March 30, 2026 - Daily News Digest

On this day: in 1867, Alaska is purchased from Russia for $7.2 million, or about two cents/acre, by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward.

QOTD: " The police cited security concerns related to the war in Iran for the ban.

"As a result, and for the first time in centuries, the Heads of the Church were prevented from celebrating the Palm Sunday Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre," it said in a statement.

US/TRADE/HAPPI ANNIVERSARY - Two Data Points to Consider a Year Since Trump’s Tariff Liberation Day
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-03-30/trump-liberation-day-tariff-anniversary

Welcome to Liberation Day anniversary week. On April 2nd a year ago President Donald Trump walked into the White House’s Rose Garden and set out to remake the global trading system by announcing he was erecting the largest tariff wall around the US economy seen in a century.

What has happened since is well-documented. Markets crumbled and then recovered when Trump delayed and scaled back his original duties. Which means to a certain audience a taco isn’t just a meal anymore. Thanks to Liberation Day (and Robert Armstrong of the Financial Times), “Trump Always Chickens Out” is the financial markets meme that refuses to go away.

The US Supreme Court in February declared Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs illegal, which means a messy $170 billion refund process is now underway. Polls show his tariffs are at least as unpopular as the Iran war Trump launched a month ago with a November mid-term election approaching rapidly. Though Trump and his team seem unbowed as they set about rebuilding his tariff wall and China prepares to retaliate as well.

we are just going to offer you two numbers to sound smart in your bar, pub, water cooler or dinner party conversations this week.

The first is 43%.

That is what Bloomberg Economics’ Nicole Gorton-Caratelli calculates is the amount of imports into the US that, a year on from Liberation Day, are free of any tariff imposed by Trump since his return to office. She broke down trade exempted from tariffs into these categories:

GERMANY/ECON/ENERGY - German Inflation Rebounds on Soaring Energy Prices
https://www.wsj.com/economy/german-inflation-rebounds-on-soaring-energy-prices-ff73574c?mod=world_feat5_europe_pos1

German inflation jumped in March to its highest level in more than a year, driven by rising energy prices prompted by the war in Iran.

Consumer prices rose 2.8% on year this month, up from a 2.0% increase in February, European Union-harmonized data published Monday by Destatis said. A consensus of economists polled by The Wall Street Journal also expected the rate at 2.8%. Inflation was last as strong in January 2025.

Energy prices were up 7.2% compared with the same month of last year, marking the first increase since December 2023, Destatis said. In February, energy prices declined 1.9%.

It meant the overall inflation level rebounded well above the European Central Bank’s 2% target. The ECB left its key rate unchanged at its meeting earlier this month, but policymakers have since said the conflict in the Middle East will likely drive up inflation and slow down economic growth.

So far, the war hasn’t noticeably hit prices outside energy, with core inflation—which excludes energy and food—unchanged at 2.5%, the same rate as last month. Food inflation was 0.9% in March, down from 1.1% in February.

However, that is likely to change in the months ahead. The closely watched monthly business survey from the Ifo Institute last week said firms expect higher selling prices.

AUSTRALIA/ENERGY - Chevron says repairs to Wheatstone gas facility to take weeks
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/chevron-says-repairs-wheatstone-gas-facility-take-weeks-2026-03-29/

Chevron's Wheatstone liquefied natural gas facility in Western Australia is unlikely to ​resume full production for several weeks as it repairs damage caused ‌by last week's tropical cyclone, the company said on Sunday.

Cyclone Narelle was estimated to have disrupted Australian LNG supply equating to more than 30 million metric tons per ​year. Combined with the shock from conflict in the Middle East, ​more than a quarter of global LNG supply has been ⁠disrupted, MST Marquee analyst Saul Kavonic said on Friday.

“While damage assessments ​continue at both the onshore Wheatstone plant and offshore Wheatstone Platform, it is ​likely to be a number of weeks before production returns to full rates to allow time for repairs to be safely completed," a Chevron Australia spokesperson said in ​an emailed statement.

The two-train LNG Wheatstone project produces 8.9 million tons ​a year, about 15% of which is meant to be reserved for the domestic market.

“The ‌Wheatstone ⁠gas facility near Onslow has had equipment damage from the severe weather,” the spokesperson confirmed.

Chevron's 15.9 million ton Gorgon LNG export facility and domestic plant continued to operate at full rates, the company said, adding that ​all of its ​three trains returned ⁠to full production on Sunday.

RUSSIA/UKRAINE/ENERGY/MIL - Russia's Ust-Luga port damaged by more Ukrainian drones, fire under control
https://www.reuters.com/world/russias-ust-luga-port-damaged-by-ukrainian-drones-fire-breaks-out-2026-03-29/

Russia's Baltic Ust-Luga port, one of its largest petroleum export hubs, ​was damaged again on Sunday by a Ukrainian drone ‌attack which sparked a blaze later brought under control, Russian officials said.

