March 31, 2026
Government Shutdown, the Birth of Daylight Savings, and Jimmy Carter in Africa
Good morning, everyone!
If you missed it, be sure to check out the latest edition of Last Week in History:
Today, we will look at U.S. politics, the war in the Middle East, and a series of historical snapshots.
Let’s get to it.
United States
-The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reported yesterday that its workers received at least two paychecks that were missed due to the ongoing partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.
Last week, President Donald Trump signed an order directing the workers to be paid despite the funding lapse.
Currently, approximately 50,000 TSA officers are required to work without pay. The officers screen passengers, baggage, and cargo at over 440 airports to ensure secure U.S. air travel.
Lawmakers left town on Friday for a two-week Easter recess after the House and Senate passed differing bills to fund the Department, ensuring the shutdown will continue for at least that long.
-The average U.S. gas price stood at $3.99 yesterday amid the ongoing war in the Middle East, according to AAA.
-Vice President JD Vance won a straw poll at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference on attendees’ preference for the 2028 Republican nomination, receiving 53% support.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio trailed with 35%.
-Trump suggested that he could rescind his nomination of Casey Means to serve as U.S. Surgeon General amid pushback by Senate Republicans.
-On this day in 1870, Thomas Mundy Peterson of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, became the first African American to vote under the recently enacted 15th Amendment.
In 1918, the United States implemented Daylight Saving Time in an effort to conserve fuel during World War I.
After the initiative was implemented and repealed in various forms over the decades that followed, the Uniform Time Act of 1966 standardized Daylight Saving Time nationwide.
In 1948, Al Gore was born in Washington, D.C.
The son of a U.S. senator from Tennessee, Gore would go on to serve in the House and Senate before being elected as the 45th vice president of the United States.
He narrowly lost the 2000 presidential election to Republican George W. Bush following a protracted legal battle over vote tabulations in Florida.
In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson ended a televised address on Vietnam by announcing that he would not seek reelection that year, a surprise move that scrambled the presidential race.
Other Links:
Senate Republicans working on GOP-only bill to fund DHS through Trump’s term - The Hill
JD Vance appears at secretive conservative donor summit as 2028 presidential speculation grows - CBS
White House launches app touting Trump’s record, with some key omissions - CNBC
A Democratic Electrician Nabs a State Senate Seat in Republican Florida - The New York Times
Poll: The battle for MAHA that could sway the midterms - Politico
Mark Sanford makes a last-minute bid to return to Congress — again — in South Carolina - AP
Africa
-The Democratic Republic of Congo and China signed an agreement that will grant Beijing greater access to the African nation’s mining sector.
The signing comes amid heightened global competition for access over the world’s strategic minerals.
Congo is the world’s largest producer of cobalt, which is used in smartphones and electric vehicle batteries. At the same time, the country holds vast reserves of copper, lithium, coltan, and other battery metals.
Currently, China is the Congo’s largest bilateral creditor, and Kinshasa is set to benefit from duty-free access to the Chinese market on May 1 as part of a program China is granting 53 African nations.
-The war in the Middle East has halted the delivery of emergency cholera medical supplies for several African countries due to logistical challenges, according to Reuters.
Last year, cholera cases soared, with more than 600,000 cases in 34 countries and 8,000 deaths globally, according to the World Health Organization.
Many African countries, such as Chad, cannot produce the needed medical supplies to combat the disease, making them reliant on imports.
The delayed deliveries come just ahead of a high-risk rainy season.
-The death toll from weeks of heavy rains and flooding in Kenya has risen to 108, according to authorities.
-On this day in 1978, President Jimmy Carter arrived in Nigeria for a state visit, marking the first-ever visit by a sitting U.S. president to sub-Saharan Africa.
Other Links:
Congo army launches disarmament push against Rwanda genocide-linked militia - Reuters
Paramilitary attack kills at least 14 in central Sudan, group says - AP
Dozens killed in deadly gold mine attack in South Sudan - Africa News
Ethiopia seals $13 billion worth of deals at investment conference - Reuters
Top CAF official resigns amid AFCON backlash - Semafor
Americas and the Caribbean
-A Russian oil tanker reached Cuba on Monday as the island-nation faces widespread blackouts due to a U.S. blockade.
On Sunday, President Trump backtracked on his previous threat to impose punishing sanctions on nations that ship oil to the island, saying aboard Air Force One that, “the people need heat and cooling and all of the other things that you need.”
In recent weeks, Trump suggested that Washington could initiate a “peaceful takeover” of the country as the near-total oil blockade has brought day-to-day life for Cubans to a halt.
The arrival of the Russian tanker is the first in three months.
-Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro are tied in a hypothetical runoff vote ahead of this year’s presidential election, according to a new poll.
Bolsonaro is the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence for his attempt to stay in office following his 2022 election defeat to Lula.
Lula, 80, is seeking reelection amid concerns over his age.
The vote is slated for October 4.
