U.S. Strikes Missile Sites Near Strait, Khameini Rejects Peace, Meteor Over Northeast Causes Sonic Boom, The War in Iran May Bring Changes to How We Fly, Passport StampsFrequent Business Traveler

Good morning! Today is Wednesday, the 18th of March, 2026 and this is the Wednesday Morning Edition of GEORGE.

Under the name of the son of Ayatollah Ali Khameini, who may or may not be alive at this point, GEORGE is reporting that Iranian officials released a statement rejecting peace at this time. President Trump is the most recent dignitary to raise the question as to whether Mojtaba Khamenei is alive.

Meanwhile, Iran confirmed the death of its de facto leader – someone other than Mr. Khameini – at the hands of the Israeli military. One other senior Iranian leader was also killed in the attack. Complete coverage of the war in Iran may be found below in @The War Room section of GEORGE, which follows the In This Issue table of contents.

For travelers who have wondered about the history of the not so humble passport, our @MAGELLAN ON TRAVEL columnist presents a brief history while also reporting that passport stamps in the European Union are about to go the way of the dodo bird.

Meanwhile, our @HERODOTUS ON HISTORY columnist delves into an 80-year-old mystery over a haunting and infamous photo, mistitled “The Last Jew in Vinnitsa” that was now has a fitting and perhaps even more chilling story to tell.

Meanwhile, GEORGE looks at the sonic boom over the Northeast United States and parts of Canada, the meningitis outbreak in Britain, and the March Madness weather that the United States has been experiencing.

In addition, GEORGE has other exclusive news in today’s edition so don’t touch that dial. Simply scroll down and read more GEORGE, starting with today’s editorial cartoon in The Sketch. GEORGE will be back on Tuesday with a brand-new editorial cartoon, even more news, and stories won’t find elsewhere.

Until then, remain curious!

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A stack of newspapers in Vienna’s Café Prúckel, each in an Original Wiener Zeitungshalter

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VOLUME VI… № 1,686

WELCOME (above)

@THE SKETCH (above) “The Strait of Vermouth”

@INTERMEZZO I  The Pan Am Building and Grand Central Terminal

@THE WAR ROOM

@INTERMEZZO II 1850s Daguerreotype, British Line Infantry Officer

@IN BRIEF ON TUESDAY   News of the Day

@INTERMEZZO III A visitor at a cave in Friðland

@RECENT DISPATCHES OF NOTE

@INTERVAL IV Piazza del Popolo in Rome

@HERODOTUS  Historian Identifies Nazi Gunman in Haunting Holocaust Photograph

@INTERVAL V Berlin Tempelhof Airport

@MAGELLAN ON TRAVEL Passport Stamps to Go the Way of the Dodo

@INTERVAL VI Sunset viewed from the Ed Koch Bridge in New York 

@HERODOTUS  Historian Identifies Nazi Gunman in Haunting Holocaust Photograph

@ABOUT GEORGE

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The Pan Am (now MetLife ) Building looms large over Grand Central Terminal

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The War in Iran May Bring Changes to How We Fly

In recent years, the Middle East has come to play a central role in how people fly from Point A to Point B. Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates is the world’s busiest international airport (although Hartsdale-Jackson Atlanta International Airport continues its reign as the world’s busiest airport). Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar Airways.

Dubai became a major international transit hub in the mid-1980s following the 1985 launch of Emirates Airline, with accelerated growth in the 2000s. Doha emerged as a premier competitor, especially following the 1993 launch of Qatar Airways and significantly after the 2014 opening of Hamad International Airport, eventually challenging Dubai’s market share in 2021.

With airport closures and flight cancellations at record highs in the Gulf region, bested only by somewhat higher figures in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, war in the Gulf may challenge the dominance of these carriers. While the region’s own carriers are clearly the worst effected, other airlines have had to reroute flights to avoid Iran, which goes without saying. However, based on the day,  using airspace over Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Syria could prove problematic. The rerouting means using more fuel at the same time when the cost of jet fuel has doubled in less than four weeks. Still, the most clever of the carriers may figure out a way to win back business that has been lost to Gulf rivals on a long-term basis.

—Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, or whoever is preparing statements in his name, said it is “not the right time for peace,” rejecting proposals sent through two intermediary countries, Reuters cited a senior Iranian official as saying. Meanwhile, Mr. Trump, echoing a popular question, said on Monday that the United States does not know whether Mr. Khamenei is dead or alive.

— The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it killed Iran’s de facto leader, Ali Larijani, in an overnight strike. Until his death, Mr. Larijani was the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. He was known to have had close ties to Iran’s two most powerful allies, Russia and China. Also killed in the strike was another major government figure, Gholamreza Soleimani, the head of the Basij, Iran’s powerful plainclothes militia.

—Mr. Trump continues to struggle to muster support from allies to help escort ships through the perilous waters of the Strait of HormuthHormuz, which remains effectively blocked by Iran.

—The United States Central Command said in a statement made Tuesday evening that it had “successfully employed multiple 5,000-pound deep penetrator munitions on hardened Iranian missile sites along Iran’s coastline near the Strait of Hormuz.” The Central Command said Iranian anti-ship cruise missiles in these sites had posed a risk to international shipping in the strait.

—The Kuwaiti military said early on Wednesday morning in the Middle East that it was confronting drone and missile attacks. Late on Tuesday, the military said it had detected two ballistic missiles and 13 drones in Kuwaiti airspace over 24 hours. There were two minor shrapnel injuries and no significant material damage from Tuesday’s attacks, the Kuwaiti military noted.

— Mr. Trump, speaking during a White House meeting with Ireland’s taoiseach, said that he believed the people of Ireland were “very happy” with the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran. The reality is quite different: the war is deeply unpopular in Ireland including lawmakers and the taoiseach himself have expressed concern over it, and public demonstrations, including “Hands Off Iran” protests, have taken place in Dublin.. Prominent commentators, such as Fintan O’Toole, have described the war as “reckless and illegal,” while The Irish Times described the attacks as “dangerous.”

—French President Emmanuel Macron said his country had begun discussions about marshaling a coalition to secure the Strait the Hormuz in partnership with India, as well as European and Arab countries. In order for such a coalition to proceed, he added, there will need to be “discussions and de-escalation with Iran, because under no circumstances can this be a military operation.” His qualified comment places France along Germany and other U.S. allies in rebuffing Mr. Trump’s request for military assistance in reopening the strait. We are not a party to the conflict, and, therefore, France will never take part in operations to open or liberate the Strait of Hormuz in the current context,” M Macron said. “France did not choose this war.”

— Mr. Trump said he believed that the United States could go at it alone, referring to reopening the Strait of Hormuz. “We don’t need too much help – we don’t need any help actually,” he told reporters while meeting with Ireland’s taioseach. The request for help from NATO allies was a “great test,” he said, noting that the United States would remember NATO’s inaction.

—Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper, said the country wants to see the “swiftest possible resolution of this crisis,” addressing Parliament on Tuesday afternoon. She said that there would need to be a “negotiated agreement” to contain future threats from Iran while underscoring the need to safeguard against Iranian threats to international shipping: “Iran is seeking to hijack the global economy, holding hostage supplies of oil, gas and fertilizer affecting prices and supply chains across the world.”

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An 1850s Daguerreotype of a British Line Infantry officer

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It was March Madness on Monday and Tuesday, St. Patrick’s Day. A megastorm warning was issued to millions, a deep freeze took hold across the South, a spreading heat wave in the West was bringing summer-like high temperatures, and a series of storm systems brought high winds and torrential downpours to the eastern part of the United States, after a weekend of unusual weather in many parts of the United States. Meanwhile, the heatdome is intensifying in the western part of the country, and will continue to bring record-breaking temperatures to a handful of states.

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Half a million homes and businesses lost electrical power Monday night into Tuesday as a powerful storm lashed the United States from the Midwest to the East Coast. On Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. (21:30) EDT, some 200,000 homes and businesses were still without power, the majority in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York.