It followed several Ukrainian drone strikes last week on Russia’s western energy corridor when ​facilities at the ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk came ​under fire, igniting storage tanks and forcing a suspension of ⁠oil and oil product loadings.

The regional governor of Leningrad said firefighters ​had brought the fire at the port and nearby sites on ​Sunday under control.

Ukraine's SBU security agency said long-range drones struck an oil terminal at Ust-Luga. It added in a statement that the strike caused "serious damage" ​and a fire at the port.

The recent attacks have caused ​severe oil supply disruption for Russia, the world's second-largest oil exporter, and have ‌come ⁠just as oil prices exceeded $100 a barrel due to the Iran war.

"Additional firefighting resources from the Leningrad region and St. Petersburg, including two fire trains, have been involved in extinguishing the fire at the ​port," Regional Governor ​Alexander Drozdenko ⁠wrote on Telegram on Sunday.

US/RUSSIA/ENERGY/CUBA - U.S. Allows Russian Oil Tanker to Reach Cuba, Despite Blockade
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/29/world/americas/cuba-russian-oil-tanlker.html?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20260329&instance_id=173283&nl=breaking-news&regi_id=58167012&segment_id=217438&user_id=f22dffe809afecaa0742b8d4e86f9d6b

The United States Coast Guard is allowing a Russian tanker full of crude oil to reach Cuba, delivering a critical supply of energy to the island nation after months of an effective oil blockade by the Trump administration, according to a U.S. official briefed on the matter.

The tanker, which is carrying an estimated 730,000 barrels of oil and is owned by the Russian government, was within several miles of Cuban territorial waters on Sunday evening, according to MarineTraffic, a ship-data provider. At its speed of 12 knots, it could reach its expected destination of Matanzas, Cuba, by Monday night.

The Russian ship’s arrival would shift the trajectory of a rapidly accelerating crisis in Cuba, buying the island nation at least a few weeks before its fuel reserves run out, analysts said.

It would also reduce pressure on a Cuban government facing a looming economic collapse and escalating threats from Washington, and show that, at least for now, the island can still depend on its longtime ally Russia.

The Trump administration had been enforcing what amounted to an oil blockade around Cuba since January, threatening nations that had been sending fuel to the country and, in one case, escorting a tanker heading toward Cuba away from the island.

US/IRAN/MIL/NOT A SMART IDEA! - Trump Weighs Military Operation to Extract Iran’s Uranium
https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/trump-weighs-military-operation-to-extract-irans-uranium-37427c8b?mod=WSJ_home_mediumtopper_pos_1

President Trump is weighing a military operation to extract nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium from Iran, according to U.S. officials, a complex and risky mission that would likely put American forces inside the country for days or longer. 

Trump hasn’t made a decision on whether to give the order, the officials said, adding that he is considering the danger to U.S. troops. But the president remains generally open to the idea, according to the officials, because it could help accomplish his central goal of preventing Iran from ever making a nuclear weapon.

The president has also encouraged his advisers to press Iran to agree to surrender the material as a condition for ending the war, according to a person familiar with Trump’s thinking. Trump has been clear in conversations with political allies that the Iranians can’t keep the material, and he has discussed seizing it by force if Iran won’t give it up at the negotiating table.

Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt have acted as intermediaries between the U.S. and Iran. But Washington and Tehran haven’t yet engaged in direct negotiations to end the war.

“It’s the job of the Pentagon to make preparations in order to give the commander-in-chief maximum optionality. It does not mean the president has made a decision,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. The Pentagon didn’t comment and a spokesman for U.S. Central Command declined to comment.

On Sunday night, Trump told reporters that Iran must do what the U.S. demands or “they’re not going to have a country.” Referring to Iran’s uranium, Trump said, “They’re going to give us the nuclear dust.”

Before Israel and the U.S. conducted a series of airstrikes on Iran in June last year, the country was believed to have more than 400 kilograms of 60% highly enriched uranium, and nearly 200 kilograms of 20% fissile material, which is easily converted into 90%-weapons-grade uranium.

ISRAEL/VATICAN CITY - Israel blocks Cardinal from Jerusalem's Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday, sparking outcry
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-police-block-catholic-cardinal-jerusalems-holy-sepulchre-palm-sunday-2026-03-29/

Israel blocked Jerusalem's Catholic cardinal from marking ​Palm Sunday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, sparking an international outcry that led Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reverse the ban for ‌the remainder of Holy Week.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said Israeli police prevented Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and Friar Francesco Ielpo from entering the Holy Sepulchre, built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead.

The police cited security concerns related to the war in Iran for the ban.

