Greetings! Happy National Burrito Day to those celebrating.

Let’s get into today’s top stories.

🇬🇧 Britain tries to pry open Hormuz by committee. Britain gathered more than 40 countries to pressure Iran over Hormuz. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper chaired the virtual summit in London. The goal was simple on paper and ugly in practice. Get ships moving without pretending the danger is gone. Around 20% of the world’s traded crude passes through the strait. A similar share of natural gas does too. That helps explain why fuel, freight, and food prices are already twitching upward. France signaled military force is unrealistic, so diplomacy remains the preferred instrument. Officials also discussed roughly 2,000 ships and 20,000 seafarers stranded by the conflict. With this week’s latest diplomatic forum, The West is now trying to reopen a chokepoint after learning that global trade can be held hostage by one narrow bend of water.

🇨🇺 Cuba calls it mercy while pressure does the talking. Cuba says it will release 2,010 prisoners during Holy Week. Havana described the move as humanitarian, not political. Officials said releases were based on behavior, time served, age, health, and offense reviews. The group includes Cubans and foreigners, plus women, young people, and the elderly. The government did not identify names or crimes. It also still denies holding political prisoners. Activist group Prisoners Defended says more than 1,200 political detainees remain behind bars. The announcement lands amid an American oil blockade that has worsened blackouts and civilian hardship. Cuba has made similar prisoner releases at sensitive diplomatic moments before. Mercy may be the chosen vocabulary, but pressure is clearly part of the grammar.

🎙️ Trump asks for patience while promising more fire. President Trump asked Americans for patience and a few more weeks. He said the mission was on track and nearing completion. In the next breath, he promised heavy strikes would continue. He offered no end date and little operational detail. He again claimed Americans do not need the Strait of Hormuz. That line arrived while oil prices, gas worries, and war costs were rising. He avoided ground invasion talk but did not fully close the door. He also spoke as if closure were near and escalation were optional. This is classic Trump, maximal certainty wrapped around elastic specifics. The address was meant to calm a skeptical electorate, but it asked voters to trust momentum without seeing the map.

🛰️ Artemis II leaves Earth orbit and resumes the long route. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) pushed Artemis II out of Earth orbit after about a day aloft. Orion then fired cleanly and sent four astronauts toward the moon. The crew is Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen. It is humanity’s first lunar voyage since Apollo 17 in 1972. NASA says the mission is a test flight, not a landing attempt. The spacecraft is expected to fly about 4,000 miles beyond the moon. That would beat Apollo 13’s distance record for human travel. A solar eclipse should also be visible from their vantage point. One toilet malfunction required improvised plumbing, because space still enjoys embarrassing engineers. The larger point is strategic: prove the route now so a landing can follow later.

❌ Bondi exits after turning DOJ into a loyalty test. Pam Bondi is out as attorney general after a 14-month tenure built on loyalty. Trump praised her as a patriot and loyal friend while sending her to the private sector. Her time in office remade the Justice Department in his image. Critics say she weakened its independence from the White House. Her handling of the Epstein files drew bipartisan anger after promised revelations fizzled. She also oversaw mass firings and investigations targeting Trump’s perceived enemies. Trump named Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as acting replacement. Blanche is not a neutral institutionalist arriving from nowhere. He previously served as Trump’s criminal defense lawyer. With her abrupt departure, Bondi leaves in her wake a frazzled department that looks less chastened than politicized.

⛽️ Oil keeps shouting while stocks finish green. Stocks recovered from early losses and finished the week with a gain; markets are closed tomorrow for Good Friday. The Standard and Poor’s 500 (S&P 500) rose 0.1% today and 3.4% for the week. The Nasdaq composite added 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1% but still managed a weekly gain. Relief in equities coexisted with stress everywhere else. American crude jumped 11.3% to $111.54 a barrel. Brent crude rose 7.8% to $109.03. The surge reflected a war still squeezing supply routes and inflation nerves. Some tech stocks helped steady sentiment while travel and auto names lagged. Wall Street recovered just enough to remind investors that a green close can still smell like gasoline.

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That’s all for today!

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