March 19, 2026 - Daily News Digest
On this day in 1687, while on an expedition to find the mouth of the Mississippi River, French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle, was murdered by his men in what is now Texas; La Salle had previously claimed a large region around the river for Louis XiV of France, naming it Louisiana.
QotD: “It takes money ($200bn) to kill bad guys,” Pete Hegseth said in a press conference earlier today.
IRAN/WAR/ENERGY – Energy prices surge as Iran targets Gulf energy facilities after Israel struck its key gas field.
European gas prices surged 28% and oil gained 6% on Thursday after Iran attacked energy infrastructure in the Middle East in retaliation against Israeli attacks on it gas facilities, marking the biggest escalation of the nearly three-week war.
The Iranian aerial attacks caused extensive damage to the world's largest gas plant in Qatar, targeted a refinery in Saudi Arabia, forced the United Arab Emirates to shut gas facilities and started fires at two Kuwaiti refineries.
The price of benchmark Brent crude rose to above $114 a barrel on Thursday after earlier reaching $119, while gas prices in Europe were double the level seen in late February before the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran.
Benchmark Dutch gas prices hit 74 euros ($84.97) per megawatt hour, their highest level since January 2023.
"This latest escalation feels like a turning point for markets because the conflict is no longer just about military headlines or Strait of Hormuz closure," said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo in Singapore.
"It is now hitting the plumbing of the global energy system. What is unsettling markets now is the growing stagflation risk," she added.
Qatar's state oil company QatarEnergy, the world's second-largest LNG exporter, said on Wednesday that Iranian missile attacks on Ras Laffan, the site of its core LNG processing operations, caused "extensive damage", while the UAE shut gas facilities after intercepting missiles early on Thursday.
US/MIL/$$$ -- Pentagon seeks $200 billion in additional funds for the Iran war.
https://apnews.com/article/iran-war-us-pentagon-972ec1bd956a2c3633e6ab7fff389791
The Pentagon is seeking $200 billion in additional funds for the Iran war, a sizable amount that is certain to be met with questions from Congress, which would need to approve any new money.
The department sent the request to the White House, according to a senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private information. Asked about the figure at a press conference Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not directly confirm the amount, saying it could change.
“It takes money to kill bad guys,” Hegseth said.
But he said “we’re going back to Congress and our folks there to ensure that we’re properly funded.”
It’s an extraordinarily high number and comes on top of extra funding the Defense Department already received last year in President Donald Trump’s big tax cuts bill. Such a request would need to be approved by Congress, and it is not at all clear such spending would have political support.
Congress has been bracing for a new spending request but it is not clear the White House has transmitted the request for consideration. The new funding request was first reported by The Washington Post.
Any new funding would need to be approved by Congress, which has not authorized the war, and is showing growing unease with the military operation’s scope and strategy.
UKRAINE WAR/”SITUATIONAL PAUSE” – Ukraine peace talks are on pause amid Iran war, Kremlin says.
The Kremlin said on Thursday that talks between Washington, Moscow and Kyiv on ending the war in Ukraine were on "situational pause" following the start of the Iran war.
"This is a situational pause, for obvious reasons," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the Izvestia report.
Peskov said that as soon as "our American partners" could pay more attention to Ukrainian affairs, Moscow hoped that the pause could end and that a new round of talks could take place.
Izvestia said that talks on economic and investment cooperation with the United States, led by presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, would continue.
MORE/EU/FUNDING – EU leaders seek breakthrough on 90 billion euro loan blocked by Hungary’s Orban.
EU leaders converge on Brussels Thursday hoping to unlock a massive loan for Kyiv, with the much-needed funding ensnared in a standoff between Hungary's Viktor Orban and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky.
Moscow's closest partner in the bloc, the nationalist Hungarian leader has long resisted helping Kyiv to repel Russia's invasion, stalling EU aid and repeated rounds of sanctions.
This time around, Orban is holding up a 90-billion-euro ($104 billion) loan as leverage in a feud over damage to a pipeline running through Ukraine – which has choked the flow of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia.
As the Hungarian prime minister leans into anti-EU and anti-Ukrainian narratives ahead of close-fought national elections on April 12 – he appears intent on playing hardball.
"No oil, no money," he warned this week. "If President Zelensky wants to get his money from Brussels, then the Druzhba pipeline must be reopened."
The weeks-long spat has seen landlocked Hungary and Slovakia both accuse Ukraine of stalling on pipeline repairs – while Zelensky has called it "blackmail" to link the issue to support for its war effort.
The European Commission moved this week to unblock the situation by sending a team to help restore oil transit, but Budapest dismissed the initiative as "theatre" and refused to budge.
CHINA/FENTANYL/CHEM – China cracks down on fentanyl networks after US pressure.
China has arrested seven people and subjected 12 more to "criminal compulsory measures" in a campaign targeting traffickers in fentanyl precursor chemicals, state media said on Thursday, following pressure from the United States.
China's first wide-publication in years of legal action that has led to the arrests of traffickers also follows weekend trade talks with the United States to prepare for a summit originally planned for the end of the month of the U.S. and Chinese leaders in Beijing.
U.S. President Donald Trump has postponed the visit over the Iran war, but said he would take the trip to Asia in "about five or six weeks".