"As a result, and for the first time in centuries, the Heads of the Church were prevented ​from celebrating the Palm Sunday Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre," it said in a statement.

Netanyahu posted on social media just after midnight that he ​instructed relevant authorities to grant full and immediate access to the cardinal.

"Today, out of special concern for his safety, Cardinal Pizzaballa was ⁠asked to refrain from holding Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre," he said.

"Even though I understand this concern, as soon as I learned about the incident with ​Cardinal Pizzaballa, I instructed the authorities to enable the Patriarch to hold services as he wishes."

EGYPT/ECON/ENERGY - Egypt to slow down some state projects for two months amid Iran war, prime minister says
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/egypt-slow-down-some-state-projects-two-months-amid-iran-war-prime-minister-says-2026-03-28/

Egypt will slow down large state projects that involve high fuel and ​diesel consumption for at least two months, while fuel ‌allocations for all government vehicles will be cut by 30%, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said on Saturday.

Madbouly also said that both the public and the ​private sectors, with the exception of services and ​manufacturing sectors, will work remotely on every Sunday of ⁠April. The measure could be extended to an additional day ​per week or prolonged for further months if the war ​continues.

The move is part of broader measures to cope with the economic fallout from the Iran war, which has driven up energy costs and ​strained public finances.

Although Egypt is not directly involved in the ​conflict, it has been heavily affected, particularly in the energy sector, as it ‌depends ⁠on imported fuel. Costs have ballooned with the disruption of oil and gas production and trade across the Middle East.

The government has already raised fuel prices and the price of public transport.

Yet, ​Madbouly stressed that ​these measures ⁠are temporary, adding that the government is working to help the citizens and is discussing ​an increase in the minimum wage and increased ​allocations ⁠for healthcare and education in the next fiscal year.

JAPAN/MIL - Courting Trump and Fearing China, Japan Rethinks 80 Years of Pacifism
https://www.wsj.com/world/asia/japan-defense-trump-china-5621e92e?mod=world_feat2_asia_pos1

As a teacher, Michiko Yagi told schoolchildren that Japan had made a solemn promise to the world never to wage war again.

Now 87, Yagi had been lucky to survive the atomic blast that obliterated her hometown when she was 6 years old. The 1945 bombing of Nagasaki, and Hiroshima before it, brought an end to Imperial Japan’s brutal march across Asia and turned generations of Japanese against the militarism that led their country to ruin.

Yagi said she felt a sense of pride and safety in the idea, enshrined in Japan’s pacifist postwar constitution, that her nation should never resort to force to settle international disputes or possess a fully fledged military.

“For us, being a pacifist country wasn’t just a political label. It has been our moral compass after the tragedy,” said Yagi.

Today, Japan’s decadeslong embrace of pacifism is fading as the country confronts a more dangerous and unpredictable world.

Wary of China’s expanding military power and anxious over U.S. commitments to protect its allies in Asia, more Japanese say military spending should be increased to safeguard their country and deter aggression in the region that surrounds it.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who won a landslide victory in an election in February, is in the vanguard of this shift. A longtime security hawk, she has big plans to beef up Japan’s armed forces with new weapons and capabilities.

She wants to unshackle a defense industry that is stunted, as she sees it, by heavy restrictions on what it can sell overseas. She wants Japan to have its own clandestine intelligence service and is planning a major review of Japan’s national-security strategy to better confront what officials describe as the most fraught security environment modern Japan has faced.

Takaichi even has plans to try to revise the postwar constitution itself, a longstanding goal of her ruling Liberal Democratic Party that has eluded every party leader before her. Changing the constitution could make it easier for future Japanese governments to send troops or ships overseas, as President Trump has called on allies to do in Iran. Japan has so far demurred, citing legal obstacles to venturing into a war zone.

GIFT LINK: The Web of Patronage Keeping Iran’s Regime in Control
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/irans-revolutionary-guard-built-a-sophisticated-system-of-patronage-its-keeping-the-regime-alive-67d319e6?st=eWS8Sn&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Iran’s sprawling security apparatus isn’t solely held together by ideology. It is underpinned by a system of economic incentives that make the regime’s collapse a direct threat to the livelihood of its acolytes. 

Since its founding, the Islamic Republic has built a tentacled ecosystem that controls more than half of the economy and acts as a powerful protection policy for the regime. It rewards loyalists with cash and careers and other opportunities in exchange for crushing dissent and staying true to the regime, say academics and analysts who study the Iranian regime. 

The depth of the social and economic contract is helping the regime maintain cohesion despite the weekslong Israeli and American air campaign eroding its leadership and infrastructure. Only 20% of Iranians support the regime, recent polls show, but they constitute a more cohesive bloc than the opposition, binding the ruling Shia clerics, paramilitary forces and civilians through economic interests.

