emerging of black rain falling over parts of Iran in the hours after US-Israeli airstrikes on oil depots on the weekend, with some outlets describing it as “acid rain”.
Iranian residents have reported headaches, difficulty breathing, and oil-contaminated rain settling on buildings and cars. Iran’s Red Crescent Society warned rainfall following the strikes could be “highly dangerous and acidic.”
As an atmospheric chemist and chemical engineer who researches air pollution, these reports are very worrying, and indicate much more than just acid rain.
This rain would include acids, but also likely a host of other pollutants that are harmful to humans and the environment in the short and long term. It may even be worse than the term “acid rain” conveys.
More broadly, the thick clouds of toxic smoke over densely populated areas in Iran are also a major problem for anyone breathing this air right now.
What could this ‘acid rain’ be?One of the primary ways air pollutants are removed..

Mojtaba Khamenei named supreme leader to succeed father killed in strikes as oil prices surgeIsrael is using white phosphorous over civilian homes in Lebanon, Human Rights Watch has warned.
The organisation said it verified and geolocated seven images showing airburst white phosphorus munitions being deployed over a residential part of the southern Lebanese village of Yohmorand civil defense workers responding to fires in at least two homes and one car in the area.
The white-hot chemical substance can set buildings on fire and burn human flesh down to the bone. Survivors are at risk of infections and organ or respiratory failure, even if their burns are small.
“The Israeli military’s unlawful use of white phosphorus over residential areas is extremely alarming and will have dire consequences for civilians,” said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch.
“The incendiary effects of white phosphorous can cause death or cruel injuries that result in lifelong suffering.”
Meanwh..

A woman from Derby is trekking 500 miles to the North Pole in the hope of inspiring women and girls across the globe.
With International Women’s Day on Saturday, Preet Chandi MBE, 37, known as 'Polar Preet’, is due to set out for her 60-day hike in the next few days, and aims to become the first woman to reach the North Pole solo and unsupported.
The four-time Guinness World Record-holding British-Indian explorer has already become the first woman of colour to reach the South Pole solo and unsupported when she walked 700 miles there in 2021.
open image in galleryPreet Chandi MBE, known globally as 'Polar Preet’, she aims to become the first woman ever to reach the North Pole solo and unsupported (Aviaaja Schluter)Now, she has set her sights even higher, with conditions during her North Pole journey expected to be even more challenging. Setting out from Canada, she is hauling 130kg of her own gear on a sledge across one of the most hostile environments on Earth, with no outsid..

An explosion on Sunday outside the U.S. embassy in Oslo, Norway, may be linked to the ongoing Middle East security situation, police have said said.
As of Sunday afternoon, no suspects had been identified, Norwegian police added.
“It's natural to see this in the context of the current security situation and that this could be an attack deliberately targeting the U.S. embassy,” police spokesperson Frode Larsen told a news conference.
A “loud” explosion occurred at the entrance to the U.S. embassy in the city in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The incident reportedly did not cause any deaths and resulted in minor damage at the scene.
“A loud bang/explosion was reported at the scene,” Oslo police told CBS News in a statement.
“Around 1 a.m. we received several reports of explosions. We arrived after a short time and determined that there had been an explosion that had hit the American embassy, ​” police incident commander Michael Delmer told public broadcaster NRK, in comments vi..

Hungarian authorities have temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armoured vehicles carrying tens of millions of euros in cash, amid suspicions of money laundering.
The incident, which occurred across Hungary, saw the individuals held on Thursday before their release on Friday.
Despite the Ukrainians being freed, Hungarian officials retained the substantial sum of money. This move has prompted a rebuke from Kyiv, with Ukraine accusing Hungary's Russia-friendly government of illegally confiscating the funds.
“We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X on Friday.
open image in galleryUkraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha (Reuters)The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and Ukraine as part of regular services between state banks, Sybiha said.
In a post on Facebook, Osch..

