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Immediately’s prime tales
A wave of assaults from Iran at this time has hit the world’s largest liquefied pure fuel complicated in Qatar. Iran additionally focused a fuel discipline and facility within the United Arab Emirates and fired missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia. The assaults come after Israel bombed Iran’s South Pars fuel discipline yesterday. Power costs surged instantly, driving oil as much as round $110 a barrel, which is about $40 greater than earlier than the battle started. President Trump stated on social media late yesterday that Israel acted independently when it struck the fuel discipline in Iran.
US President Donald Trump walks to the Oval Workplace on the White Home in Washington, DC, as he returns from Dover Air Drive Base in Delaware after attending a dignified switch solemn occasion on March 18, 2026.
Oliver Contreras/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
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Oliver Contreras/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
- 🎧 Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claims a brand new stage within the struggle is underway following Israel’s assault. Arab Gulf states warn that Israel’s actions jeopardize world power safety and escalate tensions. The Guard stated that if an assault like this occurs once more, it will strike regional power infrastructure till “it’s completely destroyed.” Iran’s assault on Qatar has set again the nation’s potential to renew fuel manufacturing after the struggle ends. International locations like China and India depend on this fuel, and that is already disrupting fertilizer and plastic manufacturing, NPR’s Aya Batrawy tells Up First. The ache that Iran’s counterattacks are inflicting on nations world wide might improve stress to finish the battle, Batrawy says.
- ➡️ Low cost drones are revolutionizing fashionable warfare. The shift has been unfolding for a number of years, nevertheless it’s now taking middle stage within the skies over the Center East as Trump’s struggle with Iran enters its third week. The speedy rise of drone use is catching the U.S. off guard. Eliminating these threats will be financially burdensome, permitting Iran to escalate the battle’s prices for the U.S.
Cesar Chavez, the famend union chief and advocate for farmworker rights, has been accused of sexually abusing two women within the Nineteen Seventies and assaulting Dolores Huerta, his United Farm Employees co-founder, within the Nineteen Sixties. These revelations emerged from an investigation printed by the New York Occasions. Within the report, two ladies alleged that Chavez started grooming and abusing them throughout his time as UFW president. One lady stated he raped her in a motel room when she was 15 and Chavez was 47. One other lady shared with the Occasions that she was solely 13 when Chavez started groping her in his workplace on the union’s headquarters. Huerta accused Chavez of pressuring her into intercourse and later raping her. Each encounters led to pregnancies that she hid. After the youngsters had been born, she organized for different households to lift them.
- 🎧 Progressive Democrats face a problem as they stability Chavez’s legacy for Latinos and laborers whereas acknowledging the allegations towards him, says Michael Adkison of Houston Public Media. California Gov. Gavin Newsom says the motion Chavez has constructed is larger than one man. In the meantime, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has prohibited state businesses from observing Cesar Chavez Day, which the state has noticed since 1999. A number of cities in Texas have canceled their deliberate occasions for the vacation. Some cities, equivalent to Tucson, Ariz., are transferring ahead with their deliberate occasions, however below a distinct identify. Cities throughout the nation are actually weighing the destiny of streets and buildings named after Chavez.
The Federal Aviation Administration introduced yesterday that it’s tightening security guidelines in busy airspace round main airports. The company will droop the usage of visible separation between helicopters and planes. Visible separation is a process the place air visitors controllers warn pilots about close by plane and instruct them to keep away from different craft by visible commentary. The company’s resolution comes greater than a yr after the collision of a U.S. Military Black Hawk helicopter with an American Airways regional jet close to Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport, killing 67 folks. The FAA additionally recognized two latest shut calls that prompted this coverage change.
Deep dive
A Honda dealership is seen on March 12, 2026, in San Marcos, Texas. About 60% of the Honda automobiles bought within the U.S. final yr had been assembled in the USA, based on Honda, which implies they could possibly be eligible for a brand new tax provision permitting patrons to deduct the curiosity paid on their auto loans.
Brandon Bell/Getty Photographs
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Brandon Bell/Getty Photographs
Taxpayers who bought a brand new car in 2025 might qualify for a brand new deduction this submitting season. It comes from the One Huge Stunning Invoice Act, which additionally removes taxes on suggestions and time beyond regulation for qualifying staff, however eliminates the tax credit score for electrical car purchases. Here is what you must know:
- 🚘 The deduction solely works on new automobiles bought after Dec. 31, 2024. When you bought a used automobile, you’re out of luck.
- 🚘 To qualify, the car’s ultimate meeting course of should have occurred within the U.S. You’ll be able to decide this along with your car identification quantity.
- 🚘 The car should be for private use and never for a enterprise goal.
- 🚘 Not like most tax deductions, this one is offered to taxpayers who take the usual deduction as a substitute of itemizing. This perk expands the quantity of people that can profit from it, based on Mark Gallegos, a tax associate at Porte Brown Wealth Administration.
Immediately’s hear
Adam Gopnik, writer and employees author for The New Yorker, joins pianist Lara Downes to discover the story of American music and its immigrant roots.
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This yr marks the 250th anniversary of the USA. Pianist Lara Downes is touring throughout the nation, capturing conversations about our historical past by music. Her newest cease is New York Metropolis, the place she met with Adam Gopnik, a employees author for The New Yorker who’s enthusiastic about American historical past and music. The 2 talk about and discover how immigrants have formed patriotic music. American music has showcased “new perspectives and sounds of everyone who comes here,” Downes says. Gopnik emphasizes that so long as the U.S. stays open to new voices, American music will proceed to evolve. Hearken to how immigrants have formed American music or learn extra about their dialog.
3 issues to know earlier than you go
2026 Iditarod Path Sled Canine Race champion Jessie Holmes arrives on the 1,000-mile race’s end line in Nome the night of Tuesday, March 17, 2026.
Gabby Hiestand Selgado/KYUK
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Gabby Hiestand Selgado/KYUK
- Jessie Holmes and his group of sled canine efficiently defended their Iditarod Path Sled Canine Race title this week, turning into the primary musher to perform the feat in a decade. (by way of Alaska Public Media)
- A brand new examine finds that Salganea taiwanensis, a wood-feeding cockroach, might pair bond, which is never seen in invertebrates. The bond means two organisms will spend an prolonged time collectively, whereas excluding others.
- This week, NPR’s Far-Flung Postcard collection takes readers to central Kenya, the place a bunch of grandmothers have shaped a soccer group to remain energetic and encourage a era of youngsters.
This article was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.