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In Great Britain, an “unprecedented” outbreak of meningitis is causaing alarm. Two people have died in an outbreak of meningococcal disease. Many cases were traced to a nightclub in Canterbury that is popular with students at the University of Kent. Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasionally photophobia.

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Despite news that OpenAI plans to allow X-rated chat between user and chatbot, the company reportedly told its staff at an all-hands meeting that it plans to pivot to a focus solely on business and productivity offerings. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

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A Mercedes-Benz diesel-powered E350 sedan at the factory delivery center in Sindelfingen, Germany

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The average price for a gallon of diesel fuel surged past $5 per gallon. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which tracks such information, the price per gallon as of 16 March had reached $5.07. The price per gallon on 3 March was $3.89. It was $3.55 one year ago. The increase in diesel fuel prices affects directly affects the cost of fresh food, freight shipping, mass transit, construction, and deliveries. They all cost more when diesel costs more.

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U.S. airline JetBlue Airways announced it will begin to pilot a domestic first-class product to fill the gap between its Mint offering and coach. The new premium cabin, dubbed Mini Mint, will feature Collins Aerospace MiQ recliner seats on the New York-based carrier’s Airbus A220, A320, and A321 jetliners. The MiQ seats are similar those found in the domestic first class cabins of American Airlines,  Delta Air Lines, and  United Airlines. Depending on the aircraft type, each plane will have between eight and twelve of the seats in the new Mini Mint cabin. Older aircraft will be the first to be kitted out. To accomodate the new cabin, the seat pitch in coach will drop from the current 32” (81 cm) to 30” (76 cm), Even More Space extra legroom seats will have a seat pitch of 35” (89cm), and the seat pitch in Mini Mint will be 36” to 37” (91.5 cm to 94 cm).

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A meteor caused a thunderous boom across eastern parts of North America early Tuesday. ““The latest GLM imagery (1301Z) does suggest that the boom was a result of a meteor,” the National Weather Service office in Pittsburgh said in a social media post. The shooting star was not only heard and also felt widely as the it weighed approximately 7 tons (6.35 metric tonnes) and released the energy of 250 tons (226.8 metric tonnes) of TNT, Bill Cooke, who heads NASA’sMeteoroid Environments Office, told reporters. The American Meteor Society, which tracks space-rock events that occur around the world, said that it had received 140 eyewitness reports from ten U.S. States including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, and New York, as well as Washington, D.C., and the Canadian province of Ontario.

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Apple rolled out its first “Background Security Improvement” update for iPhones, iPads, and Macs. The update fixes a vulnerability in the Safari browser in devices running the latest operating system software. A BSI is a rapid, lightweight patch that delivers important security improvements between software updates. A BSI is only available for the current of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. The update that was just released specifically fixes a critical WebKit vulnerability in Safari that could allow malicious websites to bypass Same Origin Policy, potentially accessing user data from other websites.

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In London, Magnum Ice Cream rolled out a scented advert at King’s Cross station that would spritz out a chocolate-like scent. Despite the fact that Kings Station is known for many scents, commuters were not shy in complaining about the aroma, terming it “sickly” and “artificial.” Although Magnum Ice Cream has an excellent taste and texture and uses high-quality ingrediients including Belgian chocolate. While the Kings Cross station is known for many scents, the smelly advert did not prove to be tempting enough.

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A visitor at a cave in Friðland

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Cuba’s electrical power grid collapsed on Monday, grid operator UNE said. The problem leaves the island-nation of ten million people without power. A U.S.-imposed oil blockade has helped cripple the country’s obsolete power generation system. UNE said in a social media post that it is investigating the causes of the blackout. Monday’s power failure is the latest in a series of widespread power outages that last for hours or days. Earlier outages sparked a violent protest over the weekend. Officials said they had begun restoring power to small clusters of ⁠circuits, or microsystems, across the country, an early but necessary first step in bringing the full grid back online.

