https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/30/world/live-news/iran-war-us-israel-trump

Pressed on Trump’s threat, the White House press secretary said the US will follow the law.

Trump’s threat: President Donald Trump said the US may blow up and obliterate Iran’s electric plants and oil wells if a deal to end the war is not reached and the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened. Asked about Trump’s threat, the White House said the US military will follow the law.

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https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-conversion-therapy-colorado-92b34295f9ef497a4a1cbeb56c9b74c6
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against a law banning “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ+ kids in Colorado, one of about two dozen states that ban the discredited practice.

An 8-1 high court majority sided with a Christian counselor who argues the law banning talk therapy violates the First Amendment. The justices agreed that the law raises free speech concerns and sent it back to a lower court to decide if it meets a legal standard that few laws pass.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the court, said the law “censors speech based on viewpoint.” The First Amendment, he wrote, “stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country.”

In a solo dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that states should be free to regulate health care, even if that means incidental restrictions on speech. The decision, Jackson wrote, “opens a dangerous can of worms” that “threatens to impair states’ ability to regulate the provision of medical care in any respect.”

The decision is the latest in a line of recent cases in which the justices have backed claims of religious discrimination while taking a skeptical view of LGBTQ+ rights.

Counselor Kaley Chiles, with support from President Donald Trump’s Republican administration, said the law wrongly bars her from offering voluntary, faith-based therapy for kids.

Chiles contends her approach is different from “conversion therapy” practices from decades ago, like shock therapy. Her attorneys argued that the ban makes it hard for parents to find therapists willing to discuss gender identity with kids unless the counseling affirms transition.


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https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/israel-said-set-to-invite-us-to-move-some-middle-east-bases-to-country-and-establish-new-ones/

Israel is set to invite the United States to relocate some of its bases in the region to Israel — and to establish new bases in the country — after the current war is over, Channel 12 reports, citing unnamed security sources.

The security establishment sees an opportunity to “reshape the map” of US military positioning in the Middle East, the report says, given that US forces are already present here now and in light of evolving security challenges.

“We have proved our values of late as a central ally of the United States — one that provides not only stability, but also significant operational and intelligence capabilities,” the report quotes an Israeli source as saying. “American bases in Israel would create a strategic advantage for both sides.”

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https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/28/hasan-piker-democrats-midterms-2028-00849453

Hasan Piker’s new role as a midterm surrogate and potential influence on the 2028 presidential race is driving a wedge in the Democratic Party.

After POLITICO reported that Piker, the far left political streamer with millions of followers, will stump in Michigan with Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed next month, his history of divisive comments launched an avalanche of criticism from Republicans and Democrats.

Two of El-Sayed’s opponents, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and Rep. Haley Stevens, lambasted El-Sayed, with Stevens telling Jewish Insider “someone who’s campaigning with someone like that is not going to win in Michigan” and McMorrow saying Piker “says extremely offensive things in order to generate clicks and views and followers, which is not entirely different from somebody like Nick Fuentes,” comparing him to the antisemite nationalist influencer.

Piker’s rise as a Democratic influencer and surrogate coincides with the party’s long search for a path out of the wilderness, particularly in recapturing young men.

Piker is scheduled to appear on a livestreamed, “Choose Your Fighter” rally organized by Progressive Victory at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) is among the list of attendees. Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Planter was originally billed as a participant, but he pulled out of the event. (A person familiar told POLITICO that Platner’s planned appearance was a miscommunication.) And on Sunday, Piker will rally with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at a tax-the-rich rally.

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Oil prices have surged more than 40% since the start of the Iran conflict, but analysts say consumers may not have felt the full impact yet because higher crude costs typically take weeks to filter through to retail gasoline prices.

"More than likely there is more to come, because there’s usually a lag between crude prices and what consumers pay at the pump," said Phil Flynn, a FOX Business contributor and senior market analyst at Price Futures Group.

Michael Mische, a supply chain expert, also predicted the worst is not over, telling FOX Business, "There's more still to come."

The national average price for regular gasoline stood at roughly $3.98 per gallon, according to AAA, up about 6 cents from a week ago and nearly $1 higher than a month ago.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/oil-has-surged-since-iran-conflict-gas-prices-may-not-done-rising

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https://www.npr.org/2026/03/27/nx-s1-5763863/hegseth-soldiers-promotions
>Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth intervened to stop the promotions of several high-ranking service members including four Army officers, two Black men and two female soldiers, on track to become one-star generals, NPR has confirmed.
>NPR has also learned that a Black colonel and a female colonel from another branch of the military were taken off the promotion list, according to a U.S. official not authorized to speak publicly. This would bring the total to at least six promotions blocked by Hegseth.

