🌎 - Aluminum prices reached their highest point in 5 years.

🇷🇺 - Vladimir Putin ordered to create Russian analogue for the Nobel prize in Literature.

🇺🇦 - In Ukraine, cigarette prices will increase by around 10% next week.

🇬🇧 Tony Blair says “we must end the left’s unholy alliance with the Islamists”.

🇧🇭🇮🇷 - Iran hit major aluminum factory in Bahrain.

🇦🇪🇮🇷 - UAE annulled all residence permits held by Iranians. Including golden ones issued for big investment.

🇦🇪🇮🇷 - Iran complains that the UAE confiscated Iranian assets worth 530 billion dollars.

🇹🇷🇮🇷 - Turkish press claim that their government warned Kurds and their allies that, if Kurds attack Iran, Turkey will attack Kurds.

🇸🇾 - Syria closed its airspace for everyone.

🇺🇸 American banks are currently facing losses of 306 billion US dollars in investment securities.

🇵🇰 🇪🇬 🇹🇷 🇸🇦 WSJ: Top diplomats from Turkey and Egypt have arrived in Islamabad for talks aimed at ending the war, with Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister expected to join Monday.

Pakistan is taking a leading role in efforts to bring the US and Iran to the negotiating table.

FM Ishaq Dar met with Egypt’s Badr Abdelatty and Turkey’s Hakan Fidan, stressing the need for restraint, de-escalation, and diplomacy.

🇷🇺 🇺🇦 🇫🇷 UAF Mirage fighter jets, together with aviation technicians from France, were reportedly attacked during a missile strike on a military airfield in the Zhytomyr region.

🇪🇬 Shops, restaurants and cafes in Egypt have been told to close early as part of a raft of temporary measures to combat soaring energy prices caused by the Iran war.

Retail and dining premises will have to close by 21:00 each night for the next month, beginning on Saturday.

The "exceptional measures" introduced by the Egyptian government also include dimming street lights and roadside advertising, as well as a return to home working for one day a week in April for many.

Egypt has been particularly affected by the Middle East conflict and the effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for oil and liquefied natural gas.

🇬🇧🇦🇪✖️🇮🇷 Media reports say 70 British nationals have been arrested in the UAE, allegedly facing up to 10 years in prison for photographing Iranian attacks.

🇦🇫 🇵🇰 Satellite images reportedly show Pakistan taking control of a 32 km² enclave in Paktika (Gudhwana), with new border fences and infrastructure being built in the area.

🇮🇷 Iran threatened to destroy ports and hotels in the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, and Turkey if it is discovered that they are used by Israelis or Americans.

🇺🇸 Bank of America has reached a $72.5 million settlement in a lawsuit brought on behalf of victims of Jeffrey Epstein, who had accused the bank of facilitating his sex trafficking operation.

The proposed class-action lawsuit was filed in October by a Florida woman who says she was abused by Epstein "on at least 100 occasions" between 2011 and 2019 and held two accounts at Bank of America at the direction of his business team.

It alleged that the bank had "a plethora of information regarding Epstein's sex trafficking operation but chose profit over protecting the victims".

In the court documents, Bank of America says the settlement makes "no admission of liability" or "wrongdoing" on its part.

🇦🇺 Public transport in two Australian states will be made free to incentivise people not to drive as fuel prices soar due to the war in the Middle East.

Victoria, home to Melbourne, has said it will have free travel throughout April, while Tasmania has said commuters will not need to pay from Monday until the end of June.

However, other state governments have so far declined to follow suit, with New South Wales (in which Sydney is located) indicating it was reserving funds to meet increased demand for public transport.

Australia is among a host of nations that have seen fuel prices increase sharply since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.