"Li," from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi, saying.
Iran's new Supreme Leader, Mustafa Hamani, is making his first public statement since his father, Ayatoll Ali Hamani, was killed on the first day of the U.S. Israel war against Iran. The younger Hamani vows to "event" quote "martars" to continue attacks on U.S. bases
in the region, and to keep its blockade on the straight of Hormuz, a critical global route
for oil shipments. NPR's Greg Myri says Iranian state media ran home any statement. We didn't see the new leader, most of Bahamanae, and we didn't hear his voice. This statement was read on Iranian state media in his name.
“So one of the key questions is what condition is he in?”
He was believed to be injured in the Israeli air strike on day one of the war that killed the former Supreme Leader, his father, as well as his mother, his wife, and his son. NPR's Greg Myri reporting, oil prices spiked overnight as gas prices in the U.S. become a political headache for President Trump. NPR's Hamani reports it's an economic indicator people track closely.
Trump campaigned on bringing down gas prices.
But since launching the war with Iran, they are way up. Jared Bernstein was on President Biden's Council of Economic Advisors. I mean, this is a price you see twice a block when you're driving down the street. And every time you fill up your tank, you recognize how much more it costs. If this conflict drags on, the cost of fuel could drive up other prices, too, says Steven
Moore, a conservative economist.
“Part of the problem for President Trump is that we already had people complaining about”
prices. Immortibility was shaping up to be a top issue in this year's mid-terms even before the gas price spiked, Tamar Keith and PR news. An internal government watchdog and members of Congress are separately investigating new allegations, Department of Government Efficiency Staffers potentially misuse sensitive social
security data. Here's NPR's Steven Fowler. In a letter obtained by NPR, the Social Security Administration's Inspector General told members of Congress last week it received an anonymous complaint about, quote, "potential misuse of SSA data."
This week congressional Democrats investigating DOGE's access to social security data also
“said they received new whistleblower information.”
That information, which was reported by the Washington Post and has not been independently reviewed by NPR, alleges a former DOGE staffer retained copies of two social security databases and wanted to use them in a private sector job. The Social Security Administration disputes the claims, Steven Fowler, and PR news. U.S. doctor trading lower this hour, the Dow Jones industrial average down 526 points
or more than 1%, at 46,890. From Washington, this is NPR News. Veteran Congressman Jim Clyburn, one of the top ranking Democrats in the U.S. House, is seeking an 18th term he ended speculation today in announcing plans to run for reelection in South Carolina's sixth district.
He is an influential figure in politics, Clyburn is credited with helping Joe Biden's presidential campaign with a 2020 endorsement. The lawmaker turns 86 years old this summer. He is one of the oldest members in Congress are passed by 88-year-old Republican representative Paul Rogers of Kentucky and 92-year-old Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa.
A strong El Nino weather pattern could be on the way this summer, then PR's Rebecca Hershey
reports that would drive up global temperatures in the second half of this year.
El Nino happens when the water in the eastern Pacific is warmer than usual. It causes global average temperatures to rise slightly. When you combine that with the much larger warming effects of humans, burning fossil fuels, you often get record-breaking heat. A long, strong El Nino in 2023 and 2024 led both of those years to shatter global temperature
records. Now, federal forecasters say it's likely El Nino will return between June and August. That would also affect regional weather patterns in the U.S. The South generally sees more rain and lower temperatures in years when El Nino is active, and El Nino also makes it more difficult for hurricanes to form in the Atlantic.
Rebecca Hershey and Pierre-News. Major market indices are down roughly 1% this hour with a Dow down 500 points its NPR news.
