Reuters World News - Iran tanker strike, Trump threats, Israel’s death penalty law and skiers in bikinis

Episode Date: March 31, 2026

Iran attacks a crude oil tanker off Dubai after President Donald Trump warns the U.S. will obliterate Iran's power plants if it doesn’t open the Strait of Hormuz. Spain closes its airspace to U.S. planes involved in attacks on Iran. Israel passes a law making death by hanging a default sentence for Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks. And record U.S. heat sees skiers take to the slopes in their bikinis. Listen to the Morning Bid podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, I'm Tara Oaks in Liverpool. It's Tuesday, March 31st. Today, Iran hits a giant oil tanker of Dubai after Trump's latest threats. Thousands of US Army paratroopers arrive in the Middle East. An Israeli law makes the death penalty the default punishment of Palestinians convicted of lethal attacks. And record heat sees US skiers take to the slopes in their bikinis. This is Royce's World News, bringing you everything you need to know in the front lines in 10 minutes, 7 days a week.

US President Donald Trump is once again threatening to obliterate Iran's oil wells and power plants if Tehran doesn't reopen the strait of Hormuz. The threats followed Iran rejecting U.S. peace proposals as unrealistic and firing fresh waves of missiles at Israel. After those threats, Iran, attacked a fully loaded crude oil tanker, setting it on fire off Dubai. Meanwhile, officials tell Reuters that thousands of elite U.S. soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division have started arriving in the Middle East, giving Trump new options for potential ground operations inside Iran.

Still, the White House says that talks with Iran continue and are progressing well, adding that what Tehran says publicly and privately is very different. Trevor Honeycutt covers the White House. The main thing that the United States clearly has not been able to achieve through a military campaign alone is one really securing an end to any nuclear ambitions that Iran might have and preventing their ability to defend their interests in the Strait of Ormuz. And so those are kind of the two elements of leverage that Iran, has that the U.S. has not been able to destroy through a military campaign alone and that they

are not willing to drop until they get more out of Washington in these talks. And that's proven by the simple fact that Trump has had to threaten to escalate this war dramatically if he doesn't get what he wants. Trump says the U.S. is engaging with a, quote, new and more reasonable regime. White House spokesperson Caroline Levitt explains what he meant. When the president says more reasonable, again, these folks are appearing more reasonable behind the scenes privately in these conversations than perhaps some of the previous leaders who are now no longer on planet Earth because they lied to the United States. First and foremost, we have no indication that the president is talking to anyone on the Iranian side directly. What the United States is clearly doing is sending messages through the Pakistanis and through others to the Iranians, indicating exactly where they stand and then getting messages. just backed. So that's where these conversations are happening at this moment. They are limited and

indirect. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says the central bank will wait and see how the Iran war affects the economy, even as US gas prices hit $4 a gallon for the first time in more than three years. Speaking at Harvard, Powell said the Fed typically looks through oil price shocks and that inflation expectations remain well anchored. But he acknowledged the Fed faces tension between its two mandates, keeping inflation down and protecting jobs. For more Econ and Market News, please tune into our sister podcast MorningBid,

available wherever you get your podcasts. The Spanish Defence Minister says Spain has closed its airspace to US military planes involved in attacks on Iran. It's a significant escalation that forces American aircraft to bypass the NATO ally en route to the Middle East. And it's a step beyond its previous move, denying the use of jointly operated military bases. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez saying, we are a sovereign country that does not wish to take part in illegal wars.

President Trump has already threatened to cut trade with Spain over its refusal to allow the use of government. jointly operated bases. Some members of Israel's parliament celebrating a new law. The Knesset has passed a bill making the death penalty by hanging the default sentence for Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank convicted of fatal terrorist acts in military courts. It's a marked departure for a country that's only carried out one judicial execution in

more than 60 years for a Nazi war criminal back in 1962. The bill was pushed by far-right national security minister Itamar Benkvier, who wore new-shaped lapel pins in the run-up to the vote, and supported by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The law supporters say it's a necessary move after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, but it's drawn fierce global condemnation. Mineley Bell in Jerusalem has more. Legal experts and the critics of the law have pointed to the fact that in the way it's worded in its phrasing,

it basically targets Palestinians and excludes Jewish Israelis. So in effect, that is one of the grounds for it already being appealed in the Supreme Court is that it is discriminatory and possibly a breach of the Geneva Convention. This law comes as Israel is already under scrutiny for rising lethal violence by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. So in a way, you see on the one hand, settlers who take part in lethal attacks of Palestinians are not very rarely prosecuted. Another point to note, Prime Minister Netanyahu tried to soften the law in order to head off international backlash.

The original wording of the law was even harsher. It mandated a death penalty. It didn't even give the option of life imprisonment. So at his request, some changes were made, and Netanyahu, in fact, voted in favor of the law He has spoken very little about it. And Mayan says this law faces hurdles. Well, in Israel, there is some time before a law actually comes into effect, and it's already been challenged in the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court can quite easily issue an immediate injunction, which means the law would not come into effect until it's properly debated and the full process is carried out at the Supreme Court. After that, many legal experts see a high chance of the Supreme Court striking it down. Three paintings by Frenchmasters, where Cizanne and Mertiz, together worth an estimated $10 million, have been stolen from a museum in northern Italy. The brazen heist at the Fondaccione Mani Roca near Palmer

took less than three minutes, according to police. The thieves broke in on the night of March 22nd and escaped with the masterpieces. Major U.S. airports say operations are returning to normal after President Trump signed an emergency directive ordering TSA workers to be paid. Airports from New York to Houston reported short lines on Monday,

ending weeks of chaos that saw security weights top four hours. The emergency order came after 50,000 security officers went unpaid for six weeks during the partial government shutdown. The Department of Homeland Security says most TSA officers

have received a retroactive paycheck. The broader standoff over DHS, chess funding continues. Air Canada's CEO will step down by October. That announcement follows backlash over Michael Rousseau's condolence video delivered entirely in English after the fatal crash at LaGuardia last week in which two pilots were killed. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says failing to offer condolences in French as well showed a lack of judgment, adding that it's essential his successor is completely bilingual. Usoe has apologized for his laps.

And finally, here's something you don't see every day, skiers in bikinis. Well, that's the scene in Colorado, with skiers hitting the slopes in little more than their underwear, as resorts in the Western US experience unseasonably hot weather. In fact, more than half of the 120 ski resorts in the region have closed early or never opened at all this year due to record low snowfall and a brutal heat wave. Temperatures have been running 20 to 30 degrees above normal, and snowpack is on track to be the lowest on record at almost every Western ski destination.

It's raising serious questions about the future of a $20 billion industry that supports nearly 200,000 jobs and threatening water supplies to cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters. app. Don't forget to follow us on your favourite podcast player. If you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.