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Almanac for March 20, 2026

Today is Friday, March 20, the 79th day of 2026. There are 286 days left in the year. Today in history: In 1995, in Tokyo, packages containing the deadly chemical sarin were opened and dispersed on five separate subway trains in a terror attack by members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, causing 14 deaths and injuring more than 1,000. Also on this date: In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte returned to Paris after escaping his exile on Elba, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule. In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe's influential novel about slavery, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," was first published in book form ...

Iran challenging a bedrock of American geopolitical power

The reason why we have the Fifth Fleet, one of the most awesome naval forces ever assembled in the history of mankind, is to protect the sea lanes in the Middle East. That the Strait of Hormuz is now effectively closed is not just a blow to the global economy and a key point of leverage for ...

Trump’s failure with allies on Iran shows pressure losing its effect

PARIS (AP) — We've long had your back, now it's our turn. That is how the famously transactional U.S. President Donald Trump is framing his demands that allies help him with the Iran war. He wants to call in IOUs for decades of U.S. security guarantees. The string of refusals indicates his ...

Almanac for March 19, 2026

Today is Thursday, March 19, the 78th day of 2026. There are 287 days left in the year. Today in history: In 2003, President George W. Bush announced in a televised address that coalition forces had begun an invasion of Iraq. (Bush would declare victory just over five weeks later in his "Mission Accomplished" speech, though the main U.S. troop withdrawal would not be completed until 2011.) Also on this date: In 1931, Nevada Gov. Fred B. Balzar signed a measure that made the state the first to legalize gambling. In 1945, during World War II, more than 800 service members were ...

Should America have a red line?

President Donald Trump has acted as no other president has by unleashing a war on Iran whose objective is not only preventing the ayatollahs from ever building a nuclear weapon but ideally (though unmentioned) replacing the fanatics with leaders more friendly to Israel and the West and ...

What to know about economic and political turmoil in Cuba

Cuba's widening economic turmoil along with its growing political tensions with U.S. President Donald Trump have paralyzed much of the island and raised uncertainty about what's next. The country was plunged into darkness this week by a blackout — the third big failure of its power grid ...