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https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/army-veteran-faces-conspiracy-charges-after-participating-in-anti-ice-protest
>Some legal experts saw it as an escalation in efforts to suppress and criminalize First Amendment rights.
>Something's not right. And I went and I looked out the upstairs window. The street is all closed off and there's a bunch of guys with rifles.
>I'm an Afghanistan veteran. I'm an American citizen.

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https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/the-well-timed-trades-made-moments-before-trumps-policy-surprises-36e6963a

President Trump has moved markets with sudden shifts in policy, from tariff U-turns to military strikes. On several occasions, unusual trades hit the tape ahead of his announcements.

Most recently, there was a mysterious flurry of trading activity in oil and S&P 500 futures about 15 minutes before Trump de-escalated tensions with Iran with a Monday morning post on Truth Social, which sent oil prices tumbling and stocks rallying.

Critics of the president promptly inferred that someone was profiting from advance knowledge of the post. “Who was it? Trump? A family member? A White House staffer? This is corruption. Mind blowing corruption,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) said on X.

There is no evidence of leaks or insiders making trades ahead of Trump’s post on Monday, or in any of the previous incidents. In a statement, White House spokesman Kush Desai said, “All federal employees are subject to government ethics guidelines that prohibit the use of nonpublic information for financial benefit. However, any implication that Administration officials are engaged in such activity without evidence is baseless and irresponsible reporting.”

Still, some market veterans believe news is trickling out from Trump’s orbit ahead of official announcements. Here is a rundown of episodes where well-timed trades happened ahead of Trump-triggered swings:

March 23, 2026: Early Monday, Trump announced in a Truth Social post that he was postponing strikes on Iranian power plants thanks to “productive” talks with Iran.

About 15 minutes before the post, a sudden burst of activity hit the oil-futures market. During the two-minute period from 6:49 a.m. to 6:51 a.m. ET, more than $760 million worth of Brent and West Texas Intermediate oil futures changed hands, according to Dow Jones Market Data. A similar burst of activity took place at the same time in S&P 500 futures.

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https://www.ft.com/content/e8bcac46-eba1-4985-be31-fc913186895f
The Middle East crisis will fuel a surge in US inflation to 4.2 per cent this year, the highest in the G7, according to an OECD forecast that highlights the cost of the US-Israeli war with Iran.

The Paris-based organisation predicted that energy price rises would sharply increase inflation around the world, with “significant downside risks” to growth if disruptions to energy exports worsened.

While the OECD expects US inflation to jump from 2.6 per cent in 2025, countries including China, South Korea and India also face a sharp increase in price growth because of the energy shock.

“The breadth and duration of the conflict are very uncertain, but a prolonged period of higher energy prices will add markedly to business costs and raise consumer price inflation, with adverse consequences for growth,” the organisation predicted in its interim economic outlook.

Rising pressure on consumers would hurt US economic growth, which is expected to slow to 2 per cent this year and 1.7 per cent in 2027, the OECD said. Global growth is forecast to slow from 3.3 per cent last year to 2.9 per cent in 2026, before picking up to 3 per cent next year.

Prior to the Iran war, global growth was proving resilient, driven in part by a jump in capital spending on AI as well as surging stock markets.

But the prognosis has changed radically since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran at the end of February, pushing up oil and natural gas prices and sending ripple effects through other commodities including metals and fertiliser.

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https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/26/economy/mortgage-rates-us-housing-market-iran-war
The US housing market was supposed to turn a corner this year, but economic uncertainty and a jump in mortgage rates fueled by the US-Israeli war in Iran are complicating affordability for American homebuyers.

After years of sluggish sales, economists expected 2026 to bring lower mortgage rates and more homes for sale, breathing new life into the market after home transactions fell to 30-year lows last year.

But the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 6.38% this week, climbing for the fourth-straight week to levels not seen in more than six months, according to data released Thursday by Freddie Mac.

It’s the largest one-week jump in mortgage rates since April 2025, when markets were rattled due to President Donald Trump’s initial tariff announcement.

Higher mortgage rates due to the conflict in Iran and a weakening job market are making buyers more cautious, real estate experts told CNN.

“What we really want to see is healthy demand going into the spring selling season,” Kamini Lane, CEO of Coldwell Banker, one of the country’s largest real estate brokerages, told CNN. “Now, there’s a lot of volatility. The geopolitical landscape, coupled with the macroeconomic landscape, means a lot could change, and it could change on a dime.”

Home sales were sluggish in January and February, but that may have had more to do with winter weather than weak demand, Lane said. The housing market usually gains momentum in the spring, when listings rise and buyers return.