That system will make it very hard to persuade those who profit from it to turn against the regime, said Ali Vaez, head of the Iran project at conflict-resolution firm Crisis Group.

“Millions of people get benefits from their loyalty to the regime,” Vaez said. “They don’t want to lose them.”

The perks include things like cash vouchers, priority entrance to universities and access to foreign currency at preferential rates or cheap loans.

IRAN/MIL/YEMEN/WHY NOT SOME HOUTHIS? - Strikes Continue as Houthis Join Iran War, US Troops Arrive
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-29/strikes-continue-as-houthis-join-iran-war-and-us-troops-arrive

Attacks in the Middle East conflict extended into a fifth week Sunday, with Israel striking Tehran and Saudi Arabia intercepting almost a dozen drones, a day after Yemen-based Houthi militants entered the war.

The strikes came as 3,500 additional US troops arrived in the Middle East and regional powers including Saudi Arabia and Turkey met in Pakistan to discuss how to end the conflict, which has killed thousands and caused chaos in commodity markets and global trade.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said after the meeting of his counterparts from Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia that “both Iran and US have expressed their confidence in Pakistan” to host future talks, although neither side has indicated they are ready to meet.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued remarks for the first time in about a week on Saturday, thanking Iraqi religious authorities for their support in the war, according to state-run Hamshahri newspaper. Khamenei, who became the country’s supreme leader after the killing of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during the initial hours of the war, still hasn’t been seen in public since his appointment and the US says he’s injured, perhaps badly.

US/IRAN/ENERGY - Trump Issues Fresh Threat to Iranian Energy Sites
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/iran-war-news-updates

President Trump said the U.S. would destroy Iranian energy sites if discussions with a “new, and more reasonable regime” didn’t amount to a deal and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

The president posted the comments on social media after Iran said it considered the U.S.’s 15-point peace plan to be largely made up of “excessive, unrealistic and unreasonable demands.”

Fighting continued in the Middle East. Israel’s largest oil refinery was hit by an Iranian missile, while a military airbase in the Baghdad International Airport complex was struck with rockets. In Iran, an airstrike hit a complex belonging to one of the country’s major petrochemical producers, according to state media.

Regional diplomats met in Pakistan on Sunday to plot a course for peace. The talks ended a day early.

The Iranian ambassador to Lebanon has stayed in the country despite an official expulsion.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to expand a so-called security zone inside southern Lebanon.

More than a month into the war, here are some numbers: 3,000 people have been killed, 4 million have been displaced and oil prices have surged by 50%.

GIFT LINK: New U.S. Missile Hit Iranian Sports Hall and School, Analysis Shows
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/29/world/middleeast/us-precision-strike-missile-iran-lamerd.html?unlocked_article_code=1.XFA.8zEQ.MD_jRKE3rXLy&smid=url-share

On the first day of the war with Iran, a weapon bearing the hallmarks of a newly developed U.S.-made ballistic missile was used in an attack that struck a sports hall and adjacent elementary school near a military facility in southern Iran, according to weapons experts and a visual analysis by The New York Times. Local officials cited in Iranian media said this strike and others nearby in the city of Lamerd killed at least 21 people.

The Feb. 28 attack occurred the same day as a U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile struck a school in the city of Minab, several hundred miles away, killing 175 people. In the case of Lamerd, though, it involved a weapon that had been untested in combat.

The Times verified videos of two strikes in Lamerd, as well as aftermath footage from the attacks. Times reporters and munitions experts found that the weapon features, explosions and damage are consistent with a short-range ballistic missile called the Precision Strike Missile, or PrSM (pronounced like “prism”), which is designed to detonate just above its target and blast small tungsten pellets outward.

Videos that capture one strike, in a residential area about 900 feet from the sports hall and school, show the weapon in flight, with a distinctive silhouette that matches the PrSM. The missile erupts in a large fireball midair.

Another video, filmed from a security camera directly across from the sports hall, shows the strike on the hall and adjacent school. While the video does not capture an incoming missile, it clearly shows an explosion just above the structure.

Photos of the aftermath show both sites were pockmarked with holes, apparently from the tungsten pellets.

There is an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, or I.R.G.C., compound directly next to the sports hall. It’s not known if it was struck in the attack.

The PrSM completed prototype testing only last year, according to an Army press release. On March 1, U.S. Central Command posted a video of a PrSM launch from the first 24 hours of the war. Days later, Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads Central Command, said the PrSM had been used in combat for the first time. The military has been touting its debut.

Since the weapon is so new, it’s more difficult to assess whether the PrSM strikes in Lamerd were intentional, stemmed from a design flaw or manufacturing defect, or were the result of improper target selection.