Washington has sought measures from China including arresting the sellers of chemicals used to make the drug that leads to thousands of U.S. overdose deaths each year.
The official Xinhua news agency said the campaign in the central province of Hubei targeted the entire supply chain, from production to storage and the export of precursor chemicals and was launched in December after a directive from the public security ministry.
The agency did not specify what the "criminal compulsory measures" were.
Until now China had only issued industry notices and taken down websites that trade the chemicals.
Xinhua said that "in one notable action based on information provided by U.S. drug enforcement authorities, investigators in Hubei successfully cracked a case involving the sale of state-controlled new psychoactive substances and Category II precursor chemicals for drug manufacturing".
US/RETAIL/ECON – Nation’s largest retail group forecasts 4.4% gain in retail sales this year despite volatility.
The National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, is forecasting annual retail sales will grow at a faster clip this year than last year, citing consumers’ resilience despite lots of economic volatility.
But the group said Wednesday that the repercussions of the Iran war on consumer spending are too uncertain to incorporate into its outlook.
The National Retail Federation expects retail sales should rise this year by 4.4% over 2025 to $5.6 trillion, based on a new model developed in partnership with Oxford Economics, an independent economic advisory firm. In 2025, retail sales increased by 3.9% compared with the previous year, the group said.
The 2026 sales forecast exceeds the 3.6% average annual sales growth over the past 10 years, excluding the pandemic period from 2020 to 2022 when sales growth was outsized.
The forecast excludes sales from auto dealers, gas stations and restaurants.
“The U.S. economy was a bit up and down in 2025,” Mark Mathews, chief economist of the National Retail Federation, said. “However, the one bright spot through these ups and downs was the consumer whose continued spending was a key economic driver in 2025. We expect this strength to continue in 2026.”
CHAD/SUDAN/MIL/SEC – Chad says 17 killed in Sudanese drone attack.
https://www.dw.com/en/chad-says-17-killed-in-sudanese-drone-attack/a-76432675
Government officials in Chad announced Thursday that 17 people were killed and several more injured in the eastern town of Tine late Wednesday in a drone attack originating from Sudan.
Tine is situated on Chad's border with Sudan's western Darfur region.
A military spokesman said that all of those killed were civilians.
Local eyewitnesses reported two explosions that struck mourners at a funeral as well as children playing nearby.
After summoning defense and security officials in the night, President Mahamat Idriss Deby released a statement on social media announcing that he had ordered Chad's army to, "retaliate, starting from tonight, to any attack coming from Sudan."
"Despite various firm warnings addressed to the different belligerents in the Sudan conflict and the closure of the border," a Chad government spokesman said on Thursday: "the town of Tine has again been the target of a drone attack. This latest assault of extreme gravity has caused the death of 17 of our compatriots and left several others injured."
Chad's government says it has strengthened its security presence at the border and that its forces have the ability to carry out operations on Sudanese territory if necessary.
CHINA/TAIWAN/US/INTEl/”PHEW” – China isn’t planning to invade Taiwan in 2027, US concludes.
The U.S. intelligence community has dialed back the view of the risk of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan by next year and concluded that Beijing would prefer to take control of the self-ruled island without resorting to force.
The finding is a shift from past U.S. warnings that an invasion could happen by 2027. That looming deadline fueled a sense of urgency in Washington and Taipei and prompted both to sharpen their strategy and invest in their arsenals.
“Chinese leaders do not currently plan to execute an invasion of Taiwan in 2027, nor do they have a fixed timeline for achieving unification,” said the annual threat assessment.
The conclusion aligns with what has been a conciliatory tone from the Trump administration toward Beijing and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The Pentagon said in its national defense strategy issued in January that its overarching goal was to establish “strategic stability” in the Indo-Pacific region and de-escalate tensions with the Chinese military.
The intelligence report, a summary of national security risks released Wednesday by the Director of National Intelligence, did note areas in which Beijing is seen as a threat.
MEXICO/US/CARTELS – A US citizen now runs Mexico’s top drug cartel – and targeting him is complicated.
No sooner was slain kingpin Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera buried in a golden coffin in early March, serenaded by popular ballads and surrounded by carloads of floral displays, than his California-born stepson began ascending to the throne of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Mexican and U.S. officials said.
The rise of 41-year-old Juan Carlos Valencia González marks the formal crowning of the Valencia family dynasty from western Mexico at the head of the organization known for its paramilitary prowess and territorial conquest, these officials said.
U.S. intelligence agencies may now face legal hurdles in directly targeting and collecting personal data on Valencia González because of his place of birth. That risks hindering a significant tactical partnership that has developed between Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Washington that is making increasing use of information provided by U.S. military, law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
Under the rules for surveilling Americans overseas, the U.S. would usually need to get signoff from the attorney general, and also persuade a secret foreign intelligence surveillance court that Valencia Gonzalez is acting as an “agent of a foreign power” such as an international terrorist group. Although the hurdles are surmountable, the additional procedural requirements could hobble a fast-moving operation, current and former U.S. officials said.
Law enforcement agents, meanwhile, are more limited in the investigative tools they use on American citizens and aren’t allowed by Mexico to conduct operations in the country.