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U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy blocked key parts of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s effort to reshape U.S. vaccine policy, including a move to reduce the number of shots routinely recommended for children. The federal judge sided with the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups, which said health regulators had acted unlawfully to ‌carry out Mr. Kennedy’s agenda of reversing decades-old immunization policies. The groups also warned that the changes will reduce vaccination rates in children and thereby harm public health. In his decision, Judge Murphy said that, for decades, ​the United States had been focused on the eradication and reduction of diseases using vaccines, which were developed through “a method scientific ​in nature and codified into law through procedural requirements.” Under Secretary Kennedy, however, the government “has disregarded those ⁠methods and thereby undermined the integrity of its actions.” The decision blocked Kennedy’s 13 appointees to ​a key vaccine advisory panel from continuing to serve in their positions ahead of a meeting set to take place on 18 and 19 March, and reversed ​votes they had previously taken to reshape vaccine policies.

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Piazza del Popolo in Rome

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Historian Identifies Nazi Gunman in Haunting Holocaust Photograph

A German historian was finally able to put a name to the gunman in the infamous and mistitled 84-year-old photograph, “The Last Jew in Vinnitsa.”

One of the most chilling images to come out of the Holocaust, the gripping title of the image conveys a degree of certainty that conflicts with the fact that available archival prints of the image lack any descriptors whatsoever. Rather, archivists created the title based on what they believed was on the back of one copy of the photograph (now lost to the passing of time) found on the body of a dead German soldier. It now turns out that the title was in error.

Regardless of what one calls the photograph – that of a bespectacled German soldier training his pistol at the head of a resigned man kneeling in a suit before a pit full of corpses, with German troops encircle the scene – what’s significant about this image is that it is one of few historic photographs that document a crucial yet visually underdocumented aspect of Adolf Hitler’s “Endlösung,” or “Final Solution,” namely mass murders by Heinrich Himmler’s Einsatzgruppen of the Sicherheitsdienst – task forces of the security service which served as murder squads – and by other German units in Eastern Europe that claimed the lives of some 13 million Jewish men, women, and children.

For most of its existence, no one in the photograph had been identified, not the shooter, a member of an Einsatzgruppe, nor the Ukrainian Jew who seconds later would be dead, his last look of fear captured for eternity.

The image was once owned by Al Moss, a survivor of the Munich-Allach concentration camp. Herr Moss provided it to the United Press to circulate in 1961, specifically to coincide with the trial of Adolf Eichman in Jerusalem in 1961. Moss wanted the image to be seared into the public consciousness so that people would “know what went on in Eichmann’s time.”

The photograph is the embodiment of what historian Hannah Ahrend termed  “the banality of evil” in her landmark 1963 work, Eichmann in Jerusalem, written during the trial of Herr Eichman, a German-Austrian official of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, or the National Socialist German Workers Party, a convicted war criminal, and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust who participated in the 1942 Wannsee Conference, at which the implementation of the genocidal Final Solution to the Jewish Question was planned.

Ms. Ahrend’s “banality of evil” defines great evils not as the work of monstrous fanatics, but as the result of ordinary people – such as Herr Eichmann – participating in bureaucratic systems without critical thought. Coined in 1963, it argues that a profound “inability to think” leads to conformity, making bureaucrats “terribly normal” participants in mass murder, rather than inherently evil.

Jürgen Räuber, an historian who focused on the Holocaust, was until 2025 director of research at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, painstakingly researched the photograph, starting first not with the two main subjects but with the location. For years, he painstakingly assembled the puzzle pieces and, with the help of artificial intelligence, is now confident he has identified not just the location but the killer.

In a research note published in the academic periodical Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft, or Journal of Historical Studies, in 2025, Herr Dr. phil. Räuber  wrote that the SS carried out the massacre on 28 July 1941, most likely in the early afternoon, in the citadel of Berdychiv. He also concluded, with input from peers and the trailblazing involvement of volunteers from open-source journalism group Bellingcat, that the shooter was Jakobus Onnen, a teacher of English, French, and physical education. Herr Onnen, who had joined the Nazi party before Herr Hitler took power in 1933, came from an educated family and in his youth enjoyed “travelling, studying languages”, Herr Dr. phil. Matthäus said.

