Greetings! Happy International Pageant Day to those celebrating.

Let’s get into today’s top stories.

🇱🇧 Beirut got the ceasefire memo and the bombs anyway. Central Beirut was hit Wednesday without warning. Lebanon’s health ministry said at least 112 people were killed and at least 837 were wounded. The strikes came only hours after a ceasefire was announced in the American-Israeli war with Iran. Israel said the deal did not extend to its fight with Hezbollah. Pakistan, which helped mediate, said Lebanon was part of the arrangement. Black smoke rose over commercial and residential neighborhoods in the capital. Ambulances cut through traffic and flames in Corniche al Mazraa, one of Beirut’s busiest intersections. Israel said it struck more than 100 Hezbollah targets within 10 minutes across Beirut, southern Lebanon, and the eastern Bekaa Valley. Residents and local officials said the buildings hit were residential, not military. Social Affairs Minister Haneed Sayed called the escalation a very dangerous turning point. President Joseph Aoun called the attacks barbaric. Before Wednesday’s barrage, Israeli airstrikes had already killed more than 1,530 people in Lebanon, including more than 100 women and 130 children. More than 1M people had been displaced. Families who began packing to go home after the ceasefire instead watched the skyline burn again.

🇮🇷 Hormuz snapped shut again and the ceasefire started wobbling. The American government demanded that Iran immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran had closed the waterway in response to Israeli attacks on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. That move instantly cast doubt over an already precarious two-week ceasefire. American and Iranian officials both claimed victory after the deal. World leaders tried to sound relieved. At the same time, more drones and missiles hit Iran and Gulf Arab states. Vice President JD Vance called the arrangement fragile. Revolutionary Guard aerospace commander Gen. Seyed Majid Mousavi warned that aggression toward Lebanon was aggression toward Iran and promised a heavy response. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insisted any ceasefire had to include an end to the Lebanon war. Iran also said it would continue to control and charge ships passing through the strait while continuing uranium enrichment. A regional official said Iran and Oman could collect shipping fees under the plan. Roughly 20% of traded oil and a similar share of natural gas pass through Hormuz in peacetime. Iran cannot match American and Israeli airpower, but it can still squeeze the world economy at sea. The ceasefire now looks less like a signed settlement than a shipping dispute with missiles attached.

🌡️ March did not just break a record. It embarrassed the calendar. Federal weather data says the continental United States just logged its most abnormally hot month in 132 years of recordkeeping. March’s average temperature was 50.85 degrees Fahrenheit. That was 9.35 degrees above the 20th-century normal for March. It was not only the hottest March on record. It was also more above normal than any month ever recorded in the Lower 48. The previous record was 8.9 degrees above normal in March 2012. March 2026 cleared that mark comfortably. The average maximum temperature was 11.4 degrees above the 1900s average. That made the average daytime high almost a full degree warmer than a normal April day. Federal meteorologists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released the numbers today. Six of the nation’s top 10 most abnormally hot months have occurred in just the last decade. Even February 2026, which ran 6.57 degrees above normal, only ranked 10th. Forecasters also say a brewing El Niño may reach superstrength, raising odds that the next year pushes global warming even higher. Based on anthropogenic climate change, it seems spring is no longer easing into summer so much as impersonating it.

🚘 General Motors has a rearview problem with 270K chances to matter. General Motors is recalling more than 270,000 Chevrolet Malibu sedans in the US market. The problem is a rearview camera screen showing distorted image or going blank entirely. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says that failure reduces the driver’s view behind the car and increases crash risk. The recall covers 2023 to 2025 models. Safety report say a supplier identified a flaw in the bonding process used to assemble the camera housing. The weak adhesive bond can allow moisture to breach the housing. GM’s own investigation found that the mounting configuration of the Sharp camera could expose it to that moisture. In plain English, the camera can fail because water gets where it should not. GM said it is not aware of crashes or injuries linked to the issue, but dealers will replace the rearview camera for free. Owner notification letters are expected to start going out on May 18th. Recalls are usually dry until they describe the instant a safety feature goes blind. This one concerns the screen meant to show what drivers cannot otherwise see. Temporary blindness is a bad design choice, even when it arrives by adhesive failure rather than intent.

📊 Wall Street celebrated first and worried later. Global markets rallied hard after the Iran ceasefire announcement. The Standard and Poor’s 500 (S&P 500) jumped 2.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1,257 points, or 2.7%. The Nasdaq composite climbed 2.9%. The move was not confined to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). South Korea’s Kospi surged 6.9%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 leaped 5.4%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 3.1%, Germany’s DAX advanced 5.1%, while France’s CAC 40 rose 4.5%. The real star of the session, though, was oil in reverse. Benchmark American crude plunged 15.9% to $95.01 per barrel. Brent crude fell 13.2% to $94.92. Brent had briefly topped $119 when war fears peaked, and it was still well above its roughly $70 level before the conflict. The national average for regular gasoline had already moved above $4.16 per gallon, hurting drivers at the pump. Fuel-sensitive shares like United Airlines rallied sharply as traders priced relief. However, stocks were still below where they stood before the war, another way of saying the celebration remained conditional.

🎓 Jay Rothman says the axe fell without a reason attached. Fired Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman said he was blindsided by his ouster. He said the board of regents never gave him a clear explanation. Regents voted unanimously on Tuesday night after roughly 30 minutes behind closed doors. Rothman said he asked why and was told nothing useful. He added that he is unlikely to sue because that is not who he is. Rothman is 66 and took the job in 2022 after running a Milwaukee-based law firm with more than 1,000 attorneys. He said regents had asked him to retire or resign before the formal firing. He considered retiring, then changed course because no one would state a reason. Regent President Amy Bogost said only that the move was about the future of the 13-campus system, which educates about 165,000 students. Rothman said his last review in August did not even discuss his performance objectives. During his tenure, he lobbied Republican lawmakers for more state aid, dealt with free speech fights around pro-Palestinian protests, and oversaw the closure of eight branch campuses. Overall system enrollment stayed steady under his leadership. State Senate President Patrick Testin called the firing a blatant partisan hatchet job. In Wisconsin higher education, the official explanation is still the missing document in the file.

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