The Iran and Ukraine wars have merged into a single conflict, but ‘we are still not at a true world war,’ expert says

FORTUNE
Jason Ma
Sun, March 29, 2026
4 min read

A soldier from a drone unit of Ukraine's 422nd Separate Unmanned Systems Regiment prepares a Baba Yaga heavy bomber drone before a daytime training flight in the Zaporizhzhia direction, Ukraine, on March 23, 2026.

Russia’s war on Ukraine began four years before the U.S.-Israel war on Iran did, but the battle lines are getting blurrier, while the conflicts threaten to draw in more participants.

The Daily Life and Logistics of a Roman Soldier

The Roman Empire extended from the Atlantic to the Middle East, conquered and defended by its disciplined, professional soldiers. What was it like to be a Roman soldier?

Published: Mar 29, 2026

Written by Robert De Graaff, MA History

De Graaff, Robert. "The Daily Life and Logistics of a Roman Soldier" TheCollector.com, March 29, 2026, https://www.thecollector.com/robert-de-graaff/Copy Citation

In their words: What judges have said about birthright citizenship

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor speaks during a service for retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in the Great Hall at the Supreme Court in Washington, Dec. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool, File)
associated press

Updated 5:19 AM PDT, March 30, 2026

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal courts have uniformly blocked President Donald Trump’s order seeking to end birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to someone in the country illegally or temporarily.

Trump says he has ‘no problem’ with Russian oil tanker bringing relief to Cuba despite blockade

US President Donald Trump on Sunday night said he has “no problem” with a Russian oil tanker off the coast of Cuba delivering relief to the island, which has been brought to its knees by a U.S. oil blockade. “We have a tanker out there. We don’t mind having somebody get a boatload because they need… they have to survive,” Trump told reporters as he flew back to Washington.

By  DARLENE SUPERVILLE

Updated 6:48 PM PDT, March 29, 2026

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday night said he has “no problem” with a Russian oil tanker off the coast of Cuba delivering relief to the island, which has been brought to its knees by a U.S. oil blockade.

Final Preparations Underway for NASA’s Moon Mission

Tiffany L. Fairley 

March 29, 2026 10:49AM

Teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida are making final preparations toward beginning launch countdown activities for the Artemis II mission, set to launch as early as Wednesday, April 1.

Bruce Springsteen Teams Up With the ACLU for ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ Birthright-Citizenship Video

The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in a landmark birthright-citizenship case, and Springsteen and the ACLU want people to understand what’s at stake

By Andy Greene

March 23, 2026

On April 1, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in Trump v. Barbara, otherwise known as the birthright-citizenship case. It stems from a January 2025 Trump executive order that attempts to redefine the 14th Amendment of the Constitution in a way that no longer grants automatic citizenship to anyone born inside the United States. It was blocked by district courts across America, but the Supreme Court will make the ultimate call.

Pakistan says it will host US-Iran talks, while Iran warns US ground troops would be ‘set on fire’

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan announced Sunday that it will soon host talks between the U.S. and Iran, though there was no immediate word from Washington or Tehran, and it was unclear whether discussions on the monthlong war would be direct or indirect.

To Turn Protest into Political Power, We Need to Break Through the Two-Party System

The Greek Courier

Opinion

In recent years, we have witnessed an unprecedented wave of protests marked by mass energy and widespread resistance against the Trump administration. "No Kings" showed mass energy and broad revulsion against him. Yet, these impressive marches alone cannot dismantle the entrenched power that Trump has amassed. To translate this fervor into sustainable PROGRESSIVE change, we must transform protest energy into organized institutions and electoral power. To truly effect change, we must face a significant challenge: breaking through the constraints of our two-party system.

After criticism, Netanyahu’s office says plan being devised to let church leaders worship at Holy Sepulchre

By Lazar Berman
Today, 5:27 pm
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says a plan is being put together to allow Christian leaders to worship at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

“Over the past several days, Iran has repeatedly targeted the holy sites of all three monotheistic religions in Jerusalem with ballistic missiles. In one strike, missile fragments crashed meters from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,” says Netanyahu’s office on X.