-Lula said yesterday that Brasília still backed former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet’s nomination to serve as the next United Nations Secretary-General despite the new Chilean government’s withdrawal of support.
-On this day in 1964, Brazil’s military led a rebellion that toppled the democratically elected government of President João Goulart, ushering in 21 years of military dictatorship.
Other Links:
US formally reopens Caracas embassy as ties with Venezuela warm - Reuters
Oil spill deals economic blow to fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico - AP
Mexico says a third of 130,000 missing people might be alive, fueling criticism from families - Politico
Canada eyes Mercosur pact by autumn - Reuters
US appeals court overturns $16 billion judgment over Argentina energy company nationalization - AP
Asia/Indo-Pacific
-The head of Taiwan’s largest opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), will visit China in April, just ahead of a planned visit by President Trump to Beijing.
The KMT supports closer ties to mainland China, while the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) opposes. Beijing, which regards the self-governing island as a renegade province, has refused to speak to the government of President William Lai, who it calls a “separatist.”
The announcement of the visit also comes as Lai is seeking approval from the opposition-controlled parliament of an extra $40 billion in defense spending.
Following the defeat of the Nationalist government led by Chiang Kai-shek by the Communists, the KMT retreated to Taiwan, where it established a separate government, cementing the island’s political divide with mainland China.
The party would rule the island with an iron fist until the lifting of martial law in 1987, which led to gradual democratization.
-China resumed direct flights to North Korea after a six-year halt.
-On this day in 1992, the USS Missouri was decommissioned for a second and final time.
The battleship was the site of the Japanese surrender to the United States in 1945 and was the last U.S. battleship from World War II still in service.
Other Links:
Oil rises and Asia shares slide as Iran war enters fifth week - BBC
China sanctions Japanese lawmaker over his Taiwan ties. Japan calls the step ‘unacceptable’ - AP
Philippines, France sign military pact amid South China Sea tensions - Reuters
China Adds Quota For Overseas Investment by Most Since 2021 - Bloomberg
Cambodia advances a scam center law with penalties of up to life in prison - AP
Europe
-The Spanish government said yesterday that its airspace was closed to U.S. planes involved in Washington’s war against Iran, deepening the rift between the two NATO allies.
Earlier this month, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called for an immediate end to the war, saying, “You cannot respond to one illegality with another, because that’s how humanity’s great disasters begin.”
After Sánchez said he would disallow the U.S. from using its military bases in southern Spain, President Trump threatened to cut trade with Madrid.
The deterioration of ties comes amid a year of tensions between Trump and Sánchez. Last year, Trump made similar threats after the leftist prime minister said his government would not increase its military spending to 5% of the country’s gross domestic product, in line with a NATO commitment.
-Kosovo approved a plan to send soldiers to the Gaza Strip as part of a U.S.-backed international security force, joining Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, and Albania that have made similar commitments.
-Inflation in Germany surged in March due to the ongoing war in the Middle East, according to government data released yesterday.
-On this day in 1685, German composer Johann Sebastian Bach was born.
In 1889, the Eiffel Tower was inaugurated in Paris.
In 1991, the Warsaw Pact, the military alliance between the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellites, was dissolved as the end of the Cold War neared.
At its height, the pact included the Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania.
Other Links:
Pope Leo XIV rejects claims that God justifies war in Palm Sunday Mass message - AP
Pessimism sets in for Europe as Iran war hits economic and consumer confidence - CNBC
France suspects an Iran link after foiling bomb attack outside Bank of America - AP
Ukraine inks defence deal with major arms producer Bulgaria - Euronews
Zelensky Warns EU Loan Delay Threatens Ukraine’s Winter Preparations - Kyiv Post
Over 400,000 KitKat candy bars stolen in European heist - NBC
Middle East
-President Trump said yesterday that Washington was in “serious discussions” to end its war with Iran. He added that if a deal was not struck, then he would order strikes on the country’s oil and electric infrastructure.
-Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi suggested yesterday that the price of a barrel of oil could top $200 if the war in the region is not halted.
-Turkey reported yesterday that NATO defenses had downed an Iranian missile.
-Foreign ministers from the Arab League are unanimously backing Egyptian diplomat Nabil Fahmy to serve as the bloc’s next secretary-general.
-On this day in 2004, four American private contractors in Iraq were ambushed and killed by insurgents in Fallujah.
The subsequent broadcast of their mutilated bodies being dragged and hung ignited public outrage in the United States. The incident led President George W. Bush to launch Operation Vigilant Resolve, which shifted U.S. counter-insurgency operations in the war.
Other Links:
Iran’s Fractured Leadership Is Struggling to Coordinate, Officials Say - The New York Times
Trump interested in calling on Arab states to help pay for Iran war, White House says - Reuters
Three UN peacekeepers killed in Lebanon as Israeli strikes pummel south - Reuters
Israel’s parliament approves the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis - NBC
Latin Patriarch will have access to Jerusalem holy site after police stopped entry - BBC
That’s all for today. See you tomorrow.