Greetings! Happy Easter to those celebrating.

Let’s get into today’s top stories.

🌏 Easter crossed war zones and kept walking. Pope Leo XIV used his first Easter Mass in Vatican City to plead for global peace to prevail through dialogue and mutual understanding. In St. Peter’s Square, he celebrated resurrection hope and delivered Urbi et Orbi without the usual catalog of wars. In Jerusalem, Easter at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was scaled back under Israeli police limits tied to missile attacks. Even the Western Wall blessing nearby was cut to 50 people. In Gaza City, Catholics at Holy Family church sang through Mass and queued to kiss a framed sketch of Jesus. Worshippers there called it their first Easter with real relief since the ceasefire. In Tehran, Armenian Christians gathered at St. Sarkis Cathedral. Families embraced, children traded painted eggs, and clergy prayed for the war to end. The geography of Easter stretched from the Vatican to Jerusalem, Gaza, and Tehran. The liturgy was the same, but every city was measuring hope against a different kind of danger.

🇺🇦 Zelenskyy sees one war feeding another. Volodymyr Zelenskyy says a long Middle East war could bleed support away from Ukraine. His concern is not abstract: Kyiv already fears reduced deliveries of Patriot air defense missiles. He said Russia’s daily barrages leave no real margin for delay. European partners were supposed to help fund new Patriot purchases. Now those same stockpiles are being strained by the Iran war. Zelenskyy also warned that higher oil prices help Moscow more than Kyiv. A tighter Strait of Hormuz means fatter Kremlin revenues and a sturdier Russian war machine. That turns one war into subsidy for another. The battlefield may be in Ukraine, but the price signal is coming from the Gulf. Zelenskyy’s message was simple: every diverted missile and every pricier barrel can land on Ukrainian cities.

🤬 Trump threatened Iran and improvised the ending. President Donald Trump threatened Iran again Sunday in what sounded more like an expletive-laced comment section than a whitepaper. He said Iran would be “living in Hell” if the Strait of Hormuz stayed shut and threatened power plants and bridges, ending his Truth Social post with “praise be to Allah". The contradiction was pure Trump, profane menace followed by borrowed piety. The backdrop was a rescue mission for a wounded American aviator after an F-15E crashed in Iran. Trump said the pilot was pulled from the mountains in an operation involving dozens of aircraft. A second crew member, he said, was rescued in broad daylight within hours. Officials also said another American aircraft was hit and two Black Hawk helicopters took fire during the mission. When the rhetoric is this theatrical, even genuine military drama arrives sounding like performance.

🔥 The Springs Fire finally met calmer math. California’s Springs Fire no longer looks like a runaway headline. Riverside County officials said the blaze was about 75% contained Saturday. It covered roughly 6.3 square miles east of Los Angeles near Moreno Valley. Evacuation orders were lifted for a large swath of neighborhoods. Officials expected the rest to be lifted by day’s end. Strong Santa Ana winds had driven the fire early, with gusts forecast up to 45 MPH. By Saturday those winds had eased enough for crews to tighten containment lines. Natural trails also helped firefighters reach the perimeter. Thankfully, no structures were reported damaged or destroyed.

🚀 SpaceX wants Wall Street to fund the myth. SpaceX has filed preliminary paperwork to sell shares to the public. If the offering lands near the rumored scale, it could become the biggest initial public offering (IPO) ever at over $2T. It could also make Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire. Two people familiar with the filing said the company may seek as much as $75B. That would easily top Saudi Aramco’s $29B debut in 2019. SpaceX is no longer just a rocket company. It also owns Starlink and recently folded X and xAI under the same corporate roof. Musk still owns about 42%, according to PitchBook, though that will change after the sale. The company has also collected about $6B in government contracts in five years. Wall Street loves moonshots, especially when taxpayers already helped build the launchpad.

⛽ Gas-tax relief sounds cleaner than it pencils out. With average gas above $4 a gallon nationally, suspending state gas taxes sounds like easy politics. The numbers make it messier. Only Georgia and Utah have suspended all or part of their gas taxes so far. Georgia cut its 33-cent levy for 60 days. Utah trimmed 6 cents from a 38-cent tax, but not until July 1st. Retail stations have charged an average 38 cents above wholesale over the last five years. That means drivers may not see a full tax cut reflected at the pump. Republican governors in other states worry the move is more gesture than relief. They also need the revenue for roads, bridges, and already-budgeted projects. Cheap symbolism is tempting, but even populism has an infrastructure bill attached.

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That’s all for today!

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See you tomorrow!