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Lead: The U.S. Treasury on Wednesday issued a broad license allowing U.S. companies to transact with Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA, marking a major shift from years of strict sanctions as the Trump administration seeks to augment global oil supplies amid the ongoing war with Iran. The authorization permits PDVSA to sell oil directly to … Read more

Lead On 18 March 2026 Israeli forces pushed deeper into southern Lebanon and met intense resistance from Hezbollah fighters in at least three strategic sectors, according to local residents and a Lebanese security source. Clashes have been concentrated around the hilltop city of Khiam and border villages such as Aita al-Chaab and Kafr Shouba, as … Read more

On March 18, 2026, the Federal Open Market Committee issued a statement announcing it would keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 3.5 to 3.75 percent. The Committee said economic activity had been expanding at a solid pace while job gains remained low and the unemployment rate was largely unchanged. Officials described … Read more

Lead On a sweltering Friday in February, a select group of about 215 fans gathered at Sunset Gower Studios in Hollywood to see Miley Cyrus revive the character that launched her career. The event—filmed for an hourlong Hannah Montana 20th-anniversary special that premieres on Disney+ on March 24—mixed faithful performances of the original songs with … Read more

Lead: The WNBA and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association reached a tentative collective bargaining agreement in the early hours of Wednesday in New York, ending an intense eight-day negotiating stretch. The agreement would raise the league salary cap to $7 million from $1.5 million, lift average player pay to about $600,000, and set minimum … Read more

Lead: On March 18, 2026, the conflict between Iran and Israel intensified: Iran reported strikes on the South Pars offshore gas field while Israel said an airstrike killed Iran’s intelligence minister, Esmaeil Khatib. The attacks came after days of targeted strikes that have removed multiple senior Iranian officials and widened fighting into Lebanon, where Israeli … Read more

Lead On 18 March 2026 children at the Joséphine Baker primary school in eastern Dijon discovered a remarkably well-preserved human skeleton seated upright at the bottom of a circular pit. Archaeologists from France’s Inrap say the body is one of several recently exposed in central Dijon that were intentionally buried in a seated position facing … Read more

Lead: The Federal Open Market Committee is expected to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at its March meeting, with the decision due at 2 p.m. ET on March 18, 2026. The announcement arrives amid a weak February jobs report that showed a net loss of 92,000 positions and a sudden spike in oil prices … Read more

Lead Acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl warned on March 18, 2026, that a rising rate of sick calls among Transportation Security Administration officers could force temporary airport closures across the United States. The surge followed a missed paycheck caused by a month-long partial federal shutdown, leaving roughly 50,000 officers working without pay and hundreds … Read more

Lead Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton was declared the projected winner of the Democratic primary for the US Senate on Tuesday night after a late surge in support, with roughly 90% of votes tallied, according to the Associated Press. The victory positions her to replace Senator Dick Durbin, 81, who is retiring after five terms. … Read more

Lead In the third week of Operation Epic Fury (March 2026), inexpensive Iranian drones have been striking U.S. facilities and Gulf states while U.S. missile defenses attempt to intercept them. Journalists on the ground in Erbil and regional reports describe repeated drone overflights and frequent intercepts that often destroy drones before they reach intended targets. … Read more

Lead: In the predawn hours of March 18, 1990, two men dressed as police officers entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, tied up the on-duty guards and walked away with 13 works of art, including paintings by Rembrandt and Vermeer. The theft—still the largest art heist in U.S. history and commonly valued at … Read more

Lead: GOP Sen. Markwayne Mullin faced his confirmation hearing on March 18, 2026, before the Senate Homeland Security Committee as lawmakers debated whether he is fit to run the Department of Homeland Security. The session opened with sharp criticism from Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who accused Mullin of prior conduct unbecoming of a Cabinet-level official. … Read more

At Nvidia’s annual developer conference this week, CEO Jensen Huang pushed back on criticism of DLSS 5, the company’s latest upscaling tech that it describes as “neural rendering.” Huang told reporters that complaints the feature strips creative control are misplaced, and said developers retain hands-on control to tune outputs to their artistic intent. The new … Read more

Lead: Early on Wednesday, March 18, 2026, in New York, the WNBA and the WNBA Players’ Association announced they have reached an agreement in principle on a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). Negotiators said the framework was settled after more than 100 hours of in-person talks over eight days, with a formal term sheet to … Read more