Author: g4mblez0ne

March’s persistent unseasonable heat was so intense that the continental United States registered its most abnormally hot month in 132 years of records, according to federal weather data. And the next year or so looks to turn the dial up on global warmth even more, as some forecasts predict a brewing El Niño will reach superstrength.

Not only was it the hottest March on record for the U.S., but the amount it was above normal by beat any other month in history for the Lower 48 states. March’s average temperature of 50.85 degrees Fahrenheit was 9.35 degrees above the 20th century normal for March. That easily passed the old record of 8.9 degrees set in March 2012 as the most abnormally hot month on record – regardless of the month of the year – according to records released Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The average maximum temperature for March was especially high at 11.4 degrees above the 20th century average and was almost a degree warmer than the average daytime high for April, NOAA said.

Scientists’ concern growing  

Six of the nation’s top 10 most abnormally hot months have been in the last 10 years. This February, which was 6.57 degrees above the 20th century norm, was the tenth highest above normal.

“What we experienced in March across the United States was unprecedented,” said Shel Winkley, a meteorologist with Climate Central, a nonprofit science research group.

“One reason that’s so concerning is just the sheer volume of records, all-time records that were set and broken during that time period,” Winkley said. “But also this is coming on the heels of what was the worst snow year. And the hottest winter on record.”

April 2025 to March 2026 was the warmest 12-month period on record in the continental United States, according to NOAA.

What to know about the Iran war:
A U.S. blockade of Iran’s ports and a partial blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for shipments of oil, fertilizer and other vital goods, began Monday at 10 a.m. EDT.
Iran warned it would retaliate if the U.S. carried out the blockade of its ports, saying it would be illegal and, essentially, piracy. Tehran said no Gulf ports will be safe if traffic to and from its own is impeded.
The threats follow the failure of talks in Islamabad over the weekend to reach a peace agreement between the U.S. and Iran, with Pakistani mediators. Vice President JD Vance, who headed the U.S. delegation, said the main sticking point came down to Iran refusing to give up its nuclear ambitions.
CBS News has learned that Pakistan is pushing to get the U.S. and Iran to resume negotiations in an effort to get a peace accord before the current ceasefire runs out next week.

2:38 AM / April 14, 2026
Xi says China to play ‘constructive role’ in promoting Mideast peace talks
China’s President Xi Jinping vowed Tuesday that his country would play a “constructive role” in promoting peace talks in the Middle East, Chinese state media reported, after a first round of discussions between the United States and Iran ended without agreement.

“Xi Jinping stressed China’s principled stance of promoting peace and urging talks, and reiterated it will continue to play a constructive role on this,” state news agency Xinhua said.

He also said, “The sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of the Gulf countries in the Middle East should be sincerely respected,” according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Tuesday said China could play an “important” role in resolving the war.

“The role China can play is important in order to find diplomatic means that end this war and contribute to stability and peace,” Sanchez told a news conference in Beijing after talks with Xi.

“All nations — especially those which are in dialogue and have not actively taken part in this illegal war — are not only welcome, but are also absolutely necessary,” Sanchez said.

Hungary’s Viktor Orbán was one of President Trump’s favorites. During his 16-year term in office, Orbán openly championed Mr. Trump’s reelection and the two men got into frequent, detailed exchanges on political and governing strategy.

In the run-up to Sunday’s election, Vice President JD Vance flew to Budapest and called for people to vote for the incumbent.

But in the end, none of that mattered. Orbán conceded, ending his 16-year iron grip on power.

Mr. Trump has lost his biggest cheerleader in Europe. So who’s the guy replacing him?

Meet Péter Magyar. Hungary’s new prime minister — whose name literally means “Hungarian” — is a young, well-dressed lawyer who campaigned on promises to crack down on corruption, tax the wealthiest and unlock billions of frozen European Union euros.

He is far more pro-EU and anti-Russia than his predecessor.

While Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and EU leaders have welcomed the election’s result, Russia’s Vladimir Putin has not. Russian state TV has even claimed that “European hawks” and “the head of the Kyiv regime” interfered in the election to oust Orbán.

Once an Orbán fan
Magyar grew up admiring Orbán as Hungary transitioned out of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. He reportedly had a photo of Orbán — who at the time was more known as an anti-communist freedom fighter — on his bedroom wall as a child. But after holding several roles as a member of Orbán’s Fidesz party, he resigned in 2024, expressing deep dissatisfaction with what he said was a culture of mass corruption under Orbán’s leadership.