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https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/3/27/trumps-signature-to-appear-on-us-currency-in-first-for-sitting-president

United States President Donald Trump’s signature will soon appear on US currency under plans to mark the 250th anniversary of the country’s Independence Day on July 4.

The move announced by the US Department of the Treasury on Thursday marks a first for a sitting president.

Until now, US banknotes – which are divided into denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 – have featured the signature of the Treasury secretary and the treasurer.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Trump had put the country on a path towards “unprecedented economic growth” and “fiscal strength and stability”, and the change would recognise his “historic achievements”.

Under Trump, economic growth has been broadly in line with the post-pandemic trend overseen by his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden.

US gross domestic product (GDP) grew 2.2 percent in 2025, slightly below the 2.5 percent average expansion from 2022-2024.

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https://www.npr.org/2026/03/27/g-s1-115366/senate-dhs-tsa-deal

The Senate voted overnight to fund large swaths of the Department of Homeland Security after a 42-day standoff over immigration enforcement tactics. The bill does not include funding for the agency's main immigration enforcement operations.

The legislation now goes to the House for a vote.

The DHS funding lapse forced tens of thousands of employees to work without pay - or quit– and resulted in long waits at some airports amid peak spring break travel.

Democrats have refused to support funding for DHS over objections to immigration enforcement tactics used by the agency's officers. Democrats insisted on reforms to the agency after federal officers killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.

The latest package allowed Democrats to fund operations like the Transportation Safety Administration, or TSA, and emergency response divisions, without backing down from those demands.

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https://www.reuters.com/world/us/iran-linked-hackers-claim-breach-of-fbi-directors-personal-email-doj-official-2026-03-27/
WASHINGTON, March 27 (Reuters) - Iran-linked hackers on Friday claimed they had accessed FBI Director Kash Patel's personal email inbox, publishing photographs of the director and other documents to the internet.
On their website, the hacker group Handala Hack Team said Patel "will now find his name among the list of successfully hacked victims." The hackers published a series of personal photographs of Patel sniffing and smoking cigars, riding in an antique convertible, and making a face while taking a picture of himself in the mirror with a large bottle of rum.
A Justice Department official confirmed that Patel's email had been breached and said the material published online appeared authentic. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The hackers did not immediately respond to messages.
Handala, which calls itself a group of pro-Palestinian vigilante hackers, is considered by Western researchers to be one of several personas used by Iranian government cyberintelligence units. Handala recently claimed the hack of Michigan-based medical devices and services provider Stryker (SYK.N) on March 11, claiming to have deleted a massive trove of company data.
Reuters was not able to independently authenticate the Patel emails, but the personal Gmail address that Handala claims to have broken into matches the address linked to Patel in previous data breaches preserved by the dark web intelligence firm District 4 Labs. Alphabet-owned Google, which runs Gmail, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A sample of the material uploaded by the hackers and reviewed by Reuters appears to show a mix of personal and work correspondence dating between 2010 and 2019.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g8w4xp97jo
The death by euthanasia of a 25-year-old Spanish woman after a protracted legal battle with her father has triggered debate about the role of the state in caring for her and why it took so long to implement her wish to end her life.

Noelia Castillo, who had been left paraplegic due to injuries suffered when she tried to take her own life in 2022, died on Thursday evening at a Barcelona hospital.

The Catalan regional government had granted her the right to assisted dying in 2024.

However, the process was suspended at the last moment after legal objections raised by her father, backed by campaign group Christian Lawyers.

The case has received enormous attention in Spain, with Christian Lawyers (Abogados Cristianos) attempting to block her death until the last moment.

After an 18-month legal battle, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled this week in Noelia Castillo's favour and her death was eventually confirmed late on Thursday.

Castillo had spent much of her childhood in care homes and had recounted the impact on her mental health of her father's problems with alcohol and of being sexually assaulted by an ex-boyfriend and also by several men in a nightclub.


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As the Iran war continues, and traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains stalled, many Americans are seeing higher gas prices. Of course, the longer the conflict lasts, the more it impacts consumers at the pump.

That elevated cost threatens to offset larger tax refunds this season, some experts say. In a March 20 note, Oxford Economics estimated that if gas prices averaged $3.60 per gallon in 2026, consumer spending on fuel could be “almost exactly offsetting the boost from refunds.”

American consumers are still paying higher prices at the pump. The price of gasoline on Thursday was at a nationwide average of $4.04 a gallon, up by roughly 33% from one month ago, according to AAA.

“The energy shock is going to hit those who have the least cushion ... and it doesn’t look like those tax refunds are going to be here to save them,” Alex Jacquez, chief of policy and advocacy at Groundwork Collaborative, a left-leaning economic policy think tank, said during a press call Friday.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/26/high-gas-prices-iran-war-tax-refunds.html