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Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa speaks during a Ministerial formation of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic, in Damascus, Syria, on March 29, 2025.
Hard Numbers: Syria gets new Cabinet, US steps up Houthi strikes, Top US vaccine official resigns, Hamas offers hostages for ceasefire, Trump eyes third term, Kashmir violence turns deadly, Trump shrugs off high car prices
23: Syria has a new transitional Cabinet. Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa swore in his new 23-member team on Saturday, replacing caretakers who had been in those roles since former President Bashar Assad was ousted in December. While the new Cabinet is largely filled with al-Sharaa allies, it is religiously and ethnically diverse, a sign that Syria is moving forward to rebuild in the post-Assad and post-civil war era.
1: At least one person was killed amid suspected US strikes against Yemen’s Houthis on Saturday. According to the Associated Press, the Trump administration has embarked on an expanded anti-Houthi campaign in recent days, targeting ranking rebel personnel. Satellite photos also reportedly show an airstrip off Yemen that looks prepared to accept flights and B-2 bombers.
100,000: The FDA’s top vaccine official resigned on Friday after being told he could quit or be fired. Dr. Peter Marks stressed that he was worried that Robert F. Kennedy’s aggressive stance on vaccination would dangerously undermine public confidence in vaccines against common diseases such as measles, which is spreading in the US and has “killed more than 100,000 unvaccinated children last year in Africa and Asia.” An HHS spokesperson, meanwhile, said Friday that Dr. Marks didn’t belong at the FDA if he was not committed to supporting the “restoration of science to its golden standard and advocate for radical transparency.”
5-50: On Saturday, Hamas offered to release 5 hostages during the three-day Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr, which began Sunday, to secure a 50-day ceasefire. The offer came in response to a proposal the militants received from Egypt and Qatar. Israel offered a counterproposal in coordination with Washington, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is demanding the release of 10 of the remaining 24 hostages believed to still be alive.
3: US President Donald Trump mused on Sunday that he’s not joking about finding “methods” to serve a third term, including being elected VP and then having the president resign to become president by succession. While some Trump loyalists like Steve Bannon believe a third term might be possible, constitutional experts warn there’s no “one weird trick” to bypass the 22nd Amendment, which limits presidents to two elected terms.
6: Four police officers and two suspected rebels — dubbed terrorists for their opposition to Indian rule — were reportedly killed Saturday morning in Jammu and Kashmir. Thousands of people have died in battles between rebels and Indian security forces over the past few decades, but violence has lessened in recent years.
15,000: How much will US President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs against Canada and Mexico drive up car prices? Goldman Sachs estimates a bump of between $5,000 and $15,000 per vehicle, depending on the brand and model. But Trump told NBC News on Saturday that he “couldn’t care less” if car prices soared, maintaining that manufacturers should build their vehicles in the US.
Rescue personnel walk near a building that collapsed after a strong earthquake struck central Myanmar on Friday, March 28, 2025.
Hard Numbers: Major earthquake strikes Southeast Asia, Israel passes judicial reform, Fox News wins advertisers, Pollution kills, HHS sees massive job cuts, Suspected US strikes hit Houthis
7.7: Two disastrous earthquakes, the first of 7.7 magnitude, struck Myanmar on Friday, destroying vital infrastructure across Southeast Asia. Videos of a collapsed bridge in Mandalay, Myanmar, and a fallen building in Bangkok, Thailand, have emerged. The number of casualties isn’t yet known, although several are feared trapped under a fallen skyscraper in the Thai capital. At least 144 people have been confirmed dead.
71,000: Israel’s right-wing government on Thursday passed a contentious law to allow politicians greater sway in judicial appointments, despite some 71,000 opposition amendments. The move is a part of the judicial overhaul that protesters have been fighting for over a year and comes amid Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial.
125: Since the US election, Fox News has gained 125 new high-profile advertisers as Rupert Murdoch’s cable network continues to draw soaring viewership during President Donald Trump’s second term. Businesses such as Amazon, GE Vernova, JPMorgan Chase, Netflix, and UBS have recently run ads on Fox News for the first time in over two years.
5.7 million: According to a new World Bank study, 5.7 million people are killed annually by air pollution. The global institution is calling on countries to take an integrated approach to halve the number of people breathing unhealthy air by 2040 and points to places like Mexico City, which has successfully curbed pollution, and Egypt and Turkey, which have put financing mechanisms in place to support emission reduction.
20,000: The Trump administration announced Thursday that it will cut 20,000 positions from the Department of Health and Human Services – 10,000 from job cuts and 10,000 from voluntary departures – as part of a major restructuring that its chief, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., says “will do more — a lot more — at a lower cost to the taxpayer.” RFK says the reorganization is intended to help the department prioritize the fight against chronic diseases, but critics fear it could hinder the critical agency, which includes Medicare and the Federal Drug Administration. And throughout the federal government, officials are planning for between 8% and 50% staff cuts, according to an internal White House document obtained by the Washington Post.
