US consumer confidence inches up despite soaring gas prices

WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. consumer confidence inched higher in March despite soaring energy prices. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose modestly to 91.8 in March from 91 in February. The board said that there was increasing pessimism in other measures of the survey, including expectations of higher inflation.

Protests in West Bank as Israel approves death penalty for Palestinians convicted of murder

JERUSALEM (AP) – Hundreds of protesters took to the streets across the embattled Palestinian territories on Tuesday after Israel’s parliament passed a measure establishing the death penalty by hanging for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis.

Iran remains a stubborn foe after absorbing massive US-Israeli attacks

BEIRUT (AP) – Since the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran on Feb. 28, the Trump administration claims to have all but “obliterated” the Islamic Republic’s military capabilities. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared last week that “never in recorded history has a nation’s military been so quickly and so effectively neutralized.”

NASA is shooting for the moon. A guide to the Artemis II mission

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – It’s humanity’s first flight to the moon since 1972. In a throwback to Apollo, NASA’s Artemis II mission will send four astronauts on a lunar fly-around. They’ll hurtle several thousand miles beyond the moon, hang a U-turn and then come straight back. No circling around the moon, no stopping for a moonwalk.

Seizing Kharg Island would risk US troops' lives and may not end Iran war

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump is threatening to deploy ground troops to seize critical oil infrastructure on Iran’s Kharg Island, a military gambit that experts say would risk American lives and could still fail to end the war.

Gulf allies privately push Trump to keep fighting until Iran is defeated

WASHINGTON (AP) – Gulf allies of the United States, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are urging President Donald Trump to continue prosecuting the war against Iran, arguing that Tehran hasn’t been weakened enough by the monthlong U.S.-led bombing campaign, according to U.S., Gulf and Israeli officials.

Trump threatens to destroy Iran's desalination plants

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to target Iran’s energy infrastructure, including the country’s desalination plants. Such a move – and Iran’s possible targeting of the plants of its Gulf Arab neighbors – could have devastating impacts across the water-starved Middle East.

Fed watching energy prices, but Chair says bank is limited in what it can do

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) – Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Monday that it is important to closely monitor inflation amid a spike in energy prices from the Iran war. Powell said there wasn’t a lot Fed policymakers could do since energy shocks “tend to come and go pretty quickly” and monetary maneuvers work over the longer-term.

Japan deploys its first long-range missiles

TOKYO (AP) – Japan’s first long-range missile was deployed at a southwestern army camp, officials said Tuesday, as the country pushes to bolster its offensive capabilities. The upgraded Type-12 land-to-ship missiles, developed and produced by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, became operational at Camp Kengun in Kumamoto prefecture.