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US President Donald Trump on Tuesday boasted of America’s military capability, claiming an “unlimited supply of weapons” and saying the “war can be fought forever” amid escalating tensions with Iran. The remarks came after a joint US-Israeli strike killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.The situation in the Middle East continues to evolve, as Iran has launched retaliatory strikes following the death of its long-serving Supreme Leader Khamenei, an operation reportedly planned by Trump.

Most recently, the Khamenei-less and angered Tehran regime attacked the US embassy in Iran, while the US military said it had destroyed Iran’s “command and control” center in Tehran.Meanwhile, Israel and Hezbollah continue exchanging missile strikes, targeting each other’s positions.US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has reported that more than 700 civilians have been killed in Iran since the war began, including 176 children and hundreds more were injured.

Top developments

Can fight wars ‘forever’: TrumpUS President Donald Trump said on Truth Social on Tuesday that America’s munitions stockpiles at the “medium and upper medium grade” have “never been higher or better.” He claimed the United States has a “virtually unlimited supply” of such weapons and added, “Wars can be fought ‘forever,’ and very successfully, using just these supplies.”Trump said that while the country has a good supply of high-end weapons, it is “not where we want to be,” adding that additional high-grade weaponry is stored in other countries.Trump said he rebuilt the US military during his first term and continues to strengthen it. “The United States is stocked, and ready to WIN, BIG!!!” he wrote.US embassy attacked in RiyadhSaudi Arabia’s defence ministry said two drones hit the US diplomatic mission in Riyadh early Tuesday. A ministry spokesperson said preliminary assessments confirmed the embassy had been targeted. “The attack resulted in a limited fire and minor material damage to the building,” the statement noted.AFP journalists and residents reported hearing loud explosions in the diplomatic quarter, with one resident saying the blast shook homes nearby.Saudi forces also later said they intercepted and destroyed eight drones near Riyadh and Al Kharj. Trump signals retaliationUS President Trump said the US would response to the attack on its embassy in Riyadh. “If action is not taken now, it may never be possible in the future. You’ll soon find out,” he said.Trump also indicated the conflict could last longer than initially expected, saying the United States has the capability to continue operations if required.Vice President JD Vance meanwhile told Fox News the strikes were aimed at ensuring Iran “could never have a nuclear weapon.” He also said the administration did not intend to enter a multi-year conflict like Iraq or Afghanistan.

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Netanyahu defends actionIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attack on Iran was urgent. He claimed Iran had begun constructing underground bunkers that would soon make its nuclear and missile programmes immune from air strikes.“The reason that we had to act now is because after we hit their nuclear sites and their ballistic missile program… they started building new sites, underground bunkers that would make their ballistic missile program and their atomic bomb program immune within months,” Netanyahu claimed in an interview with Fox News.“If no action was taken now, no action could be taken in the future,” he added.“Iran for 47 years has been chanting death to America,” he Netanyahu.”They bombed your embassies.They tried to assassinate Donald Trump, the president of the United States, twice. They murdered their own people, they massacred so many. And they spread a worldwide web of terror,” he added.

Israeli targets Iran’s air defencesIsraeli fighter jets have struck Iran’s air defence systems and missile launch platforms, according to Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee. In a post on X, Adraee said aircraft targeted personnel operating radar installations and missile launchers, and also hit sites linked to Iran’s ballistic missile platforms.Meanwhile, United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said it destroyed facilities belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including command centres, air defence systems, and missile and drone launch sites. CENTCOM did not provide evidence but said it would continue taking “decisive action” against what it called imminent threats from Iran.‘War of choice’: AraghchiIran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the United States of entering a “war of choice” to support Israel, responding sharply to remarks by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. In a post on X, Araghchi said, “Mr. Rubio admitted what we all knew: US has entered a war of choice on behalf of Israel. There was never any so-called Iranian ‘threat’.”He added that “shedding of both American and Iranian blood is thus on Israel Firsters,” and said the American public “deserve better and should take back their country.” Rubio had earlier told reporters that Washington was aware of Israel’s plans to strike Iran and joined the operation, arguing that Tehran was likely to retaliate against US assets in the region. Israel’s warning in Lebanon Israel asked residents in at least 59 locations across Lebanon to evacuate immediately, citing alleged activity by Hezbollah. In a post on X, Israeli military Arabic spokesperson urged civilians to move at least 1,000 metres away from their villages to open areas for their own safety. “Anyone present near Hezbollah elements, their facilities, and their combat means is endangering their life,” it wrote, adding, “Protect your safety and the safety of your loved ones and evacuate immediately.”