19: Two weeks after the Trump administration dropped its first bombs on Houthi rebels in Yemen — details of which were revealed over the now-infamous Signal chat — the United States is believed to have attacked again early Friday, firing at least 19 strikes. The extent of the damage is unclear, although the intensity of the bombardment has increased since the Biden administration first started pounding the Houthis.
Palestinians protest to demand an end to war, chanting anti-Hamas slogans, in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip, on March 26, 2025.
Palestinians shake fists at Hamas
These protests in the town of Beit Lahia in Gaza’s north were triggered by an Israeli order to evacuate large parts of the town after Islamic Jihad gunmen launched rockets at Israel on Tuesday.
Though limited in numbers, these hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets confident that they would be met, as in the past, by masked and armed Hamas fighters who would denounce them as traitors and assault those slowest to disperse.
It’s a reminder that once the war ends, there will be a reckoning among Gaza’s Palestinians over control of their future. For now, the nearly two-month Gaza ceasefire is over, and Israeli attacks on Palestinian targets resumed on March 18, killing hundreds. But once the war is finally settled, and Israel and outside powers begin to prepare and debate plans for Gaza’s future, the anger many Palestinians feel toward Hamas will likely crest.
Israel Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Itamar Ben Gvir shake hands as the Israeli government approve Netanyahu's proposal to reappoint Itamar Ben-Gvir as minister of National Security, in the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusaelm, March 19, 2025
Israel gets “budget of war” amid new plans for Gaza and West Bank
It also included a series of tax hikes that were heavily criticized by opposition parties. Outside the Knesset, demonstrators protested the government’s failure to secure the release of the remaining 59 Israeli hostages as well asrecent moves by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to dismiss the head of Israel’s intelligence agency and its attorney general.
For all the protests, the budget’s passage represents “a significant political win for Netanyahu,” according to Eurasia Group managing director Firas Maksad.
“With greater room to maneuver politically from here on, the big question is if the prime minister will be more flexible on moving towards phase two of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, thereby beginning to bring the conflict with Hamas to close,” Maksad added.
A fund for war? Israel is reportedly preparing amajor ground offensive in Gaza after the end of the recent two-month ceasefire, includingseizing additional territories and potentially occupying the enclave. “If there are not renewed hostage negotiations, then the only alternative left is to resume the fighting,” warned Eyal Hulata, former head of Israel’s National Security Council. “And there are serious plans.”
Other plans include creating new settlements on the West Bank. Last week, Israel’s security cabinet greenlit a decision to split off 13 “neighborhoods” of existing West Bank settlements, established decades ago without authorization, from their “mother settlement,” creating independent settlements. The Palestinian Authority condemned the move as well as increased Israeli military operations in the northern West Bank as “an unprecedented escalation in the confiscation of Palestinian lands.”
Tensions in the West Bank have been escalating for months. On Monday, the Oscar-winning Palestinian director of “No Other Land,” Hamdan Ballal, was detained by Israeli forces on accusations of “rock throwing,” which he denied, after being attacked by settlers in the village of Susya. Ballal was released Tuesday and said he was beaten and blindfolded for 24 hours while in custody, and the Israeli military has not responded to the allegation.
Smoke rises from a burning building in North Gaza, as seen from the Israel-Gaza border, March 23, 2025.
Israel ramps up military offensives as Bibi battles the courts
Israel stepped up its attacks against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon this weekend. The Israeli military ordered the evacuation of Rafah and confirmed the killing of a Hamas leader on Sunday, while the Israeli cabinet approved a proposal to create a directorate to advance the “voluntary departure” of Palestinians from Gaza. In Lebanon, Israel carried out airstrikes in retaliation for rockets fired into Israel. The strikes killed seven people, including a child, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, and prompted fears of a “new war” in the region.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s biggest fight might be internal. Last week, he announced the firing of Shin Bet security head Ronen Bar over alleged failures to prevent the Oct. 7 attacks in 2023. Bar had been investigating Netanyahu’s office for allegations of corruption.
On Friday, the Israeli courts stayed Bar’s dismissal pending further hearings. Now, the Israeli prime minister is attempting to remove Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who vocally opposed the dismissal of Bar and has clashed with Netanyahu over his proposed overhaul of the judicial system, an issue which has Israelis taking to the streets regularly to protest his attempts to expand executive power.
On Sunday, the Israeli cabinet unanimously passed a no-confidence motion against Baharav-Miara for “ongoing substantial differences of opinion between the government and the attorney general, which prevents effective collaboration.” The issue of her removal will now go to a committee expected to be stacked with Netanyahu loyalists, whose decision can then be appealed to the Supreme Court.
