Top 5 US news stories
April 1 2026
Trump To Address Nation Wednesday on Iran War Progress
UAE Pushes To Open Strait of Hormuz by Force
EV Factory Boom Goes Bust as Automakers Retreat From Electric Plans
NASA To Launch Artemis II Moon Mission With First Crew in 53 Years
Federal Judge Halts Construction of Trump's White House Ballroom
Trump To Address Nation Wednesday on Iran War Progress
President Trump will deliver a nationally televised address Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET to provide what the White House called "an important update on Iran." Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said the U.S. has eliminated Iran's nuclear threat, adding that it will take 15 to 20 years for Tehran to rebuild its capabilities. Trump said he believes the war, now in its fifth week, will conclude within two to three weeks as the U.S. continues to strike targets. The administration initially forecasted the conflict lasting four to six weeks.
Wall Street Journal
UAE Pushes To Open Strait of Hormuz by Force
The United Arab Emirates is preparing to help the United States and other allies reopen the Strait of Hormuz by force, according to Arab officials, a move that would make it the first Persian Gulf country to enter the conflict as a combatant. Emirati diplomats are lobbying the United Nations Security Council for a resolution authorizing such action and have urged military powers in Europe and Asia to form a coalition. A UAE official said Iran believes it is fighting for its existence and is willing to drag the global economy down with it through a chokehold on the strait. The UAE has reviewed its capabilities for assisting in the operation, including mine-clearing efforts and other support services.
Wall Street Journal
EV Factory Boom Goes Bust as Automakers Retreat From Electric Plans
Magna International built a million-square-foot factory in St. Clair, Mich. to make battery enclosures for General Motors electric pickups, but five years later the plant sits mostly empty and losing money — one of dozens of desolate EV parts facilities across the country. Rising gas prices from the Iran war have renewed speculation about consumer interest in electric vehicles, but automakers and suppliers are pressing ahead with plans to scale back EV investments, saying it would take four to six months of elevated fuel prices to shift buyer behavior. Detroit automakers have diverged on strategy: Ford has killed its electric F-150 in favor of hybrids, while GM is keeping its electric trucks despite cratering demand. The pullback has rippled through the supply chain, with multinational parts makers slashing jobs and closing plants and more than $20 billion in previously announced EV and battery investments wiped out last year. Magna's CEO called the magnitude of uncertainty "unparalleled," and the company estimates it will take 18 to 24 months to repurpose equipment and find enough new customers to make the St. Clair plant profitable again.
Wall Street Journal
NASA To Launch Artemis II Moon Mission With First Crew in 53 Years
NASA's Artemis II mission is set to launch Wednesday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida with a targeted liftoff time of 6:24 p.m. EDT, sending four astronauts — three American and one Canadian — on a trajectory around the moon and back to Earth. The mission will mark the first crewed flight of NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, and the deepest human spaceflight since Apollo 17 in 1972. The SLS rocket stands 322 feet tall and weighs 5.75 million pounds when fueled, with a design drawing on technologies developed for the space shuttles. Boeing developed the rocket's core stage and Lockheed Martin built the Orion crew capsule. If Artemis II succeeds, missions that return astronauts to the lunar surface could follow later in the decade.
NASA / Wall Street Journal / NYT
Tomorrow, we launch.
— NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman (@NASAAdmin) April 1, 2026
At sunset tonight, Artemis II waits on the pad, ready to carry astronauts potentially farther than any humans have traveled in more than half a century.
The next era of exploration begins. pic.twitter.com/vdABkjRrnf
Federal Judge Halts Construction of Trump's White House Ballroom
A federal judge ordered Tuesday that construction be stopped on President Trump's proposed White House ballroom, to be built on the site of the demolished East Wing, ruling that work must cease until Congress authorizes the project. Judge Richard J. Leon, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote in a 35-page opinion that Trump likely lacked the authority to replace entire sections of the White House without consulting Congress, calling the changes ones that could endure for generations. The judge also raised concerns that the administration had provided shifting and questionable accounts of who was overseeing the project and under what authority private donations could fund it. The opinion was punctuated by 19 exclamation points. The ruling is a preliminary injunction, technically temporary while litigation continues, and the judge paused it for two weeks to allow for an appeal. The Trump administration filed that appeal within hours of the ruling.
NYT
April 1 1985: Nike releases its first Air Jordan shoes, named for basketball superstar Michael Jordan.
It sells 450,000 pairs in the first month.
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