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Oil prices climbOil prices rose for a third straight day amid fears of supply disruption through the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude crossed $79 per barrel on Tuesday as markets reacted to the escalating conflict. The situation remains fluid, with both sides signalling further military action.“With no quick de-escalation in sight, the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed and Iran showing a willingness to target energy infrastructure in the region, upside risks remain and they grow the longer the conflict drags on,” Tony Sycamore, IG market analyst, was quoted by Reuters as saying.

PM Modi with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on 23 May 2016.

Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday sharply criticised the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government for its silence over the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, calling it an ‘abdication’ rather than neutrality.In an opinion piece published in The Indian Express, Sonia Gandhi said India’s lack of a clear response to the killing “signals tacit endorsement of this tragedy.”

Referring to Iran’s confirmation on March 1 that Ayatollah Khamenei was killed in targeted strikes allegedly carried out by the United States and Israel a day earlier, Gandhi described the assassination of a sitting head of state during ongoing negotiations as a “grave rupture in contemporary international relations.”“Beyond the shock of the event, what stands out equally starkly is New Delhi’s silence,” she wrote.She criticised the Prime Minister for initially condemning only Iran’s retaliatory strike on the United Arab Emirates, without addressing the sequence of events that led to the escalation. According to Gandhi, later remarks expressing “deep concern” and calling for “dialogue and diplomacy” were inadequate, as diplomatic engagement had been under way before what she termed “massive unprovoked attacks” by the US and Israel.She argued that India’s failure to clearly defend sovereignty and international law in the wake of a targeted killing raises “serious doubts” about the credibility and direction of its foreign policy.She also pointed to the timing of PM Modi’s recent visit to Israel, where he reiterated support for the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, even as the conflict in Gaza continues to draw global criticism over civilian casualties.“The unease is compounded by the timing,” she wrote, noting that PM Modi had returned from Israel barely 48 hours before the assassination. She described India’s stance as a “high-profile political endorsement without moral clarity,” particularly when several countries in the Global South and BRICS partners such as Russia and China have maintained distance.Gandhi further demanded a discussion in Parliament during the second half of the Budget Session on what she termed the government’s “disturbing silence.”On Saturday, US and Israeli forces carried out coordinated airstrikes across multiple Iranian cities, targeting military command centres, air-defence systems, missile sites and other strategic infrastructure. The strikes reportedly resulted in the death of Ayatollah Khamenei and four senior Iranian military and security officials, with large explosions reported in Tehran and other cities.In retaliation, Iran launched ballistic missiles and drones targeting US assets and allied nations in the region, including Israel, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. The developments have significantly escalated tensions in the Middle East, raising concerns for regional stability and civilian safety.

In a development that has grabbed global attention, fourteen Pakistan men’s cricketers have been named in the 247-player longlist for this year’s The Hundred, amid the speculation that they might be overlooked due to geopolitical tensions.

Reports had suggested that the four Indian-owned franchises — MI London, Sunrisers Leeds, Manchester Super Giants and Southern Brave — could avoid selecting Pakistan players. However, the longlist announcement has somehow countered those claims, with Pakistan boasting the highest number of overseas representatives in the top 50 ‘hero’ players — one more than South Africa.

Adding another layer of intrigue, this year’s tournament will overlap with a Pakistan Test series, potentially creating selection and availability challenges for the players involved.

Haris Rauf among marquee international names

Leading the charge is express pacer Haris Rauf, who has been included in the prestigious ‘Marquee Players International’ category. Rauf carries the maximum reserve price of £100,000, placing him alongside some of world cricket’s biggest T20 stars.

The marquee international list also features Aiden Markram, David Miller, Daryl Mitchell and Sunil Narine. Rauf’s inclusion underlines his growing reputation as a high-impact T20 bowler capable of shifting momentum in a matter of overs.

Players had to submit themselves for auction consideration, after which the eight franchises provided 75–100 nominations each. The final longlist was then curated from those submissions.

Shaheen Afridi, Shadab Khan lead tier one category

Among the elite ‘hero’ categories, Pakistan pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi, all-rounder Shadab Khan and spinner Usman Tariq have been placed in Tier One — a reflection of their T20 pedigree and international experience.

