Happy Friday! In Seoul, a man intentionally triggered more than a hundred false emergency calls in a bid to land behind bars. The court issued a suspended sentence, potentially making him the only person in history to fail at getting arrested despite his efforts.
Additionally, we’re thrilled to share that we’ll be recording a live episode of The Dispatch Podcast in New York City on June 23! In collaboration with 92NY, Steve Hayes, Jonah Goldberg, Megan McArdle, and Chris Stirewalt will examine the state of the conservative movement—and the broader world. Secure your tickets here.
Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
Tensions Build Over the Strait of Hormuz
Amid a tentative two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on Thursday that Iran was “doing a very poor job” of reopening the Strait of Hormuz, “dishonorable, some would say.” Trump added, “That is not the agreement we have!” Earlier on Thursday, Trump commented on a Financial Times report that Iran was charging oil tankers traversing the Strait of Hormuz a fee of $1 per barrel in cryptocurrency, stating, “They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now!” The same day, U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper condemned Iran for imposing tolls for safe passage, noting that it violated United Nations rules and the “laws of the sea.” A U.N. International Maritime Organization spokesperson also said Iran’s toll breaches U.N. law and sets a dangerous precedent. A U.S. official told that while the sea lane is currently “wide open,” ships have abstained from passing through because “Iran has threatened and coerced everybody.”
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Thursday that he authorized his Cabinet to negotiate directly with Lebanese officials to disarm Hezbollah and “establish peaceful relations” with Lebanon.
- In a video message addressed to residents of Northern Israel later that day, Netanyahu clarified that Israel has not agreed to pause its attacks on Hezbollah targets, which he said would continue with “great force … until we restore your security.”
- Axios, citing U.S. officials, reported that Netanyahu held calls with both Trump and White House special envoy Steve Witkoff, the latter of which reportedly told the Israeli leader to “calm down the strikes in Lebanon.”
Russia Claims to Agree to Orthodox Easter Ceasefire
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he accepted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s offer to hold a ceasefire over Orthodox Easter weekend, declaring on Thursday that Russian forces would observe a 32-hour pause from 4 p.m. on Saturday through the end of Sunday. A statement from Russian officials said that they “assume” Ukraine will also follow the ceasefire, but that “troops are to be prepared to counter any possible provocations by the enemy, as well as any aggressive actions.” Zelensky responded that his country has “repeatedly stated that we are ready for reciprocal steps,” such as proposing the ceasefire. The Kremlin initially rejected that deal—claiming it never received the details of the offer—but Zelensky contacted U.S. officials on March 31 to pass along a formal proposal to Russia. On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state-run media that Russia had not discussed the ceasefire with U.S. officials or any other third-party mediators.
- Reuters reported that Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev met with Trump administration officials in the U.S. to discuss a prospective long-term peace deal with Ukraine and the potential expansion of economic ties between the U.S. and Russia.
- On Thursday, Ukrainian and Russian officials said that the two sides carried out an exchange of fallen soldiers, with Ukraine receiving the remains of 1,000 troops, and Russia receiving the bodies of 41 deceased soldiers.
- Ukrainian officials said on Thursday that Russian drones attacked and damaged a power substation in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa, killing at least one person.
Britain and Norway Counter Russian Submarines
British and Norwegian forces carried out a month-long operation aimed at countering three Russian submarines that had been secretly gathering intelligence on underwater infrastructure in the North Atlantic. U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey said at a press conference on Thursday—revealing details of the operation to the public for the first time—that the submarines were spying on underwater pipelines and telecommunications lines. Healey stated that the vessels were “designed to survey underwater infrastructure during peacetime, and sabotage it in conflict,” and added that U.K. and Norwegian officials had tracked and monitored the vessels for more than a month earlier this year. He noted that they have now departed the area, with no damage believed to have been caused.
- Russia’s embassy in London said that Healey’s findings were “impossible to either believe or verify,” and claimed that Russia “does not threaten undersea infrastructure” or “employ aggressive rhetoric in this regard.”
- A Russian naval frigate escorted sanctioned Russian-flagged and Cameroonian-flagged oil tankers through the English Channel on Wednesday, defying British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s threat to apprehend sanctioned Russian ships.
BEA Further Revises 2025 U.S. GDP Growth Numbers
A new report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) on Thursday revised the growth of the U.S. economy’s real GDP—which accounts for inflation—in the fourth quarter of 2025, down from 0.7 percent to an annualized rate of 0.5 percent. The BEA first estimated 1.4 percent GDP growth in that quarter, then revised it down to 0.7 percent on March 13. Yesterday’s revision puts it at only one-fifth of the initial Dow Jones forecast of 2.5 percent. While real GDP decreased by 0.5 percent in the first quarter of 2025, it recovered substantially in the second and third quarters of that year, rising by 3.8 and 4.4 percent, respectively. The BEA said that the 0.2 percentage point downward revision reflected in its updated third estimate “was led by private inventory investment, particularly wholesale trade.”
- The BEA is set to release its advance estimate of first-quarter 2026 real GDP on April 30.
Maine’s Legislature Passes Data Center Construction Ban
Maine’s Legislature approved a bill that—if signed by Gov. Janet Mills—would make Maine the first state to pause data center construction. Specifically, the bill would block data center construction in the state until November 2027 and create a council to recommend guardrails ensuring data centers don’t raise energy prices for residents. Maine has some of the highest electricity rates in the country, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, but opponents of the ban—including the Maine State Chamber of Commerce—say the state already has a robust permitting process and that more companies paying into the grid would lower costs for homeowners.
