International news from Friday, March 20th, 2026

Israeli officials said on Saturday that Iranian forces had for the first time fired long‑range missiles, expanding the risk of attacks beyond the Middle East, even as an Iranian strike injured dozens of people not far from Israel's nuclear site.

The US military is deploying thousands of Marines to the Middle East, officials told Reuters on Friday, as President Donald Trump accused NATO allies of cowardice over their reluctance to send forces to help open the Strait of Hormuz.

US forces launched a strike against a boat allegedly involved in drug smuggling in the eastern Pacific, the US military said on Friday, killing two people.

Severe tropical cyclone Narelle was losing strength on Friday after bringing destructive winds, heavy rain and power outages to Australia's northeast coast that prompted authorities to warn people to stay indoors.

Britain's health authorities said on Friday that early laboratory analysis had showed the vaccine being offered to students should protect against the strain of meningitis behind an outbreak in southeast England that has killed two people.

A fire that broke out around lunchtime on Friday at a car parts factory in the South Korean city of Daejeon on Friday, has left 10 people dead, 25 seriously injured and 34 with minor injuries, the country's safety ministry said on Saturday.

President Donald Trump has drawn a parallel on Thursday between US strikes on Iran and Japan's 1941 attack on Pearl Harbour, as he defended the war he launched against Tehran while meeting Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Washington.

The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) has announced that the Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery, operated by Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC), came under drone attacks early on Friday, with a fire breaking out at several units as a result.

France, Spain, Bahrain, and India have condemned the Iranian attack that targeted Qatar's Ras Laffan Industrial City during separate phone calls with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.