Tier Two includes dynamic all-rounder Saim Ayub and mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed. Interestingly, Ayub has opted for the top reserve price bracket despite being listed in Tier Two, signalling confidence in his market value.

The first 30 names on the men’s longlist also feature prominent English stars such as Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root and Adil Rashid, along with international T20 specialists like Quinton de Kock and Finn Allen.

The men’s auction is scheduled to take place on March 12 in Piccadilly, London, where franchises will strategically assemble their squads. With political undercurrents, scheduling clashes and high reserve prices in play, this year’s auction promises drama even before a ball is bowled.

Also READ: Former Pakistan cricketers react after Men in Green knocked out of T20 World Cup 2026

Men’s Hundred longlist – first 30 players

• Marquee domestic: Jonny Bairstow, Adil Rashid, James Vince, Jordan Cox, Joe Root
• Marquee international: Aiden Markram, David Miller, Sunil Narine, Haris Rauf, Daryl Mitchell
• Tier 1 batters: Finn Allen, Quinton De Kock, Ryan Rickelton, Tim Seifert, Zak Crawley
• Tier 1 fast bowlers: Shaheen Shah Afridi, Josh Tongue, Luke Wood, Sonny Baker, Saqib Mahmood
• Tier 1 allrounders: Tom Curran, Shadab Khan, Azmatullah Omarzai, David Willey, Gus Atkinson
• Tier 1 spin bowlers: Akeal Hosein, AM Ghazanfar, Rishad Hossain, Usman Tariq, Jafer Chohan

Also READ: ‘Group of players will speak up’: Moeen Ali issues stark warning of backlash over Pakistan snub from The Hundred 2026

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File picture of Neeraj Phogat (PTI Photo)

NEW DELHI: The Boxing Federation of India’s (BFI) selection criteria to pick the national team for the forthcoming Asian Championships in Ulaanbaatar on Monday ran into a controversy after two leading female boxers, Neeraj Phogat and Jyoti Gulia, alleged favouritism and manipulation of results in the selection of the 20-member contingent for the continental meet, scheduled from March 28 to April 11 in the Mongolian capital. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!As per the BFI’s policy, the finalists at the Asian meet in approved weight categories will be selected as India’s direct entries for the Glasgow CWG and Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, to be held later this year. Both Neeraj and Jyoti missed out on selection for the Ulaanbaatar meet after failing a month-long evaluation test conducted by the BFI. The federation discontinued the practice of holding an open selection trial for boxers, as had been the norm, and instead introduced a performance-based assessment process, where the BFI officials and coaches have a final say. Former Youth World champion Jyoti finished third in rankings behind Nikhat Zareen and Nitu Ghanghas in the 51kg category. World Boxing Cup (WBC) Finals’ bronze winner Neeraj lost her place in the national camp after finishing outside the ranking bracket in her 65kg weight division. The four boxers selected in her weight class were Ankushita Boro, Sneha, Pranjal Yadav and Kajal. “While certain procedures may appear compliant with BFI guidelines on paper, in practice, there is evident favouritism, manipulation, and misuse of authority. Policies are being drafted and implemented in a manner that disproportionately benefits certain preferred boxers, particularly from the Services team, thereby compromising transparency and fairness in the selection process,” Neeraj wrote in her complaint to SAI director general (DG) Hari Ranjan Rao. “I request your office to order a thorough and impartial inquiry into the above-mentioned irregularities; constitute a high-level independent committee to investigate the selection procedures and review and revoke the current evaluation process and reinstate transparent open trials,” she added. Jyoti, too, wrote a mail to Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) CEO, N S Johal, and requested a review of assessment and trial bouts while alleging favouritism. “During the competition trials, I convincingly outperformed my opponents with a clear margin (approximately 15–20 points), which can be objectively verified through the official video recordings. Despite these performances, I was placed at Rank 3 in my weight category. This outcome has caused me serious concern, as it does not appear to reflect the performance demonstrated during both the assessment tests and the trial bouts. In the interest of fairness and justice, I request a thorough and impartial review of my trial videos, assessment scores, and evaluation criteria applied in my case,” she said.

