5 Big News Stories Overnight - Friday, March 20, 2026

U.S.: Uber and Rivian Partner to Deploy up to 50,000 Fully Autonomous Robotaxis

Rivian Automotive and Uber Technologies announced a partnership to help accelerate both companies’ autonomous vehicle plans, expecting to deploy 10,000 fully autonomous R2 robotaxis in the first phase of R2 robotaxi deployment. Initial deployments are expected to begin in San Francisco and Miami in 2028 and will expand to 25 cities by 2031.

Uber will invest up to $1.25 billion in Rivian through 2031, subject to the achievement of certain autonomous milestones by specific dates, building towards a scaled, fully autonomous fleet of Rivian R2 robotaxis, which will be available exclusively through the Uber platform. An initial $300 million investment has been committed to following the signing, subject to regulatory approval.

- Uber to invest up to $1.25 billion in Rivian through 2031, subject to the achievement of autonomous performance milestones

- Uber, or its fleet partners, expected to purchase 10,000 fully autonomous R2 robotaxis with the option to purchase up to 40,000 more in 2030

- Initial commercial deployments planned for San Francisco and Miami in 2028, scaling to 25 cities through 2031
 

Middle East: Saudi Arabia Threatens Military Action Against Iran

Telegraph reports:

Saudi Arabia has said it might take military action against Iran, in a move that threatens to escalate the war.

After Iran targeted Riyadh and its oil refineries with ballistic missiles and drones overnight, Saudia Arabia’s foreign minister said on Thursday: “We will not shy away from protecting our country and our economic resources.”

Prince Faisal bin Farhan said the country would not bow to pressure from Iran, adding: “As we have stated quite clearly, we have reserved the right to take military actions if deemed necessary.”

He said that “what little trust” there had been between the kingdom and Iran had been “completely been shattered”. The two countries restored diplomatic relations in 2023.

In response to US-Israeli strikes, Iran has fired thousands of missiles and drones at its neighbours, increasingly uniting the Gulf states against it.

PHOTO: Engin Akyurt, Unsplash

Ukraine: Drone Swarms Hammer Russia

Kyiv Post reports: 

Ukrainian kamikaze unmanned aircraft operators have in the past three months intensified their country’s bombardment of Russia to hit targets at a record pace with denser swarms, using robot aircraft carrying bigger warheads against air defenses increasingly less capable of stopping the drones.

Ukrainian drones carried out 40 major attacks against targets in a 50-250 kilometer (31-155 miles) range envelope distance from the front lines in the first half of March, a study published on Wednesday by the Ukrainian defense research group Oboronka said. That strike rate is about 50% more intense than the record count of Ukrainian drone strikes against mid- and long-range targets in Russia for the entire war: 57 attacks in December 2025.

U.S. Department of Education Shifting to Treasury

The Trump administration announced that the college loan function will move from the Department of Education to the Treasury.

According to the announcement:

“The Federal Student Assistance Partnership marks an intentional and historic step toward breaking up the Federal education bureaucracy and dramatically improving the administration of Federal student aid programs that millions of American students, families, and borrowers rely on to access higher education,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “As the Federal student aid portfolio soars to nearly $1.7 trillion and with nearly a quarter of student loan borrowers in default, Americans know that the Department of Education has failed to effectively manage and deliver these critical programs. By leveraging Treasury’s world-renowned expertise in finance and economic policy, we are confident that American students, borrowers, and taxpayers will finally have functioning programs after decades of mismanagement.”

Under the new interagency agreement, Treasury will assume operational responsibility for collecting on defaulted Federal student loan debt and provide operational support to ED’s efforts to return borrowers to repayment. In subsequent phases, Treasury will work to provide operational support over non-defaulted Federal student loan debt, to the extent practicable and permitted by law, while also seeking opportunities to provide operational support to FSA’s other functions.

U.S.: Mega-Merger

The Federal Communications Commission has approved Nexstar’s $6.2 billion deal to acquire rival company Tegna, a merger that would create the largest operator of local television stations in the country.

In a news release Thursday, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the agency waived a rule that bars a single company from owning TV stations reaching more than 39% of U.S. households. The combined entity would cover at least 60%.

As GoLocal reported, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, alongside a coalition of eight attorneys general, filed a lawsuit to block the acquisition of Tegna by Nexstar.

Nexstar is the parent company of WPRI-12 and Fox-64 in the Providence market.

Right-leaning Nexstar, along with WJAR-10’s and ABC6’s parent company Sinclair, tried to curry favor with the Trump administration for regulatory approvals and cancelled Jimmy Kimmel last year — only to reverse field after viewers were outraged.