“Then comes his deployment in the east and obviously here he stands,” he told the Guardian. “Motivation is one of the most difficult questions to answer. The reason I think why he is posing there, the way he depicts himself – I think is meant to impress.”

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Berlin Tempelhof Airport, which closed in 2008, was one of Europe’s three iconic pre-World War II airports, the others being London’s now defunct Croydon Airport and the old Paris–Le Bourget Airport.

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U.S. and EU passports of different vintages and designs

Passport Stamps to Go the Way of the Dodo

Say “So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye” to passport stamps. The European Union is switching to a new biometric Entry/Exit System, or EES, starting 10 April that will quietly spell the end to the time-honored travel ritual of collecting passport stamps. This system uses biometric data – facial images and fingerprints – to digitally record entry and exit times, aiming for faster border checks and tighter security.

Upon arrival at an airport, port, or train station, non-EU citizens will use EES self-service kiosks to scan fingerprints and take a photo, replacing the manual stamp. The registration will be valid for three years which means that subsequent visits in that period will only require the verification of the biometric data.

The system will be in use in 25 EU member states including Austria, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, among others, as well as in four associated countries Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.

Early equivalents of passport stamps can be traced all the way back to the Middle Ages or Renaissance when a wax seal would be placed on letters of conduct by sovereigns in Europe. State-issued travel documents have existed in some form since antiquity but passport books as we know them today were first standardized in 1920. The term “passport” itself appears to have been derived from a document required by some medieval Italian states in order to pass through a physical harbor, i.e. passa porto, Italian for “to pass the harbor,” or gate, passa porte, “to pass the gates” of a walled city.

One of the earliest known references to a letter or document that served as an analogue to a passport is found in the bible’s Book of Nehemiah 2:7–9, dating from approximately 450 BCE. In that text, Nehemiah, an official serving King Artaxerxes I of Persia, asked permission to travel to Judea; the king granted leave and gave him a letter “to the governors beyond the river” requesting safe passage for him as he traveled through their lands.

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A southerly view at sunset from the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, also known as the 59th Street Bridge.encompassing Manhattan, Roosevelt Island, and Queens.

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Jürgen Habermas, Towering Figure in German Philosophy and Sociology, Dies at 96

Jürgen Habermas, a philosopher and sociologist who was one of the most influential thinkers in Germany in the past 100 years, died on Saturday in Starnberg, a town in Bavaria, Germany, some 19 miles (30 kilometers) southwest of Munich at the north end of Lake Starnberg, in the heart of the Fünfseenland, or Five Lakes County. He was 96.

Herr Dr. Habermas’ publisher, Suhrkamp Verlag, confirmed his death.

A philosopher in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. Herr Dr. Habermas’ work addressed communicative rationality and the public sphere and his political consensus-building theory argued formation of public opinion vital for democracies to survive. His career, which spanned seven decades, focused on the foundations of social theory, democracy, and the rule of law, but he was best known for his theory of political consensus-building. As such, he helped shape the discourse around European integration and the formation of the European Union.

A towering figure in the intellectual history of postwar Germany, Dr. Habermas’ belief that the formation of public opinion was vital for democracies to survive explains why he continued to write books and newspaper articles deep into old age. He criticized the then Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel in an interview with the Guardian for “gambling away” Germany’s postwar reputation with her government’s hardline stance during the Greek debt crisis.

Given his background in the neo-Marxist Frankfurt school and his reputation as a court philosopher of the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, or the Social Democratic party, his influence crossed party lines. German Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz of the conservative Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands, or the Christian Democratic Union, described him as “one of the most significant thinkers of our time.”

“His analytical acuity shaped democratic discourse far beyond our country’s borders and served as a beacon in a stormy sea,” the Bundeskanzler said in a statement. “His voice will be missed.”

Jürgen Habermas was born on 18 June 1929 to Ernst Habermas, an associate counsel at a local chamber of commerce, and Grete (née Köttgen) Habermas, a homemaker, and grew up in a typical bourgeois family in Düsseldorf. Dr. Habermas married Ute Wesselhoeft, who died in 2025. He is survived by two of his three children.

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