Asian stocks plunged on Tuesday as investors reacted to the ongoing tensions in Iran and its potential impact of regional energy supplies. In Hong Kong, HSI was down 74 points or 0.29% to 25,985. South Korea’s Kospi index also opened sharply lower after Monday’s holiday, plunging 4.88% to 5,939.Shanghai and Shenzhen also fell 0.07% and 1.05% respectively. Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 2.4% or 1,427 points, landing at 56,629 by 10:10 am. Analysts noted that Japan, which relies heavily on oil and natural gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, could face supply challenges. However, the country’s stockpile of over 200 days of energy means the immediate threat remains limited. Japanese energy shares were hit particularly hard, with Eneos Corp. falling nearly 6% and Idemitsu Kosan down almost 4%. Defence stocks, which had recently gained on expectations of increased spending under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, retreated, with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries down 5% and IHI losing 4%. Oil prices continued to climb amid concerns over supply disruptions. Benchmark US crude rose 77 cents to $72.00 a barrel, while Brent crude added $1.10 to $78.84 a barrel. Both contracts remain higher than pre-conflict levels despite Monday’s fluctuations. On Wall Street trading, airline stocks were among the hardest hit, pressured by rising fuel costs and regional travel disruptions. In Asia, ANA shares fell 2.4%, Japan Airlines dropped 5.2%, Korean Air lost 8.9%, and Qantas Airways declined 2.9%. On Monday, the S&P 500 fluctuated but ended nearly unchanged at 6,881.62. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1% to 48,904.78, while the Nasdaq rose 0.4% to 22,748.86. Gold climbed 1.2% as investors sought safer assets, while US officials reassured markets that the conflict is unlikely to be prolonged. Rising oil prices boosted energy stocks, with Exxon Mobil up 1.1% and Marathon Petroleum rising 5.9%. Defence contractors also strengthened: Northrop Grumman climbed 5.9%, RTX gained 4.7%, and Palantir Technologies rose 5.8%. Nvidia led Big Tech gains with a 2.9% increase. In the bond market, the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.04% from 3.97%, aided by stronger-than-expected US manufacturing data. In currencies, the US dollar slipped to 157.32 yen from 157.47 yen, while the euro inched up to $1.1693 from $1.1690.

Amazon acknowledged late Monday, March 3, that two of its data centers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and a facility in Bahrain were damaged by drone strikes, taking the facilities offline. Amazon Web Services (AWS) update at 7:19 p.m. EST said that the outages were caused by drone strikes tied to the “ongoing conflict in the Middle East.” AWS said, “In the UAE, two of our facilities were directly struck, while in Bahrain, a drone strike in close proximity to one of our facilities caused physical impacts to our infrastructure.” It added, “These strikes have caused structural damage, disrupted power delivery to our infrastructure, and in some cases required fire suppression activities that resulted in additional water damage.”The company warned that instability is likely to continue in the Middle East, making operations “unpredictable.” AWS added notices to the top of its marketplaces in Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and the UAE alerting customers of an “extended delivery time in your area.”The incident occurred March 1 morning, with the company posting to its Amazon Web Services health dashboard at the time that “objects” hit data centers in the UAE, causing “sparks and fire”. In an update to its AWS health dashboard, the company said that two facilities in the United Arab Emirates were “directly struck” by drones on Sunday, causing extensive damage. A site in Bahrain was damaged due to a drone strike that occurred nearby.

Operational issue – Multiple services (UAE); Services impacted: Multiple services; Severity: Disrupted