That process could take weeks and set up a showdown between the executive and judicial branches of government. Opposition leader Yair Lapid warned that if Netanyahu defies the courts, Israel “will no longer [be] a democracy” – and that citizens may stop paying taxes in protest.Israelis protest against the government over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plans to remove Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, the resumption of Israeli strikes on Gaza, and the return of far-right politician Itamar Ben Gvir to the cabinet.
Israel launches Gaza ground operation, Bibi faces blowback
Israel has launched a “limited ground operation” to retake the strategic Netzarim Corridor in Gaza as part of its offensive against Hamas, sealing off North and South Gaza and reoccupying four fortified bases. The moves follow Israeli airstrikes that reportedly killed over 400 Palestinians in 48 hours.
In a statement Wednesday, Hamas called the ground incursion a "new and dangerous violation" of the ceasefire deal. The United Nations also condemned an Israeli strike that killed a UN staffer and wounded five others in central Gaza City, and the International Committee of the Red Cross warned that Gaza hospitals are running out of medical supplies.
What’s the view from Israel? Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists the offensive will continue until Hamas is eliminated and all 59 remaining Israeli hostages are freed. In Jerusalem, however, tens of thousands of demonstrators marched Wednesday morning to protest the collapse of the ceasefire as well as efforts to remove the chief of the Shin Bet security force, Ronen Bar, who has been investigating Netanyahu’s aides on corruption allegations.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara is refusing to dismiss Bar without a legal review, saying that “the role of the head of the Shin Bet is not a personal trust position serving the prime minister.” We’re watching whether Bibi will continue to press his case, or whether public pressure will make him back down.People march towards Jerusalem during a rally against the government and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to demand the release of all hostages from Gaza, on March 18, 2025.
How Israel’s new Gaza attacks could benefit Bibi
The party of far-right Israeli politician and former National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has rejoined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government following renewed Israeli attacks on Gaza.
Ben Gvir withdrew his Jewish Power party from the governing coalition in January over the negotiating of the ceasefire. At the time, he expressed a willingness to return to the coalition should Israel resume fighting; true to his word, Jewish Power reunited with Netanyahu’s Likud and several smaller right-wing parties on Tuesday, strengthening Netanyahu’s coalition.
The attacks, which started early Tuesday with widespread bombings and ended the ceasefire in place since Jan. 19, have already killed more than 400 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Mediators from Israel and Hamas, as well as the US, Egypt, and Qatar, attempted to negotiate a second phase of the ceasefire, which was supposed to see Hamas return more hostages in exchange for Israel’s complete troop withdrawal from Gaza. But during the talks, Israel made it clear it hoped instead to extend the first phase to get more hostages back while still keeping troops in place.
The timing, according to Eurasia Group’s Managing Director for Middle East & North Africa Firas Maksad, coincides with Wednesday’s discussion of the 2025 budget by Israel’s Knesset Finance Committee.“Netanyahu has a very fragile government coalition, and an inability to see that budget through by March 31 would mean the collapse of the coalition and having to go to early elections.”
If Netanyahu lost his position, he would have less protection and ability to shape the outcome of his ongoing corruption trial.
“Having Ben Gvir back under the tent gives [Netanyahu] a lot more breathing room and flexibility,” Maksad said.
But the renewed military operations are disastrous for Gazans – who have seen humanitarian aid blocked for two weeks – and for the families of Israel’s remaining hostages.Palestinians are fleeing their homes in response to Israel army evacuation orders in a number of neighborhoods following heavy Israeli strikes in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip on March 18, 2025.
Ceasefire ends as Israel resumes Gaza bombing
The Israel-Hamas ceasefire ended overnight, as Israel resumed airstrikes on the Gaza Strip following Hamas’ refusal to release Israeli hostages. The Israeli Defense Forces targeted mid-level Hamas commanders, members of Hamas’ politburo, and its infrastructure in multiple locations across Gaza, including Rafah, Khan Younis, and Gaza City.Over 300 fatalities have been reported, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The White House said that it was briefed in advance of the operation.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office stated on X that the strikes followed the “repeated refusal to release our hostages and its rejection of all the proposals it received from US president’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, and from the mediators … Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength.”
Israel believes there are about 24 living hostages and 35 dead hostages still in Gaza. Hamas issued a statement saying Netanyahu’s decision to resume “aggression” against the territory exposes the hostages “to an unknown fate.” The IDF says it will continue the airstrikes “as long as necessary,” and expand the operation beyond an aerial campaign if ordered to do so by the Israeli government.
A group representing the families of the remaining hostages accused Netanyahu’s government today of choosing “to give up the hostages” by launching new strikes.