U.S. Pressure on Cuba Continues Despite Arrival of Russian Oil Tanker
A Russian tanker carrying around 700,000 barrels of crude oil has arrived in the port of Matanzas, Cuba, breaking the U.S. blockade imposed by President Trump three months ago. Fuel shortages in Cuba have caused dayslong blackouts and have brought all sectors of the country to the brink of collapse.
The White House is claiming the arrival of the Russian tanker, unimpeded by the United States, does not signal a “formal change in sanction policy,” and said U.S. decisions on shipments going forward would be made on a case-by-case basis.
“I think possibly what’s going on is that the administration has begun to worry that their effort to strangle the economy could push the economy over the edge and generate a mass migration crisis,” says William LeoGrande, professor of government at American University.
“Who is the United States? Who gave you the authorization to say how much oil is going into Cuba or not? This is illegal,” adds Liz Oliva Fernández, a Cuban journalist with Belly of the Beast.
“Deeply Illegal, Unconstitutional”: Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Ban Reaches Supreme Court
The Supreme Court is hearing arguments this week on the constitutionality of President Trump’s move to end birthright citizenship. An executive order, signed on Trump’s first day back in office, declares children born to parents without permanent legal status would no longer be automatically granted citizenship.
The policy “is deeply illegal, unconstitutional and morally wrong,” says Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project. The ACLU is representing all children targeted by Trump’s executive order in a class-action lawsuit. Wofsy says roughly 5 million U.S.-born children would be affected by the order over the next 20 years.
The AI War on Iran: Project Maven, a Secretive Palantir-Run System, Helps Pentagon Pick Bomb Targets
The Trump administration says the United States has struck 11,000 targets in Iran since the U.S.-Israeli war on the country began. Critics have questioned the accuracy of the Maven system, the artificial intelligence system used by the military to speed up the process of identifying targets.
“Imagine Google Earth for war, a map of war with white dots, infused with information like elevation, coordinate, what is precisely there, whether it’s friendly or foe,” says Katrina Manson, a reporter for Bloomberg News and author of Project Maven: A Marine Colonel, His Team, and the Dawn of AI Warfare.
The Pentagon launched Project Maven in 2017. Google was an initial partner, but the company pulled out after over 3,000 Google employees signed a letter opposing the work. The big data firm Palantir then took over the project and has run it ever since.
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Headlines for March 31, 2026
Trump Drops Bunker Buster Bombs on Isfahan and Threatens to Obliterate Iran’s Energy Infrastructure; Iran Vows to Target American University Campuses in the Region After U.S. Strikes Hit Iranian Universities; Iran Strikes Oil Tanker Near Dubai and Fires Cluster Munitions at Israel; Israel’s Parliament Approves Death Penalty for Palestinians; Palestinian American Activist Nerdeen Kiswani Speaks Outside City Hall After Assassination Attempt; Socialist Filmmaker Avi Lewis Elected to Lead Canada’s New Democratic Party; MSF: Rape and Sexual Violence “Part of Everyday Life” in Sudan’s Darfur Region; At Least 70 Killed in Attack on Gold Mine in South Sudan; Mexican Officials Call for Investigation After Mexican Immigrant Dies at Adelanto ICE Jail; At Least 70 Killed in Gang Massacre in Haiti as U.N. Force Prepares to Deploy; Trump Vows to Continue Energy Blockade on Cuba Despite Allowing Russian Oil Tanker to Dock; Trump Administration Opens 401(k) Retirement Accounts to Private Equity and Cryptocurrency
Trapped and alone: Fear of ICE is deepening postpartum isolation for immigrant mothers https://19thnews.org/2026/03/ice-fears-postpartum-immigrant-mothers/
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