Mar 02 4:19 PM PST: We are providing an update on the ongoing service disruptions affecting the AWS Middle East (UAE) Region (ME-CENTRAL-1) and the AWS Middle East (Bahrain) Region (ME-SOUTH-1). Due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, both affected regions have experienced physical impacts to infrastructure as a result of drone strikes. In the UAE, two of our facilities were directly struck, while in Bahrain, a drone strike in close proximity to one of our facilities caused physical impacts to our infrastructure. These strikes have caused structural damage, disrupted power delivery to our infrastructure, and in some cases required fire suppression activities that resulted in additional water damage. We are working closely with local authorities and prioritizing the safety of our personnel throughout our recovery efforts.In the ME-CENTRAL-1 (UAE) Region, two of our three Availability Zones (mec1-az2 and mec1-az3) remain significantly impaired. The third Availability Zone (mec1-az1) continues to operate normally, though some services have experienced indirect impact due to dependencies on the affected zones. In the ME-SOUTH-1 (Bahrain) Region, one facility has been impacted. Across both regions, customers are experiencing elevated error rates and degraded availability for services including Amazon EC2, Amazon S3, Amazon DynamoDB, AWS Lambda, Amazon Kinesis, Amazon CloudWatch, Amazon RDS, and the AWS Management Console and CLI. We are working to restore full service availability as quickly as possible, though we expect recovery to be prolonged given the nature of the physical damage involved.In parallel with efforts to restore the physical infrastructure at the affected sites, we are pursuing multiple software-based recovery paths that do not depend on the underlying facilities being fully brought back online. For Amazon S3 and Amazon DynamoDB, we are actively working to restore data access and service availability through software mitigations, including deploying updates to enable S3 to operate within the current infrastructure constraints and remediating impaired DynamoDB tables to restore read and write availability for dependent services. Our focus on restoring these foundational services is deliberate, as recovery of Amazon S3 and Amazon DynamoDB will in turn enable a broad range of dependent AWS services to recover. For other affected service APIs, we are deploying targeted software updates to reduce error rates and restore functionality where possible, independent of the physical recovery timeline. We are also working to restore access to the AWS Management Console and CLI through network-level changes that route traffic away from the affected infrastructure. While these software-based mitigations can address many of the service-level impacts, some recovery actions are constrained by the physical state of the affected facilities — meaning that full restoration of certain services will require the underlying infrastructure to be repaired and brought back online. Across all services, our teams are working in parallel on both the physical restoration of the affected facilities and these software-based mitigations, with the goal of restoring as much customer access as possible as quickly as possible, even ahead of full infrastructure recovery. In addition, we are prioritizing the restoration of services and tools that enable customers to back up and migrate their data and applications out of the affected regions.Finally, even as we work to restore these facilities, the ongoing conflict in the region means that the broader operating environment in the Middle East remains unpredictable. We recommend that customers with workloads running in the Middle East consider taking action now to backup data and potentially migrate your workloads to alternate AWS Regions. We recommend customers exercise their disaster recovery plans, recover from remote backups stored in other regions, and update their applications to direct traffic away from the affected regions. For customers requiring guidance on alternate regions, we recommend considering AWS Regions in the United States, Europe, or Asia Pacific, as appropriate for your latency and data residency requirements.We will continue to provide updates as recovery progresses and as the situation evolves. Our next update will be provided by 9:00 PM PST on March 2, 2026, or sooner if new information becomes available.Mar 02 1:36 PM PST: We continue to work towards recovery of the two impaired Availability Zones (mec1-az2 and mec1-az3) in the ME-CENTRAL-1 Region. We have partially restored access to the AWS Management Console, however, some pages will continue to load unsuccessfully until we have recovered core services and power. In parallel to the power and recovery efforts, we are working to restore access to tools and utilities to allow customers to backup and migrate their data. We have no updated guidance on expected recovery times, and still expect this to take at least a day to fully restore power and connectivity. We continue advising customers enact their disaster recovery plans and recover from remote backups into alternate AWS Regions. We will provide you with another update by 6:00 PM PST, or sooner if new information becomes available.Mar 02 9:59 AM PST: We continue to work towards recovery of the two impaired Availability Zones (mec1-az2 and mec1-az3) in the ME-CENTRAL-1 Region. The impact is causing elevated errors rates for both the Management Console and CLI. Our current expectation is that recovery will take at least a day to complete. We continue to recommend customers enact their disaster recovery plans and recover from remote backups into alternate AWS Regions. We will continue to provide periodic updates on recovery efforts. Our next update will be by 2:00 PM PST or sooner if new information becomes available.Mar 02 6:22 AM PST: We