Trump Removes Sanctions on Russian Oil, and Chatbots Want Your Health Records
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We gave Times employees a preview of Crossplay from New York Times Games. And here's what they had to say. I can finally play with other people. I'm pretty competitive. It's fun to beat friends and coworkers. I have a J for 10 points. I'm guessing tanga is not a word. Let's see. Tanga is a word. Oh. As an English as a second language speaker, I like to learn new words. Crossplay, the first two-player word game from New York Times Games. Download it for free today. From The New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Friday, March 13th. Here's what we're covering. A quick update to start on oil. As the Trump administration scrambles to contain energy prices that have shot up because of the war with Iran, the U.S.
has temporarily lifted sanctions on oil from Russia. Is it a matter of regret to you that Russia is benefiting from this conflict? Well, again, I think it's an inevitability. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson, whose department issued the exemptions, has stressed that they're limited and temporary. But he acknowledged in a podcast interview that relaxing sanctions will benefit Russia to some degree. It is unfortunate, and we hope that it will be in a micro period that they will benefit. Russia has faced punishing sanctions from the U.S. and many Western countries since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. one expert who previously worked with the State Department on sanctions policy, told The Times that now, quote, in one fell swoop, we've undone a huge amount of pressure on Russia.
At the same time, the pressures that are driving up the cost of oil and gas show no signs of letting up. Yesterday, Iran's newly appointed supreme leader directed his country's military to continue blocking the Strait of Hormuz, and officials say Iran has started laying mines there. The narrow waterway basically separates the world's biggest oil and natural gas producers from the people who want to buy it. The shock of the cutoff is rattling businesses and households all over the globe. In Hanoi, Vietnam, gas station owners have posted sold-out signs, leaving drivers in a lurch. In Western India, some people mourning the death of a loved one have found that crematories have closed, with no gas to operate.
From Mexico to Canada to Europe, farmers are facing a surge in fertilizer costs, a lot of which comes from the Gulf. And in the U.S., the energy crisis has roiled the markets with all kinds of secondary consequences, like homebuyers seeing mortgage rates edge up. One former U.S. diplomat, who also used to work at the Energy Department, told The Times that the shutdown of the Strait is the emergency scenario everyone feared. Quote, this really is the big one. Meanwhile, both Iran and Lebanon were rocked yesterday by the Israeli military's ongoing airstrikes. In Lebanon, they've been hitting the southern suburbs of Beirut, parts of which have been strongholds for Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group.
But yesterday, they bombarded central Beirut, feeding fears that parts of the city once considered comparatively safe are now targets, too. My colleague David Gutenfelder is on the ground there. Just before sundown, the Israeli military called for the evacuation of a neighborhood around a targeted building in the center of the city.
What sanctions did Trump remove on Russian oil and why?
Families in the area were scrambling to leave, streaming out on foot, and I met many of them on a highway bridge overlooking the building. Soon after, Israeli aircraft fired three missiles that came screaming in, exploding against the building. People ducked behind cars and concrete walls. and then looked up as an Israeli warplane flew high overhead. The strike, which hit very near the country's government headquarters, has raised fears that the war is expanding further into Lebanon and deeper into the heart of Beirut. Israel said it was targeting infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah. One of the strikes hit the campus of Lebanon's main public university, killing at least two people, according to a state-run news agency.
Lebanese officials say in all, 70 people were killed in yesterday's attacks, and more than 700 total have been killed since Israel escalated its campaign there last week, including many paramedics and emergency workers.
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