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How Iran’s Hormuz blockade chokes global trade beyond oil and gas

How Iran’s Hormuz blockade chokes global trade beyond oil and gas

RFE/RL reports: When an Indian tanker carrying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) passed through the Strait of Hormuz recently, its progress was followed by excited live TV news coverage. “Its position was received eight minutes ago. It’s currently at 12.5 knots and is moving at 154 degrees. It’s reported ETA in India is at 9.30 p.m. tomorrow,” reported one journalist, providing running commentary while following a tracker app. Later, videos showed the ship with a military escort from the Indian Navy…

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The war you’re not allowed to see: How the UAE rewrites the story of Iranian strikes

The war you’re not allowed to see: How the UAE rewrites the story of Iranian strikes

Sebastian Vandermeersch reports: Bellingcat has identified several high-profile incidents where authorities in the United Arab Emirates have downplayed damage, mischaracterised interceptions and in some instances not acknowledged successful Iranian drone strikes on the country. A review of official statements shows that the public account does not always align with what can be observed through open sources. This comes as the UAE faces sustained aerial attacks on civilian and economic infrastructure, challenging its image as a secure global hub for business…

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Trump’s purge might be just beginning

Trump’s purge might be just beginning

Ashley Parker and Sarah Fitzpatrick write: After Pam Bondi’s ouster today, which followed Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s firing last month, Cabinet secretaries and other senior administration officials were anxiously eyeing their phones, wondering whether they’d be next. One top official didn’t have to wait long: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth removed the chief of staff of the Army, General Randy George. Several people familiar with the White House’s plans told us that there are active discussions about others…

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Unmasking the paramilitary agents behind Trump’s violent immigration crackdown

Unmasking the paramilitary agents behind Trump’s violent immigration crackdown

Wired reports: In the early morning last September 30, hundreds of federal agents swarmed the South Shore Apartments, a beige brick building on Chicago’s South Side. As feds in body armor rappelled down from a Black Hawk helicopter overhead, others crashed through the building’s doors with battering rams, rounding up residents at gunpoint. A group of burly, masked agents wearing helmets and bulletproof vests, and toting suppressor-equipped M4 rifles, moved through the hallways in a rapid, tightly organized file. Padraic…

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Why we went looking for national defense areas along the U.S. southern border

Why we went looking for national defense areas along the U.S. southern border

By Agnel Philip This story was originally published by ProPublica Our reporting started, like much of our work, in a spreadsheet. As I parsed through federal court data, I noticed something odd: Within months of President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, prosecutors began filing obscure charges related to trespassing on military property — so many, in fact, that more cases were filed in 2025 than in the prior decade. Nearly all of these charges originated from cases along the…

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Scientists have found an alarming environmental impact of vast data centers

Scientists have found an alarming environmental impact of vast data centers

CNN reports: The vast data centers that power artificial intelligence guzzle huge amounts of energy but they also have another alarming impact, according to new research. They are creating “heat islands,” warming the land around them by up to 16 degrees Fahrenheit, and making life hotter for more than 340 million people. There are still big gaps in our understanding of the impacts of data centers, even as they boom in number, said Andrea Marinoni, associate professor with the Earth…

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As public anger rises, even TMZ is channeling the national discontent

As public anger rises, even TMZ is channeling the national discontent

Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Russell Berman write: For a brief moment last week, Congress started to do something productive. The Senate, after weeks of bickering and fruitless negotiations, unanimously approved legislation to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, taking a small but meaningful step toward resolving one of the many crises that have sprung up like targets in a game of whack-a-mole during President Trump’s second term. All that stood between tens of thousands of federal employees and…

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Rubio co-sponsored law that blocks Trump from pulling out of NATO

Rubio co-sponsored law that blocks Trump from pulling out of NATO

Bloomberg reports: President Donald Trump’s threat to exit NATO as retaliation for the bloc’s failure to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz faces a major obstacle — one that comes from his very own Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. Rubio as a Republican senator from Florida sponsored bipartisan legislation that bars presidents from unilaterally withdrawing the US from the security alliance without the approval of Congress. The measure, co-sponsored with Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, was included in the…

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Top Gulf aluminum producer EGA halted smelter after Iran strike

Top Gulf aluminum producer EGA halted smelter after Iran strike

Bloomberg reports: Emirates Global Aluminium, the Middle East’s top producer of the metal, halted operations at its Al Taweelah smelter after the site was struck by Iranian missiles and drones over the weekend, according to a person familiar with the matter. The smelter on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi lost power due to the strikes and smelting facilities known as potlines were forced into an uncontrolled shutdown, said the person, who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t…

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UAE wants to force Strait of Hormuz open and is willing to join the fight

UAE wants to force Strait of Hormuz open and is willing to join the fight

The Wall Street Journal reports: The United Arab Emirates is preparing to help the U.S. and other allies open the Strait of Hormuz by force, Arab officials said, a move that would make it the first Persian Gulf country to become a combatant, after being hit by Iranian attacks. The U.A.E. is lobbying for a United Nations Security Council resolution that would authorize such action, the officials said. Emirati diplomats have urged the U.S. and military powers in Europe and…

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Angered by SCOTUS, Trump brands U.S. as ‘STUPID’ for allowing birthright citizenship

Angered by SCOTUS, Trump brands U.S. as ‘STUPID’ for allowing birthright citizenship

The Daily Beast reports: Donald Trump abruptly exited the Supreme Court on Wednesday after some of his own conservative justices did not appear convinced by his bid to upend birthright citizenship in America. Trump made the unprecedented decision to sit in on oral arguments, staring down the court’s nine justices as they quizzed his lawyers on one of the most consequential constitutional questions they face this year: whether all children born in the United States can continue to automatically receive…

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Border Patrol chief Michael Banks hit with prostitution allegations by agents

Border Patrol chief Michael Banks hit with prostitution allegations by agents

Washington Examiner reports: The national chief of the Border Patrol, Michael Banks, was known among colleagues for taking regular trips abroad to engage in sex with prostitutes, according to six current and former Border Patrol employees who spoke with the Washington Examiner. Banks “bragged” to colleagues while in his previous management role at Border Patrol about paying for sex with prostitutes while traveling in Colombia and Thailand over the course of a decade. Banks’ behavior was said to have been…

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The new era of militia influencers

The new era of militia influencers

Wired reports: Just over a week into the US and Israel’s war with Iran, Eric Roscher, an Air Force veteran, published a YouTube video on what he describes as the “very real concerns surrounding sleeper cells and terrorist threats” in the US. The video, titled “Credible DOMESTIC Threat? FBI warns of attack—Drills/Considerations for the Prepared Citizen,” was produced by Roscher’s Florida-based company Barrel and Hatchet, which runs military-style training, sells branded merchandise and tactical gear, and produces online content. In…

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Iran threatens to start attacking major U.S. technology firms on April 1

Iran threatens to start attacking major U.S. technology firms on April 1

Wired reports: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned Tuesday that it plans to begin attacking more than a dozen American companies across the Middle East on Wednesday in retaliation for the killing of Iranian citizens in the ongoing war with the US and Israel. The list of companies includes Apple, Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Tesla, and Boeing, which the IRGC accused of enabling United States military targeting operations. The IRGC urged employees of the US firms to evacuate and civilians…

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