From the New York Times, it's the headlines.
Today's Wednesday, March 4th, here's what we're covering.
The Times has learned Iran is on the verge of selecting its next supreme leader to head
the regime after the U.S.-Israeli attacks killed Ayatollah Ali Hamine over the weekend.
According to three Iranian officials, the frontrunner is Hamine's son, Moshtabah Hamine.
He's an influential but reclusive figure, known for his close ties to the country's
revolutionary guards.
One analyst in Tehran said that hard-line supporters of Iran's government could back
him quickly, viewing him as picking up the mantle of his martyred father.
But a large portion of Iran could reject him for the very same reason, seeing him as a continuation
of the oppressive regime that's killed thousands of anti-government protesters in just the
The clerics, making the selection, could announce their decision as soon as today.
It comes after President Trump said yesterday that the U.S.-Israeli strikes had taken out
some of the Iranian officials the White House had viewed as potential successors.
And now we have another group that may be dead also based on reports.
So I guess you have a third wave coming in.
Pretty soon we're not going to know anybody.
Trump did not say specifically who the U.S. wanted to see lead the country.
I guess the worst case would be we do this, and then somebody takes over who's as bad
as the previous person, right?
We don't want that to happen.
It would probably be the worst you go through this.
And then in five years you realize you put somebody in, it was no better.
And all Trump seems to be distancing himself from any long-term plans for Iran, which
analysts say adds a new level of uncertainty to the situation.
For years in Washington we've heard about this maxim called the Pottery Barn Rule.
You break it, you own it.
As in if the U.S. decides to start a war in a country, it's responsible for the consequences.
But in the last few days President Trump has made it clear that he does not believe
in the Pottery Barn Rule at all.
My colleague Anton Trionovsky covers global affairs for the times.
They've made it clear they believe that the U.S. has the right to attack any country,
anywhere, if it believes that it's necessary in the name of American national security
and American interests.
And at the same time they've made it clear that they don't see the U.S. as being responsible
for what happens in those countries after military action.
And of course, in the case of Iran, the risks of this are immense.
The more the central authorities, the security forces in that country are weakened.
The more infrastructure there is destroyed, the more you have the risk of either chaos
and civil war or an even more repressive regime taking hold.
As of today, nearly 900 people have been killed in the fighting in the Middle East.
The vast majority of them in Iran, which the U.S. and Israel have continued attacking.
Iran has continued to hit back, striking targets all over the Gulf, and choking off a key
shipping lane for oil and gas, which has caused prices for those to surge, raising fears
of widespread economic repercussions.
Meanwhile, in Washington, the answers are very unsatisfying.
They have shifting goals, different goals all the time, different answers every day.
The Senate is expected to vote today on limiting the president's ability to continue to strike
Iran, with Democrats saying the administration has failed to justify launching the operation
without consulting Congress.
In a letter to lawmakers, Trump said he ordered the airstrikes to advance U.S. interests
and, quote, neutralize Iran's malign activities that contradicted his own administration's
earlier claims that there was an imminent threat.
Officials with access to U.S. intelligence have also told the times that Trump has exaggerated
the immediacy of any danger Iran posed to the U.S. Republicans on their part have largely
backed Trump's actions, saying previous presidents were unwilling to take strong action
Given the margins in Congress, that means the votes on the president's war powers are
Now one last thread to follow from all of this is how Israel is seizing this particular moment.
Times Jerusalem bureau chief David Halfinger says that in the past week, the Israeli government
has been emboldened.
We learned in the reporting here that Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel wanted his military
commanders to begin preparing for a strike on Iran that would happen between April and
The military wasn't so thrilled about that because that was a plan to act alone.
But when the United States came on board, their tune changed.
Now the United States would be bearing much of the burden, taking out much of its ballistic
capacity in the east and also crucially bringing many, many airborne refueling tankers which
make it possible for Israel to keep its fighters in the air over Iran almost indefinitely.
That was a huge lift and that really made it possible for Israel to be confident that it
In addition to striking Iran in partnership with the U.S., Israel has also been carrying
out deadly strikes in Lebanon, saying it's targeting Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant
Analysts say it's clear Israel had those plans in place for months.
And when Hezbollah fired a volley of rockets this week that gave Israel the pretext it needed.
What we're really seeing here in both theaters of operation is a very confident Israel.
It's confident in its military, in its technology, certainly in its intelligence.
And now in its ability to really shape the region and its environment to its advantage.
In Texas, one of the first big fights of the midterms played out last night with some
nail-biting primaries for the U.S. Senate.
Tonight, our campaign is shocking the nation.
On the Democratic side, James Tallariko, a state lawmaker, defeated U.S. Representative
Tallariko was a virtual unknown until a few months ago.
And he rallied support with Bible-infused messaging about bridging divides.
Crockett, meanwhile, is viewed as a firebrand in the Democratic Party and has openly criticized
As of early this morning, she has yet to concede.
I can tell you now that people have been disenfranchised.
Crockett and others have raised concerns that there was confusion yesterday over where
voters could cast their ballots in one of the state's biggest counties.
Due to a rule change spurred by Republicans, some people showed up at incorrect locations
and had to be redirected.
A judge extended voting hours because of it, but a higher court nicks that, leaving
some confusion about which votes will count.
And on the Republican side, we know John Corden said he was concerned about a bunch of
radicals we're going to show up to vote today.
It looks like you all showed up.
That bitter Senate primary is not over yet.
I refuse to allow a flawed, self-centered and shameless candidate like Ken Paxton risk
everything we've worked so hard to build over these many years.
US Senator John Corden now faces a runoff with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
After neither candidate reached the 50% threshold to win outright.
The race has been contentious.
Corden is a deal-making for term Senator, and he's been fighting for his political life
against Paxton, who has survived multiple ethical and legal scandals to become a darling
The race has also been expensive.
The candidates and outside groups spent nearly $100 million on ads, a vast majority of
that in support of Corden.
Combined with the spending on the Democrats, these primaries are the most expensive in US
For the full results from last night's votes, from Texas to North Carolina, go to nytimes.com.
And finally, British Columbia is going to change our clocks just one more time and then
Another locale is saying, nope, nope, not anymore, to springing forward and falling back.
The top government official in Canada's West Coast province announced they are done with
It creates all kinds of problems.
Kids get up at the same time even though the clocks changed.
Parents lose sleep, kids lose sleep.
In British Columbia, the shift this weekend will be their last.
They're going to pick one time zone and stick with it.
There's a huge amount of support for scrapping the twice a year time jumps.
Most countries don't do it.
In the US, it's a holdover from 100 plus years ago, though some go as far back as blaming
Benjamin Franklin for it.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has said it should stop that it disrupts the body's
natural clock, and that kind of shift can have health effects and lead to things like
more traffic accidents.
There is legislation to end it in the US, and that's made slow but steady progress in
For now, though, it is still coming.
So Sunday, remember, you're going to lose an hour, you're going to have to reset your
Or maybe because you never bothered to do it last time, your microwave is going to
finally be right again.
Those are the headlines.
Today on the daily, a look at how the merger between Paramount and Warner Brothers could
reshape the cultural and political landscape in the US.
You can listen to that in the New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts.
We'll be back tomorrow.
