Trump Will Destroy Washington if It’s the Last Thing He Does

Opinion

Guest Essay

March 13, 2026

By Paul Goldberger

Mr. Goldberger is a former architecture critic for The Times and The New Yorker and the author of “Why Architecture Matters.”

President Trump’s attempt to hugely expand the White House is lumbering forward. It suffered the tiniest of setbacks when the National Capital Planning Commission decided to postpone a vote on the project to its next meeting, on April 2. But it is highly unlikely that the commission, which has been stocked with Trump appointees, will not ultimately sign off on this enormous, banal box in a vaguely classical style that, if it goes forward, will overwhelm the White House and block the view between the White House and the Capitol that has been one of Washington’s signature vistas for more than two centuries.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel confirms talks with the U.S.

March 13, 2026, 6:08 AM PDT

By Orlando Matos 

and Carmen Sesin

HAVANA — Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel confirmed talks between the United States and Cuba during a speech Friday, the first time Havana has publicly acknowledged the meetings.

All 6 U.S. crew are dead after a military aircraft goes down in Iraq

Middle East

Updated March 13, 2026 10:52 AM ET
By NPR Staff

The U.S. military said on Friday that all six crew members were killed when a KC-135 refueling aircraft went down in Iraq, raising the death toll after two weeks of war with Iran.

Photo credit: The Express

The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees the Middle East, reported an unspecified incident involving two aircraft the aircraft Thursday when the U.S. KC-135 refueling aircraft was lost in western Iraq, while the other landed safely. CENTCOM said it is investigating the circumstances but confirmed the "loss of the aircraft was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire."

Sad! Trump’s Meme Coin Has Turned Into a Total Disaster

Coin Pain
Many Trump's supporters wallets were hurt in this development.
By Frank Landymore
Published Mar 12, 2026 11:02 AM EDT

Jonathan Raa / NurPhoto via Getty Images / Futurism

Iran-US war latest: Rescue mission underway after US plane crash in Iraq as Trump says conflict ‘moving rapidly’

LIVE updated 1 hour ago
Tehran said it will set region’s oil and gas “on fire” if there are attacks on its energy infrastructure
Bel Trew in Beirut, Rachel Dobkin & Stuti Mishra

Friday 13 March 2026 

A rescue mission is underway after a US military refuelling aircraft crashed in Iraq, according to the US Central Command. A US official told AP the aircraft had at least five crew members aboard. It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.

Suspect dead after ramming vehicle into Michigan synagogue, sheriff says

The FBI described the attack as a "targeted act of violence" against the Jewish community, while the DHS identified the suspect as a naturalized US citizen born in Lebanon.

Updated 2:17 AM EDT, 

Friday, March 13, 2026

David Gilmour’s ‘Black Strat’ Sells For $14.55 Million, Becoming The Most Expensive Guitar Ever Sold

The guitar, which Gilmour played on songs “Money,” “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” and his “Comfortably Numb” solo, beat Kurt Cobain’s previous 

sales record-holding guitar

By ALTHEA LEGASPI

MARCH 12, 2026

David Gilmour performs on July 2, 2016 in Rome, Italy.

ROBERTO PANUCCI/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES

5 charts that reveal the financial market chaos caused by the Iran war

Story by Patrick O’Donnell 

Markets hate uncertainty and since the U.S. and Israel launched the first wave of attacks on Feb. 28, that’s what the war in Iran has given them. From energy to supposed havens, Barron’s lays bare the economic fallout from the conflict through the following five charts:

Lebanon appeals to Israel’s allies to intervene as hundreds reported killed

More than 630 people have been killed in the country in the past week, authorities say

Updated March 12, 2026 at 10:55 a.m. ED

By Mohamad El Chamaa, Suzan Haidamous and Ellen Francis

BEIRUT — The U.S.-Israeli war against Iran has engulfed Lebanon, pushing the beleaguered country to a new precipice as Israel expands a ferocious bombing campaign and threatens an invasion of south Lebanon in response to strikes by Hezbollah, Tehran’s most powerful proxy.