- Moratorium bills have been introduced in at least a dozen states, including data center hotspots Virginia and Georgia.
- At the federal level, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are pushing for a moratorium on AI data center projects until Congress passes comprehensive AI regulation. It is highly unlikely to move forward in Congress.
- Mills is currently campaigning to be the Democratic candidate for Senate, and is trailing her primary opponent, Graham Platner, by double digits according to recent polling.
In many workplaces, a broken toilet and a malfunctioning email system would be disastrous. For the crew of the Artemis II space mission—whose Orion capsule is scheduled to splash down in the waters off San Diego this evening—if those are their only problems, then the voyage will have been a smashing success.
The four crew members—commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialist Christina Koch of NASA, and the Canadian Space Agency’s mission specialist Jeremy Hansen—flew beyond the Moon before looping back to Earth on their 10-day, nearly 700,000-mile mission. They will have traveled farther from Earth than any humans in history: 252,760 miles.
The crew saw parts of the far side of the Moon that had never been seen in sunlight by human eyes; witnessed Earth “rise” over the Moon’s surface; and named a lunar crater after Wiseman’s late wife. They also tested key safety features of their Orion capsule, including a heat shield (which experienced alarming charring during Artemis I’s re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere).
Artemis II’s completion is not only a milestone, but also another step toward NASA’s goal of returning to the Moon’s surface by 2028, and doing so before China’s space agency. NASA’s new administrator has redrawn the roadmap to get there. But with untested landers, unbuilt rocket stages, and a ticking geopolitical clock, can the agency actually pull it off? And, if it can, what would it take to turn a few missions into a lasting presence?
Today’s Must-Read
In Other News
Today in America
- New data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics shows that the U.S. fertility rate measured 53.1 average births per 1,000 women of childbearing age in 2025, a drop of about 1.3 percent from the year before. The total number of births also fell to 3,606,400, a decrease of about 1 percent from 2024.
- The U.S. Postal Service announced that it would temporarily pause its payments to a pension program for its employees, the Federal Employees Retirement System, citing the need to “conserve cash for our operations and other necessary payments.”
- The FBI arrested a former Army employee of a special operations unit for allegedly leaking classified information to a journalist, who later published it in a book and article reporting on sexual harassment and gender discrimination within the unit.
- Trump’s personal legal team appealed a civil court ruling that dismissed a roughly $500 million civil fraud judgment against him.
- NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in a speech in Washington, D.C., that the defense coalition would move to reduce what he described as an “unhealthy co-dependence” on U.S. military strength.
Around the World
- Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Beijing this morning with Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of the Beijing-friendly Taiwanese opposition party KMT—the first meeting between a sitting KMT leader and the Chinese president in roughly a decade, and the highest-level cross-strait contact since Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party came to power in 2016.
- Israel’s security cabinet—in a meeting two weeks ago—reportedly approved 34 new settlements in the West Bank.
- The Iranian government-connected hacking group, Handala, claimed to have broken into personal devices used by former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Herzi Halevi, while publishing his private photos and videos and revealing details about previously unreported meetings.
- Several Nigerian military service members, including a brigadier general, were killed in northeastern Nigeria after Boko Haram and an Islamic State affiliate based in West Africa launched coordinated attacks on several locations in the region.
On the Money
- The Federal Trade Commission reached a $10 million settlement with the online ticketing platform StubHub, after the regulatory agency accused the company of violating a federal rule finalized last year by not initially including added fees until the final checkout screen.
- Kia confirmed plans to launch and build a midsize body-on-frame pickup truck in the U.S. by 2030, competing with the Ford Ranger and Toyota Tacoma.
- OpenAI announced that it would pause development of its U.K. Stargate AI infrastructure project, citing rising energy costs and regulatory concerns.
- Disney is reportedly planning to lay off up to 1,000 employees, primarily those working in the company’s marketing department.
Worth Your Time
- “How Ben Sasse is Living Now That He Is Dying.” (Interesting Times with Ross Douthat)
- NASA shares the official playlist of songs that the Artemis II crew woke up to every morning while on their space journey. (Spotify)
- Ivan Nechepurenko reports on Nailya Allakhverdiyeva, who ran a contemporary art museum in Moscow before fleeing the country for fear of being jailed as a political prisoner. (New York Times)
- David Oks examines why some of the world’s poorest families bankrupt themselves on elaborate funerals. (Substack)
- Out today: You, Me & Tuscany, Exit 8, Beast, and The Christophers in theatres, The Boys Season 5 on Prime Video, Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair on Hulu, The Miniature Wife on Peacock, and Tamashika on PS5, Xbox, Switch, and PC, and new music from Ella Langley, Holly Humberstone, Tenille Townes, Laufey, Joe Jackson, Squarepusher, Melvins & Napalm Death, and Immolation, and, everywhere good music is found.
Presented Without Comment
Earth, photographed by NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman. (Courtesy of NASA/Reid Wiseman)
Also Presented Without Comment
Bellingcat: ‘Snoopy’, ‘Adolf’ and ‘Password’: The Hungarian Government Passwords Exposed Online
Also Also Presented Without Comment
South China Morning Post: Indonesian Fisherman Nets Surprise Catch – a Chinese Underwater Drone
