5 Big News Stories Overnight - Friday, March 6, 2026

Middle East: IDF planning for 1-2 more Weeks of Iran Ops; Over 5,000 bombs Dropped

Times of Israel reports:
 

The Israeli military is planning for at least one or two more weeks of operations against Iran, during which it aims to hit thousands more Iranian regime targets, The Times of Israel learned.

Israel’s goal is a systematic degradation of the Iranian regime and its military sites.

The plans were announced several days into an extensive bombing campaign against Iran.

The Israeli Air Force claims it has dropped more than 5,000 bombs this week.
 

PHOTO: Omri Greenberg, Unsplash

U.S.: Stocks slide and Oil Prices Climb

NBC News reports: 

U.S. stocks slid on Thursday, and the price of oil continued to climb amid ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

After a relatively calm trading session on Wednesday, the price of U.S. crude oil shot higher by more than 8% on Thursday, briefly rising as high as $82 per barrel. Since Sunday, the price of U.S. crude oil has risen 20% to its highest level since July 2024.

The international oil benchmark also rose 4%.

Stocks resumed a sell-off that started earlier in the week. At the closing bell, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% and the Nasdaq composite was lower by 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more 1,000 points at one point in the late afternoon but closed lower by 785 points or 1.6%.

U.S.: Trump: 'I must personally approve new supreme leader'

Telegraph reports:

Donald Trump said he must hand-pick Iran’s next leader as he backed a Kurdish militant uprising to help overthrow the regime.

The US president ruled out Mojtaba Khamenei, Ali Khamenei’s son and likely successor, as a “waste of time”.

On Thursday, Mr. Trump said he would be “all for” a Kurdish invasion of western Iran to topple Tehran’s current leadership.

“They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. I have to be involved in the appointment, like with Delcy Rodríguez in Venezuela”, he told US news site Axios.

U.S.: Fears Increase at CNN

LA Times reports:

Paramount’s $111-billion deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery will put two of the most storied journalism brands — CNN and CBS News — under one roof.

The combination has been proposed before with the aim of consolidating news-gathering costs. Those plans fell apart largely over who would be in control.

But if the Paramount-Warner transaction is approved by regulators, CNN and CBS News would be forced into potentially rocky marriage where they would have to sort out leadership roles, personnel and editorial direction.

U.S.: Who Gets the Tariff Rebates?

Business Insider reports:

Costco CEO Ron Vachris said the company is committed to returning tariff refund value to members.

"Regarding tariff refunds, it is not yet clear what the process will be, what refunds, if any, will be received, and when this will happen," Vachris said during the wholesale clubs' quarterly earnings call on Thursday.

"When legal challenges have recovered charges passed on in some form to our members, our commitment will be to find the best way to return this value to our members through lower prices and better values," he added.

PHOTO Marcus Reubenstein, Unsplash