Top news of the day: March 8, 2026

Iran body selecting Supreme Leader reaches decision; name not announced: members

Iran was preparing to reveal its new supreme leader on Sunday (March 8, 2026), after U.S.-Israeli air strikes destroyed fuel dumps and triggered fires that choked much of Tehran in a thick blanket of smoke. The clerical body tasked with choosing a successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — killed just over a week ago in the strikes that triggered the war in West Asia — has reached a decision but not yet named the new leader. The Israeli military also warned it would pursue every ‌person who seeks ​to appoint a successor ⁠for Khamenei, referring to the clerical body ‌charged with choosing the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader. Meanwhile, the U.S. and Israel hit five oil facilities with overnight strikes in and near the Iranian capital that killed four people, an official told state TV on Sunday (March 8, 2026).

PM Modi vows to defeat Trinamool’s ‘arrogant’ politics after ‘insult’ to President

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit out at the Trinamool Congress, saying the party “insulted the President, the Constitution and democratic principles.” He said the “arrogant politics” of the Trinamool Congress will soon be defeated. Amid a row over “lapses” at President Droupadi Murmu’s event in West Bengal, the Centre has sought a response from the State Government on Sunday (March 8, 2026) over the “violations” of the rules related to protocol, venue and route arrangements during her visit, sources said. In his letter to the West Bengal Chief Secretary, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan sought a report from him over violation of the ‘Blue Book’ rules of protocol, venue and route arrangements, a government source said.

Nishant Kumar, son of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, officially joins JD(U)

Nishant Kumar, son of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, on Sunday (March 8, 2026) officially joined the ruling Janata Dal-United at party headquarters in Patna. All top party leaders were present on the occasion, though his father, Mr. Nitish Kumar, was conspicuously absent. “I’ll try to take forward what my papa (Mr. Nitish Kumar) has done for the people of Bihar… will try to take it (the developmental works) to the people of Bihar,” Nishant Kumar, 50, said on the occasion of his joining the party.

My resignation as Bengal Governor ‘a conscious decision’: Ananda Bose

CV Ananda Bose on Sunday (March 8, 2026) said his resignation as West Bengal Governor was a “conscious decision” and asserted that the reasons for it will remain confidential till the right time comes. Speaking to reporters at the Kolkata airport, Mr. Bose said he would return to Bengal to cast his vote. “I took a conscious decision to put in my papers, the reasons for which will remain confidential till the right time arrives,” Mr. Bose said. “The rules of this game include knowing when it ends,” he added.

PM Modi inaugurates two new Delhi Metro corridors

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (March 8, 2026) inaugurated two new Delhi Metro corridors and laid the foundation stone for three more metro lines, providing direct connectivity to several important locations in New Delhi. He also inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of projects worth ₹15,200 crore under the central government’s General Pool Residential Accommodation (GPRA) redevelopment plan. The total cost of all projects is around ₹33,500 crore.

BJP misusing ‘Vanish Commission’ to erase legitimate voters from electoral rolls, alleges Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s sit-in against alleged arbitrary deletions in the post-SIR voter list entered the third day on Sunday (March 8, 2026), with the TMC supremo accusing the BJP of “misusing the Vanish Commission to erase legitimate voters from electoral rolls”. Her comment comes on a day when the full bench of the Election Commission is scheduled to arrive in Kolkata to review poll preparedness ahead of the State Assembly elections. Ms. Banerjee also alleged that the country is witnessing an “unprecedented and direct assault” on its democratic foundations.

Balendra Shah’s RSP makes history, registers landmark victory in Nepal election

Rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah’s RSP is all set to form the government in Nepal after securing a sweeping victory in the crucial general election, the results of which were declared on Sunday (March 8, 2026), decimating the established parties in the country. Popularly known as “Balen”, the 35-year-old prime-ministerial candidate of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) defeated four-time former Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, the chair of Nepal’s legacy party — the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML) — by a huge margin of about 50,000 votes in the Jhapa-5 constituency. Mr. Balen secured 68,348 votes against 74-year-old Oli’s 18,734, the Election Commission (EC) said.

Sri Lanka hospital releases 22 rescued Iranian sailors

Sri Lanka discharged from hospital 22 Iranian sailors who were plucked from life rafts after their warship was sunk by a U.S. submarine, officials said on Sunday (March 8, 2026). The sailors were treated at Karapitiya Hospital in the southern port city of Galle since Wednesday (March 4, 2026) after the IRIS Dena was torpedoed just outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters. “Another 10 are still undergoing treatment,” a medical officer at the hospital told AFP.

Families of flight MH370 passengers urge Malaysia to extend search

Families of those aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 on Sunday (March 8, 2026) urged the Malaysian government to ​extend a contract it signed with deep-sea exploration firm Ocean ‌Infinity to continue a search for the aircraft that ​disappeared 12 years ago. The Boeing 777 was ⁠carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew when it vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, becoming one ‌of the world’s enduring aviation mysteries. Malaysia’s Air Accident ‌Investigation Bureau said on Sunday (March 8, 2026), however, that operations had not yielded any findings so far, after two search phases covering 28 days and around 7,571 square kilometres (2,923 square ‌miles) of seabed.