continue to work towards recovery of the two impaired Availability Zones (mec1-az2 and mec1-az3) in the ME-CENTRAL-1 Region. We are expecting recovery to take at least a day, as it requires repair of facilities, cooling and power systems, coordination with local authorities, and careful assessment to ensure the safety of our operators. EC2, Amazon DynamoDB and other AWS Services continue to experience significant error rates and elevated latencies.We recommend customers enact their disaster recovery plans and recover from remote backups into alternate AWS Regions, ideally in Europe. Further, we strongly advise customers to update their applications to ingest S3 data to an alternate AWS Region. We will provide an update by 11:00 AM PST on March 2, or sooner if we have additional information to share.Mar 02 2:53 AM PST We wanted to provide more information on Amazon S3 given that there are two impaired Availability Zones (mec1-az2 and mec1-az3) in the ME-CENTRAL-1 Region. Amazon S3 is a regional service and designed to withstand the total loss of a single Availability Zone while maintaining S3’s durability and availability. When the mec1-az2 AZ was powered off at approximately 4:00 AM PST on Sunday, March 1, S3 continued to operate normally. As the second AZ became impaired, S3 error rates increased. With two Availability Zones significantly impacted, customers are seeing high failure rates for data ingest and egress. We strongly advise customers to update their applications to ingest S3 data to an alternate AWS Region. As soon as practically possible, we will begin the restoration of our two Availability Zones which will include a careful assessment of data health and any repair of storage if necessary.In addition, we can confirm that the AWS Management Console and command line interface (CLI) are disrupted by the failure of two Availability Zones. We continue to work towards recovery across all services, and we will provide an update by 6:00 AM PST on March 2, or sooner if we have additional information to share.Mar 02 12:52 AM PST: We continue to work on a localized power issue affecting multiple Availability Zones in the ME-CENTRAL-1 Region (mec1-az2 and mec1-az3). Customers are experiencing increased EC2 API errors and instance launch failures across the region, and it is not currently possible to launch new instances; existing instances in mec1-az1 should not be affected. Amazon DynamoDB and Amazon S3 are also experiencing significant error rates and elevated latencies. We are actively working to restore power and connectivity, after which we will begin recovery of affected resources; full recovery is still expected to be many hours away. We recommend that affected customers failover, and backup any critical data, to another AWS Region. We will provide an update by 2:00 AM PST, or sooner if the situation changes.Mar 01 10:46 PM PST: We can confirm that a localized power issue has affected another Availability Zone in the ME-CENTRAL-1 Region (mec1-az3). Customers are also experiencing increased EC2 APIs and instance launch errors for the remaining zone (mec1-az1). At this point it is not possible to launch new instances in the region, although existing instances should not be affected in mec1-az1. Other AWS Services, such as DynamoDB and S3 are also experiencing significant error rates and latencies. We are actively working to restore power and connectivity, at which time we will begin to work to recover affected resources. As of this time, we expect recovery is multiple hours away. For customers that can, we recommend failing away to another AWS Region at this time. We will provide an update by 12:00 AM PST, or sooner if we have additional information to share.Mar 01 9:59 PM PST: We are investigating additional connectivity issues and error rates in the ME-CENTRAL-1 Region.Mar 01 6:01 PM PST We confirm the recovery of the AssociateAddress API requests. We have also applied a change that enables customers to disassociate Elastic IP addresses from resources that are impacted by the underlying power issue. With these mitigations, customers can now successfully create and associate new network addresses in the unaffected AZs as well as re-associate Elastic IPs from resources in the affected zone to resources in the unaffected zones. We still do not have an ETA for power restoration at this time. For customers that can, we recommend using alternate Availability Zones or other AWS Regions where applicable. We will provide another update by 10:00 PM, or sooner if we have additional information to share.Mar 01 4:26 PM PST: We are seeing significant signs of recovery for AssociateAddress requests, and continue to work toward fully mitigating this issue. This combined with the earlier recovery of the AllocateAddress API means customers can now successfully create and associate new network addresses in the unaffected AZs. Other AWS Services are also now observing sustained improvement as a result of the EC2 Networking APIs recovery. We are now focusing on implementing a change that will allow customers to Disassociate Elastic IP addresses from resources that are impacted by the underlying power issue. We expect this specific mitigation to take another hour to complete. We do not have an ETA for power restoration at this time. For customers that can, we recommend using alternate Availability Zones or other AWS Regions where applicable. We will provide another update by 6:30 PM, or sooner if we have additional information to share.Mar 01 2:28 PM PST: We are seeing positive signs of recovery for many of the EC2 APIs, such as Describes and AllocateAddress. We recognize that customers are still experiencing errors when attempting to call the AssociateAddress API, and are unable to disassociate addresses from resources that are affected by the underlying power issue. We continue to work on multiple parallel paths