5 Big News Stories Overnight - Thursday, March 12, 2026

United Kingdom: Starmer Ignored Top Aides’ Warnings Over Mandelson

Telegraph reports:

Sir Keir Starmer ignored warnings from top aides about Lord Mandelson’s close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein before appointing him as Britain’s ambassador to the US, new documents reveal.

On Wednesday, the first tranche of “Mandelson files” – documents relating to his appointment to Washington – was released, including the official due diligence report on the Labour peer produced by the Cabinet Office and sent to the Prime Minister.

It described the potential appointment of Lord Mandelson as a “reputational risk” owing to his “particularly close relationship” with the convicted paedophile.

France: The Race for Paris: How the Capital’s Housing Crisis Could Determine the Next Mayor

France 24:

For many Parisians, the experience has begun to take on a bruising familiarity. Standing at the foot of a towering block of flats, circling higher and higher up a cramped stairway, squeezing out of a narrow lift, they find themselves time and again staring down a dozen or more Parisians just like them. They lock eyes, briefly, and look away. 

Some are students, or workers, or white-collar couples leaning against one another at the end of a long week. Others have their children with them, peering down between the bars of the stairwell or curled against their parents’ chest. Family or friends, French or foreign, they wait, uneasy, until the apartment door opens, and the visits begin.

While finding an apartment to rent in a global city like Paris has never been simple, a feeling of genuine crisis has settled over the capital in recent years. Despite almost 180,000 residents leaving Paris over the past decade – an exodus that many researchers link to the rising cost of housing in the capital as well as the shock of the pandemic – the number of affordable homes to rent continues to fall short of the number of people searching for a roof over their head.

Middle East: Three Ships Hit Near Strait of Hormuz as Iran Tries to Choke Off Oil Traffic

Wall Street Journal reports:

Three commercial ships were struck around the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday as Iran stepped up its efforts to halt traffic through the critical oil conduit. The U.S. military has turned down requests to escort tankers or other civilian ships through the strait, with defense officials saying it won't do so until the threat of Iranian fire has eased.

The head of U.S. Central Command said its focus remains on destroying Iran’s missiles and drones and degrading its ability to interrupt shipping. The International Energy Agency said member countries would release 400 million barrels of oil, the largest reserves distribution in history, and President Trump said he will tap the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Economy: Atlassian Lays Off 1,600 Workers Ahead of AI Push

The Guardian reports:

Software giant Atlassian has announced it is laying off about 10% of its workforce, or roughly 1,600 positions, and replacing its chief technology officer as it restructures to invest further in artificial intelligence.

Shares of the company rose more than 4% in extended trading on the Nasdaq.

More than 900 affected positions were involved in software research and development, a spokesperson said. Most of Atlassian’s employees work in software engineering and design, accounting for over 50% of its 13,813 full-time workforce in June 2025.

About 640 affected employees are in North America, 480 in Australia and 250 in India, with the remainder spread across Japan, the Philippines, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to the spokesperson.

U.S.: "California could be attacked by drones because of Iran war, memo warns"

LA Times reports:

Law enforcement agencies across California were recently warned that the Iran war could lead to a surprise drone attack in the Golden State, but sources told The Times on Wednesday there’s no credible intelligence to support it.

In a memo sent to agencies that are part of a federal Joint Terrorism Task Force, the government said, “We recently acquired information that as of early February 2026, Iran allegedly aspired to conduct a surprise attack using unmanned aerial vehicles from an unidentified vessel off the coast of the United States Homeland, specifically against unspecified targets in California, in the event that the US conducted strikes against Iran.”

A source with knowledge of the memo who was not authorized to discuss it publicly said the warning was issued based on intelligence received by the U.S. Coast Guard. Law enforcement sources experienced in intelligence said such alerts are cautionary in nature.