Leavitt outlines what Trump's 'unconditional surrender' of Iran meansIran's president described the United States’s demand for an unconditional surrender as a “dream that they should take to their grave” as he apologised for attacks on regional countries, insisting that Tehran would halt them.
Masoud Pezeshkian made the statement in a pre-recorded address aired by Iranian state television on Saturday morning.
It came after Tehran’s Mehrabad airport was hit by explosions, with video footage showing a burning plane and plumes of smoke rising into the sky.
The Mehrabad airport is Iran's busiest commercial airport and main domestic hub. It also serves the Iranian air force.
The attack followed Donald Trump – who was reported to express serious interest in deploying a limited US force on the ground – saying the US military was doing “phenomenally” against Iran as he demanded Tehran's “unconditional surrender”.
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent, meanwhile, war..

Canadian backpacker Piper James, 19, died “as a result of drowning” following a dingo attack in Australia, according to the coroner’s findings.
Her body was found in January on a beach on K’gari, a World Heritage sand island off Queensland, close to the Maheno shipwreck. Police said her body was surrounded by a pack of dingoes, prompting an investigation into the circumstances of her death.
“Piper died as a result of drowning in the setting of multiple injuries, due to, or as a consequence of a dingo attack,” a spokesperson for the Queensland coroner’s court said.
“The investigation into Piper’s death is ongoing, and no further information can be provided at this time.”
Earlier, Queensland authorities had euthanised eight of the ten dingoes that had surrounded James’s body on K’gari – formerly known as Fraser Island – following her death. Officials had said the animals were part of a pack believed to have surrounded her body and had shown aggressive behaviour.
The move angered traditi..

Representative Tony Gonzales has dropped his bid for re-election after admitting to having an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide.
The Texas Republican wrote in a statement released late Thursday night, “After deep reflection and with the support of my loving family, I have decided not to seek re-election while serving out the rest of this Congress with the same commitment I’ve always had to my district.”
For months, Gonzales has been accused of having an inappropriate relationship with Regina Santos-Aviles, a 35-year-old wife and mother who worked in his Uvalde office.
After initially denying the allegations, Gonzales admitted he “made a mistake,” calling his infidelity with a subordinate “a lapse in judgment” in an interview with conservative talk show host Joe Pagliarulo, released Wednesday.
open image in galleryRepresentative Tony Gonzales has dropped his bid for re-election after admitting to having an affair with a staffer who later died by suicide (Alex Wong/Getty ..

The U.S. military under President Donald Trump is now free to fight wars without its hands tied behind its back, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller has claimed.
Miller celebrated the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran as “politically incorrect” and lashed out at what he called the “woke Pentagon” under previous administrations.
“What you're seeing right now … is a military under President Trump's leadership that is not fighting politically correct. That isn't fighting with its hands tied behind its back,” Miller said.
”One of the reasons why people lost faith in the military and the capacity to use that military to defend us is because we had a woke Pentagon. Because we had a military who at the very highest level – not the war-fighters – was forced to fight a less than full fight.”
open image in galleryWhite House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has lashed out at the ‘woke Pentagon’ (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)The reported death toll from the US-Israeli s..

Iran has denied attacking Turkey after a ballistic missile entered the Nato country’s airspace, threatening to further spread the conflict beyond the Middle East.
Nato air defences destroyed an Iranian ballistic missile that was fired towards the country on Wednesday, marking the first time the alliance member bordering Asia has been drawn into the conflict and raising the possibility of a major expansion of the war.
The Iranian Armed Forces General Staff denied firing missiles at Turkey on Thursday, saying the Islamic Republic respected the sovereignty of Turkey, according to a statement carried by Iranian media.
As the Iran war enters its sixth day, countries across the Gulf have been attacked as Tehran retaliates against US and Israeli airstrikes which began on Saturday.
open image in gallerySmoke rises from Tehran after a strike (AFP/Getty)US secretary of state Marco Rubio told Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan that attacks on Turkey's territory are unacceptable.
He the..