to mitigate both of these issues. We recommend continuing to retry requests wherever possible. We expect our current mitigation efforts for these specific issues to complete within the the two to three hours. As we progress with these mitigation efforts, customers will observe higher success rates for these operations. Additionally, we are investigating ways to speed up these specific mitigation efforts, but are ensuring we do so safely. As of this time, power restoration is still several hours away. We will provide another update by 5:30 PM PST, or sooner if we have additional information to share.Mar 01 12:14 PM PST: We are aware that some customers are experiencing errors when calling EC2 APIs, specifically networking related APIs (AllocateAddress, AssociateAddress, DescribeRouteTable, DescribeNetworkInterfaces). We are actively working on multiple paths to mitigate these issues. For customers experiencing throttling errors on the AllocateAddress APIs, we recommend retrying any failed API requests. We are deploying a configuration change to mitigate the AssociateAddress API errors and expect recovery in the next few hours. DescribeRouteTable and DescribeNetworkInterfaces API calls without specifying zone, Interface or Instance IDs are expected to fail until we restore the impacted zone. We recommend customers to pass these IDs explicitly in these API requests. For customers that can, we recommend considering using alternate AWS Regions. We will provide another update by 3:30 PM PST, or sooner if we have more to share.Mar 01 9:41 AM PST: We want to provide some additional information on the power issue in a single Availability Zone in the ME-CENTRAL-1 Region. At around 4:30 AM PST, one of our Availability Zones (mec1-az2) was impacted by objects that struck the data center, creating sparks and fire. The fire department shut off power to the facility and generators as they worked to put out the fire. We are still awaiting permission to turn the power back on, and once we have, we will ensure we restore power and connectivity safely. It will take several hours to restore connectivity to the impacted AZ. The other AZs in the region are functioning normally. Customers who were running their applications redundantly across the AZs are not impacted by this event. EC2 Instance launches will continue to be impaired in the impacted AZ. We recommend that customers continue to retry any failed API requests. If immediate recovery of an affected resource (EC2 Instance, EBS Volume, RDS DB Instance, etc.) is required, we recommend restoring from your most recent backup, by launching replacement resources in one of the unaffected zones, or an alternate AWS Region. We will provide an update by 12:30 PM PST, or sooner if we have additional information to share.Mar 01 8:59 AM PST: We continue to work toward restoring power in the affected Availability Zone in the ME-CENTRAL-1 Region (mec1-az2). In parallel, we are actively working on improving error rates and latencies that some customers are observing for EC2 Networking and EC2 Describe APIs. Due to increased demand in the unaffected Availability Zones, customers may experience longer than usual provisioning times or may need to retry requests for certain instance types, or pick an alternative instance type. We will provide an update by 10:30 AM PST, or sooner if we have additional information to share.Mar 01 7:09 AM PST: We wanted to provide some additional information on the isolated power issue. At this time, most AWS Services have weighted away from the affected Availability Zone (mec1-az2) and are seeing recovery for their affected operations and workflows. For EC2 Instances, EBS Volumes, and other resources that are impacted in the affected Zone, we will have a longer tail of recovery. At this time, power has not yet been restored to the affected AZ. For now, we recommend continuing to retry any failed API requests. If immediate recovery is required, we recommend customers restore from EBS Snapshots and/or replace affected resources by launching replacement resources in one of the unaffected zones, or an alternate region. As of this time, recovery is still several hours away. We will provide an update by 8:30 AM PST, or sooner if we have additional information to share.Mar 01 6:09 AM PST: We can confirm that a localized power issue has affected a single Availability Zone in the ME-CENTRAL-1 Region (mec1-az2). EC2 Instances, DB Instances, EBS Volumes, and others resources are currently unavailable and will experience connectivity issues at this time. Other AWS Services are also experiencing error rates and latencies for some workflows. We have weighed away traffic for most services at this time. We recommend customers utilize one of the other Availability Zones in the ME-CENTRAL-1 Region at this time, as existing instances in other AZ’s remain unaffected by this issue. We are actively working to restore power and connectivity, at which time we will begin to work to recover affected resources. As of this time, we expect recovery is multiple hours away. We will provide an update by 7:15 AM PST, or sooner if we have additional information to share.Mar 01 5:19 AM PST: We are investigating connectivity and power issues affecting APIs and instances in a single Availability Zone (mec1-az2) in the ME-CENTRAL-1 Region due to a localized power issue. Existing instances in this zone will also be affected. Other AWS Services may also be experiencing increased errors and latencies for their workflows, and we are working to route requests away from this affected Availability Zone. We recommend customers make use of other Availability Zones at this time. Targeting new launches using RunInstances in the remaining AZs should succeed. Existing instances in the other AZs are not affected.Mar 01 4:51 AM PST: We are investigating issues with AWS services in the ME-CENTRAL-1 Region.