Iran's military posture in a widening conflict with Israel and the US suggests it is not fighting for victory in any conventional sense. It is fighting for survival, and survival on its own terms.

The Islamic Republic's leaders and commanders have been preparing for this moment for years.

They understood that their regional ambitions could eventually trigger a direct confrontation with Israel or the US, and that a war with one would almost certainly draw

The Israeli military has ordered hundreds of thousands of people to leave Beirut's southern suburbs, a stronghold of Hezbollah, as it steps up strikes targeting the Iran-backed armed group across Lebanon.

"Save your lives, evacuate your homes immediately," the military's Arabic spokesperson wrote on X, apparently signalling plans for intense bombardment.

Huge traffic jams formed on main roads heading north and south as panicked residents complied with the unprecedented

Savannah Guthrie, a host of NBC's Today programme, has visited the network's office in New York as she makes plans to return to the airwaves while the search for her missing mother continues.

Guthrie's 84 year-old mother Nancy has been missing from her home in Arizona since 1 February, when authorities believe she was abducted. Few clues have emerged in the nearly five weeks since.

Guthrie,

Conservative Anglicans meeting in Nigeria's capital Abuja have pulled back on plans to elect a rival "primus inter pares" - the Latin term meaning "first among equals" which describes the Archbishop of Canterbury's position within the worldwide church, where Sarah Mullally is considered the ceremonial leader.

Electing another person with the same title would have been seen by many as

The Ecuadorean military says it has seized a 35m-long (115ft) "narco submarine" hidden in a nature reserve near the country's border with Colombia.

The semi-submersible had been carrying 6,000 gallons (22,700 litres) of fuel and was ready to embark on "a long

The US has asked Ukraine for help defending Gulf allies against Iranian drones, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.

He said Ukraine's partners had been reaching out and there had been "requests from the American side".

Zelensky said he had given instructions "to provide the necessary means and ensure the presence of Ukrainian specialists who can guarantee the necessary security".

Asked about the Ukrainian offer, US President Donald Trump said: "I'll take any

Britney Spears has been arrested in California, US court documents show.

The singer was arrested by the California Highway Patrol at around 21:30 PT (05:30 GMT) on Wednesday.

She was released in the early hours of Thursday morning and is scheduled to appear in Ventura County Superior Court on 4 May.

The court documents do not confirm the reason for the singer's arrest.

The pop star appeared to have deleted her Instagram account

Millions of Nepalis have voted in the country's first general election since violent youth-led protests toppled the government last September.

Corruption, economic stagnation and inequality were the main issues in the vote. They sparked the uprising in which 77 people died, many of them protesters shot by police.

The