Strait of Hormuz must remain closed as ‘tool to pressure enemy,’ Iran’s new supreme leader says

Published Thu, Mar 12 2026
Holly Ellyatt

Key Points

• Khamenei said the Strait of Hormuz must stay closed and that all U.S. military bases in the Middle East should shut immediately, warning of further attacks.
• It’s Khamenei’s first public comments since being appointed as Iran’s supreme leader on March 9.
• Oil prices extended gains following the comments.

Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said Thursday that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz maritime passage should be continued as a “tool to pressure the enemy,” in his first public statement since being appointed.

Mojtaba Khamenei's Wound Reveals Who Really Rules Iran

By Güney Yıldız, Contributor. 

Mar 11, 2026, 04:29 pm EDT

Tehran confirmed this week what Israeli and American officials had claimed for days: Mojtaba Khamenei, named Iran's third supreme leader on March 8, was injured in the same February 28 strikes that killed his father. The admission matters less for what it reveals about his health than for what it reveals about his authority. A wounded leader installed under wartime emergency by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is not the same thing as a supreme leader chosen through a constitutional process. The distinction will define Iran's next chapter.

Trump Claims Victory; Iran Says, 'Hold My Missile – Watch These Beautiful Explosions Rocking Bahrain Airport!'

The Greek Courier

Source: Associated Press

Photos: BBC News, AP

Iran Targets Busiest International Airport as UN Demands Halt to Attacks on Gulf Neighbors

As the conflict with Iran escalates, the U.S. and Israel continue to face retaliatory attacks from Tehran, which today targeted some of the region's vital infrastructures, including the world’s busiest international airport and three oil tankers. The Iranian actions come in response to President Trump's assertion that the U.S. has “won” the war and that Tehran “didn’t expect anything like this.” Despite claims of a decimated Iranian military, the country has successfully launched strikes against significant targets, raising questions about its ongoing capabilities.

The Government Uses Targeted Advertising to Track Your Location. Here's What We Need to Do.

By Lena Cohen and Hudson Hongo
March 5, 2026

We've all had the unsettling experience of seeing an ad online that reveals just how much advertisers know about our lives. You're right to be disturbed. Those very same online ad systems have been used by the government to warrantlessly track peoples' locations, new reporting has confirmed.

Large WW2 bomb defused after Dresden evacuated

Bethany Bell
Germany reporter
Getty Images Bridge over the Elbe River under construction. In the background across the river is the city centre, including the Frauenkirche and other landmarks.Getty Images
The bomb was found near the Carola Bridge, which is being rebuilt after collapsing into the river in 2024.

An unexploded British World War Two bomb in Dresden has been defused, police in Germany say.

MAGA Panics as Lawmakers Call Out Trump on Rising Gas Prices

RUNNING ON EMPTY

Republicans acknowledge that the pain at the pump could last longer than the White House admits.

Farrah Tomazin 

Political Correspondent

Published Mar. 11 2026 11:47AM EDT
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

MAGA Republicans are panicking over soaring gas prices due to Donald Trump’s war in Iran, with some warning the pain at the pump could last longer than the White House admits.

Inflation was steady in February before the Iran war drove up gas prices

The consumer price index rose 0.3% month over month, and 2.4% from one year ago.

March 11, 2026,

By Steve Kopack

Consumer price growth was steady in February, right before the Iran war rattled global energy markets and sent prices skyrocketing.

Trump has one prescription for midterms. House Republicans have another

Politics
By STEVEN SLOAN
March 10, 2026
DORAL, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump insisted he had the answer for Republicans anxious about losing their congressional majority this year: build on an already strict national voter identification law to ban mail ballots and restrict transgender rights. 

“It’ll guarantee the midterms,” he told Republicans gathered in the ballroom of his golf course just outside Miami on Monday. “If you don’t get it, big trouble.” Less than 24 hours later, House Republican leaders highlighted their priorities. And the voting bill, which Trump has rebranded from the SAVE Act to the SAVE America Act, wasn’t high on the list.

Are the Greeks the best sailors in the world?

The Greek Courier

If "best" is defined by an unbroken 3,000-year maritime tradition combined with modern commercial tonnage, Hellas is arguably the world's preeminent seafaring nation.