Magyar pitched himself as an insider who knows how crooked government works, and therefore knows how to unearth the corrupt practices.

The relationship between the two men soured further in February, when Magyar accused Fidesz of a “Russian-type” blackmail operation using a secretly recorded video showing Magyar having consensual sex with his now ex-girlfriend at a house party.

“Even in Europe, it is unprecedented for a ruling party to attempt to discredit, blackmail, and neutralize its main political opponent by secretly recording their sexual acts using illegal methods and threatening to make the recordings public,” he posted on social media.

The strongest tropical cyclone on Earth this year — relentlessly struck a pair of remote U.S. islands in the western Pacific Ocean early Wednesday local time with extremely powerful winds and heavy rain, with residents reporting tin roofs being torn apart.

The typhoon had sustained winds of up to 150 mph, equating to a strong Category 4, when it hit the islands of Tinian and Saipan of the Northern Mariana Islands, according to the National Weather Service. As of 11 a.m. Wednesday local time, maximum sustained winds had dropped to 130 mph and the storm started tracking to the north.

Sinlaku will start to curve toward sparsely populated volcanic islands in the far northern Marianas, he said.

Sinlaku is forecast to continue weakening through the next few days, the National Weather Service said, passing west of the islands of Alamagan, Pagan and Agrihan through the latter half of the week.

“I’m guessing anything that was made of wood and tin did not survive this,” Glen Hunter told The Associated Press. Hunter grew up on Saipan and watched at least three tin roofs fly past his yard.

Hunter, who has weathered numerous typhoons, told The AP this felt like the strongest yet. Rain was seeping into every crevice of his concrete home, he said.

“It was a losing battle because the rain was coming through everywhere,” he said. “Every house is just flooded with water, no matter what type of structure you’re in.”

Extensive flooding was reported in certain places, with Saipan Mayor Ramon “RB” Jose Blas Camacho telling The Associated Press that Sinlaku was “hitting us hard.”

“It’s so difficult for us to respond with this heavy rain, heavy wind to rescue people,” the mayor said. “Objects are just flying left and right.”

Camacho told The AP some people have been rescued, while the typhoon toppled trees and caused wooden and tin structures to collapse.

Video shared by AP ahead of the typhoon’s arrival showed its early impacts on Saipan, as Sinlaku hovered offshore, launching fierce winds and rain toward the island. Before arriving on land, the storm had become “nearly stationary” about 30 miles off the coast of the archipelago for several hours, forecasts showed. Its slow pace raised concerns about how long the storm would linger in the region, and the amount of damage that could cause.

I was the general counsel of the National Archives for 26 years. My main job, until I retired last year, was to implement and enforce the Presidential Records Act. The act requires that the president maintain records of his administration and, at the end of his term, turn them over to the National Archives. Since it went into effect in 1981, the law has ensured the preservation of presidential history — and safeguarded against corruption.

I was thus astounded when, on April 1, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel alleged in an opinion that the law is unconstitutional. I worked with the White House and Justice Department lawyers in the Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden administrations, as well as the records representatives of every former president back to Ronald Reagan. Not one of them ever suggested that the Presidential Records Act was unconstitutional or that presidents need not “comply with its dictates,” as the Office of Legal Counsel has now written.

Last week, two organizations — the American Historical Association and American Oversight, a government watchdog group — filed a lawsuit in Washington challenging the Office of Legal Counsel’s opinion. The groups aim to “preserve the historical record that belongs to the American people, before it is forever lost,” the suit states.

The overwhelmingly bipartisan support for the Presidential Records Act since it was enacted, in Congress and by presidents, makes the faulty reasoning and distorted history emanating from the Office of Legal Counsel all the more surprising. The office is wrong to conclude that Congress has no authority to pass a law to preserve the nation’s most important government records — those of each presidency — and the American Historical Association and American Oversight are right to jump to the act’s defense.

Admittedly, the nation was slow to recognize the value of maintaining a historical record: Congress did not create the National Archives until 1934. Before then, recordkeeping by presidents and agencies was haphazard at best. But once the National Archives came into being, presidential records became an integral component of the institution as the core holding of its presidential libraries.

For the National Archives’ first 40 years, presidents voluntarily donated all of their papers when they left office. However, after learning that President Richard M. Nixon wanted to destroy the Watergate tapes, Congress stepped in — to ensure that the Nixon White House tapes would be preserved and then, with the 1978 enactment of the Presidential Records Act, that no future president could undermine the historical record.