Euronews: A new way to measure poverty shows the US falling behind Europe

By Servet Yanatma

Published on 29/03/2026 - 7:52 GMT+2

The time needed to get $1 in international dollars is 63 minutes in the US. This is about twice the average in Germany, France and the UK according to an Oxford University researcher. This suggests that average poverty is significantly higher in the US.

Comparing economies and poverty is challenging, as different measures can lead to different results. Olivier Sterck, an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford, has developed a new way to measure poverty, which he calls “average poverty”.

Pentagon said prepping weeks-long ground operation in Iran, short of full invasion

IRGC threatens American colleges in the Middle East, hits aluminum plants in UAE and Bahrain, in response to US-Israeli strikes; Iran targets southern Israel in overnight missile attacks

By ToI Staff and Agencies

Today, 9:34 am

The US Department of Defense is preparing options for ground operations in Iran, which would fall short of a full-scale invasion but could involve thousands of troops and take weeks or months, The Washington Post reported late Saturday.

The ‘No Kings’ Protests May Be the Turning Point We Desperately Need

GLIMMER OF HOPE

The estimated 9 million people who took to the streets across the U.S. on Saturday for the largest public protest in American history sent a message of hope.

David Rothkopf
Updated Mar. 29 2026 2:40AM EDT 

Published Mar. 28 2026 11:13PM EDT

Marshall McLuhan Was Right About Claude, Too

March 29, 2026

By Ezra Klein

Opinion Columnist

In his classic book “Understanding Media,” Marshall McLuhan dwells on the Greek myth of Narcissus. If it’s been a while since you’ve read it, the story, in Ovid’s telling, goes like this: Narcissus is born gorgeous, the son of the river god Cephissus and the nymph Liriope. He is desired by many but is callous and indifferent in response. He is cursed to love what he cannot have, and finds that love when he stumbles across a reflection of himself in a pool and wastes away, staring into his own shimmering eyes. (In other versions of the myth, he leans forward to kiss his reflection, falls into the water and drowns.)

More than 3,500 U.S. Troops arrive in Middle East as Iran war strikes intensify

Updated on: March 28, 2026 / 7:33 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Eleanor Watson contributed to this report.

More than 3,500 U.S. troops, including the USS Tripoli with about 2,500 Marines, arrived in the Middle East, officials announced Saturday, as strikes in the Iran war intensified. The U.S. Central Command said in a social media post that the USS Tripoli, which serves as the flagship for the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group / 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, arrived in its area of responsibility.

Analysis: Trump keeps saying ‘nobody’ knew or expected things lots of people knew or expected

President Donald Trump is silhouetted during the National Republican Congressional Committee annual fundraising dinner in Washington, DC, on March 25. Ken Cedeno/Reuters

By Daniel Dale

When President Donald Trump says “nobody” knew or expected something, that often means lots of people knew or expected it.

Trump made wildly inaccurate “nobody” claims about multiple subjects during his first presidency. Perhaps most famously, he declared in 2017, while trying and failing to pass a replacement for Obamacare, that “nobody knew health care could be so complicated.” He’s now doing it again amid the war with Iran.

Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon kills 3 journalists covering the war

By BASSEM MROUE and ISABEL DEBRE Associated Press 

Saturday, March 28, 2026 9:24AM

Photos by The New York Times and Associated Press

BEIRUT -- An Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon on Saturday killed three journalists who were covering the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, their TV stations said.

God and bitcoin: Why some Christians are going all in on cryptocurrency

From churches allowing congregants to tithe with digital coins to blogs promoting bitcoin as biblically sound, there’s an emerging Christian crypto subculture.

March 28, 2026, 4:00 AM PDT

By Bracey Harris

Todd and Janet Gatewood launched their Nashville-based radio show “God, Freedom and Bitcoin” in January, blending their passion for cryptocurrency with their strong faith.

NASA scientist backs evidence of non-human intelligence in Earth's skies

By ROB WAUGH
Published: 28 March 2026

A former NASA scientist has backed a groundbreaking study investigating mysterious flashes in the skies during the early nuclear age, decades before the first satellites were launched.

Ivo Busko, a retired NASA developer who worked at the Space Telescope Science Institute, published a pre-print paper this week that independently confirmed mysterious transient flashes first identified by astronomer Dr Beatriz Villarroel and her VASCO research team.