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Today's top stories
Iran launched a barrage of missile attacks on Israel after confirming the deaths of two high-ranking officials, Ali Larijani and Gholamreza Soleimani. The Revolutionary Guard announced that it launched multiple warhead missiles today targeting the Tel Aviv area. Israel also carried out an assault on central Beirut overnight, resulting in the deaths of 10 people. The Israeli military stated that it aimed to target Hezbollah militants and their installations.
- 🎧 NPR's Arezou Rezvani tells Up First that she spent a few hours at the Haji Omeran border crossing interviewing people who were leaving Iran and entering Iraq. During that time, she says that one of the most striking things she noticed was how terrified people were to speak. Rezvani spoke with a woman in her 60s from a border city in Iran who asked not to be named for fear of government reprisal, even outside of the country. The woman avoided talking about the war, but did tell Rezvani that she wished the airstrikes on her city had killed her, expressing how her life had become unbearable. Iran has been under an intense internet blackout for the last couple of weeks, making it hard to contact people inside the country. Iranians who have managed to get online report seeing increased checkpoints in their cities and towns, where security forces are checking phones for apps used to bypass the blackout.
- ➡️ Yesterday, Joe Kent, the head of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, became the first senior official from the Trump administration to resign due to the conflict with Iran. Kent is an Army veteran who completed 11 combat deployments in the Middle East and elsewhere. In his resignation letter, he said he could not "in good conscience" support the war, that Israel pushed the U.S. into the conflict with a pressure campaign to "deceive" Trump and that Iran "posed no imminent threat to our nation."
Federal Reserve policymakers are gearing up to keep the benchmark interest rate steady today amid undeniable signs of a softening job market. Meanwhile, the ongoing war in Iran continues to push prices higher. Policymakers find themselves in a tight spot, balancing the need to encourage hiring against the pressure to curb inflation.
- 🎧 The labor market initially seemed to stabilize, but that changed when the February jobs report showed a loss of 92,000 jobs. Normally, this might prompt the Fed to lower interest rates to boost the economy, but stubbornly high inflation complicates that decision, especially with the energy shock triggered by the war in Iran, NPR's Scott Horsley says. Today's Fed vote on interest rates may not be unanimous, just like previous meetings. At the last meeting, two of the twelve policymakers pushed to lower rates by a quarter point, citing concerns over the weakening job market rather than rising prices. Today's vote will reveal whether the Fed's risk balance has shifted in light of the disappointing February jobs report and the recent surge in gas prices.
Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma will answer questions from senators today at his confirmation hearing to lead the Department of Homeland Security. Trump selected Mullin after removing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem from the agency's helm. The leadership change followed months of intense scrutiny of DHS. An immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota sparked protests and led to the deaths of two U.S. citizens at the hands of federal agents. The agency is currently shut down as Democrats push for reforms to how immigration officers operate.
Arizona's attorney general is accusing Kalshi of running an illegal gambling business, marking the first criminal charges against the popular prediction market site. Users of the site bet billions of dollars each week on everything from the number of rate cuts the U.S. will see this year to what politicians might say during public appearances. State prosecutors claim that Kalshi, which is based in New York City, operates without a gambling license, allowing residents to wager on sports and elections without approval from Arizona regulators. Sports gambling is regulated by the Arizona gaming commission, and gambling on elections is illegal in the state.
Deep dive
After Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez condemned U.S. attacks on Iran as a violation of international law, Trump tasked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent with addressing the criticism, telling him to "cut off all dealings with Spain." Spain Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said that targeting his country through the Treasury Department would make "no sense" and harm the entire European Union. Since Trump began his second term, his administration has imposed and lifted Treasury sanctions in ways that depart from historical norms, according to former State Department officials. Traditionally, the Treasury Department imposes sanctions on individuals who pose serious threats to the U.S. and their own countries.
- ➡️ Under Trump, the agency has lifted sanctions it previously imposed on people accused of crimes and corruption, despite former U.S. ambassadors citing a lack of clear evidence of a change in their behavior.
- ➡️ Sanctioned foreigners can face severe consequences. Their U.S. assets could be frozen, they could be restricted from entering the U.S. or using U.S. financial services and U.S. companies could be barred from dealing with them.
- ➡️ Trump's Treasury Department has removed sanctions against people whom U.S. ambassadors and senators didn't believe addressed the agency's initial concerns, including Milorad Dodik, the former president of the Republika Srpska. The U.S. previously sanctioned Dodik for "undermin[ing] the stability of the Western Balkans region through corruption and threats to long-standing peace agreements." Dodik has since used his renewed U.S. access to meet with a Trump administration official.
Today's listen
Actor Eric Dane, who played Dr. Mark Sloan on Grey's Anatomy, died last month at age 53. Dane was diagnosed last April with ALS, a disease that attacks nerves in the brain and spinal cord, stealing a person's ability to walk, breathe and often speak. His widow, Rebecca Gayheart Dane, told NPR she felt devastated watching his voice fade. Now, she is partnering with ElevenLabs, an artificial intelligence company creating synthetic voice software. The company developed a program to help those with permanent voice loss, including Eric, re-create their voices. All Things Considered host Juana Summers interviewed Gayheart Dane about her caregiving role with her late husband, how she believes Eric will be remembered and her complex feelings about artificial intelligence.
3 things to know before you go
- Postmaster General David Steiner told lawmakers this week that the U.S. Postal Service may run out of cash to pay its workers and vendors in about a year, which could force it to stop deliveries.
- About 3,800 workers at the JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley, Colo., one of the largest in the U.S., began a strike Monday, according to union representatives. The strike marks the first walkout at a U.S. beef slaughterhouse since the 1980s. (via CPR)
- A sweeping review of cannabis studies over the past 45 years found that there is little evidence that the drug helps with anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder or depression.
This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.
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