First Thing: Biden to meet national security team amid fears of Iranian attack on Israel

US trying to calm tensions after assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders last week. Plus, far-right riots escalate in UK

Good morning.

Joe Biden will meet with his national security team on Monday, the White House has said, as the US sends more fighter jets and warships to the Middle East amid growing fears of a retaliatory attack by Iran on Israel.

Tensions have been ratcheted up after the assassination last week of Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran a day after an Israeli strike in Beirut killed a senior Hezbollah commander, Fuad Shukr. Hamas and Hezbollah are backed by Iran, which has sworn revenge.

Amid fears that Israel’s war in Gaza could escalate into a wider conflict, the president would also speak to Jordan’s King Abdullah II, the White House said. “The overall goal is to turn the temperature down in the region, deter and defend against those attacks, and avoid regional conflict,” Jonathan Finer, the White House’s deputy national security adviser, told CBS News’s Face the Nation. He added that the US and Israel were readying themselves for every possibility.

What has Iran said? Iranian state TV reported that the country’s president described the assassination of Haniyeh as a “major mistake by the Zionist regime [Israel] that will not go unanswered”.

Kentucky’s governor clears schedule for Harris VP announcement, stoking speculation

Speculation is mounting over who Kamala Harris will choose as her running mate, with rumors swirling after Andy Beshear, the governor of Kentucky, canceled an appearance in his state without explanation.

But Beshear is not alone: Pennsylvania’s governor, Josh Shapiro, who is also considered a likely candidate, also called off a fundraising trip this weekend amid reports that Harris was interviewing a number of figures for a spot on her ticket.

Both candidates have their strengths: while Shapiro, who Democrats hope would clinch the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania, is broadly seen as the frontrunner, Beshear’s supporters view him as the best option for winning over independent voters. According to a recent Morning Consult survey, Beshear has the best approval rating of any Democratic governor in the country.

But when will we know? Harris’s announcement is expected by Tuesday at the latest, when she will appear at a rally in Pennsylvania with her pick.

Nancy Pelosi reveals struggle with guilt after husband’s attack

The former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi has shared that she has been dealing with guilt after a man nearly killed her husband with a hammer in a home invasion attack that had been meant for her.

Pelosi was in Washington DC when David DePape broke into her home and attacked her husband in the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections. “He was looking for me. Imagine the guilt of all of that,” the California Democratic congresswoman said in an interview aired on CBS News Sunday Morning. “It’s just a horrible thing. I was the target.”

What else did the interview cover? Pelosi also said she was not “a leader of any pressure” campaign for Biden to resign.

In other news …

The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, will lead an emergency government meeting on Monday after far-right riots escalated on Sunday, with violent disorder that included a mob trying to set fire to a hotel housing asylum seekers.

The Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro has vowed to “pulverize” challenges to his rule amid deepening condemnation of the crackdown that followed last week’s disputed election.

The independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr has said that, a decade ago, he staged a scene to make it look like a bicyclist had run over a bear cub in New York’s Central Park, after finding the dead animal in the Hudson Valley.

Stat of the day: Japan’s benchmark stock index tanks by steepest margin in nearly four decades

Japan’s benchmark stock index plummeted by 12% on Monday: the biggest single-day tumble since the Black Monday crash of 1987. The FTSE 100 also sank, as global markets reacted to weak US jobs figures that have triggered fears of a US recession.

Don’t miss this: inside the crumbling Honduran zoo built with drug money

Nestled in a remote region of Honduras, the Joya Grande zoo was once a trophy for the Cachiros cartel – as well as a money-laundering scheme. But since the cartel’s downfall began, with properties including the zoo seized by the state, experts have endeavored to improve conditions for the animals that live in squalid conditions: a challenging task when funds are in short supply.

Climate check: EPA deals ‘major blow’ to multibillion-dollar gas drilling plan off Western Australia

Western Australia’s Environment Protection Authority has deemed a multibillion-dollar gas drilling development in the ocean off the state as “unacceptable” due to its impact on marine life. The EPA told Woodside Energy in February that its preliminary view for drilling in Browse – Australia’s largest untapped conventional gas field – was that “the proposal was unacceptable”, a freedom of information request by WAToday has shown.

Last Thing: should you ever tell someone you dreamed about them?

Do you have the urge to call someone up and tell them you dreamed of them, sparing no insignificant, surreal detail – even if it’s someone you haven’t spoken to in over a decade? It can be fun, silly and risky, but one thing is for sure: the dream has got everything to do with you, and little to do with them.

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