Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst.
More air strikes have been carried out on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.
“The attack overnight hit a radar installation, according to Iraqi security sources, no casualties”
have been reported. This is the U.S. warrants Americans in the country to leave immediately overland to another country, because commercial flights have been canceled. The warning says malicious tied to Iran have carried out several attacks on targets associated with the U.S.
and Piers' Jane Raff has more. Witnesses heard the explosion and saw smoke rising from the U.S. embassy in Baghdad's heavily guarded green zone. An Iraqi security official told NPR the air strike hit a radar installation on the embassy compound.
He asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
The U.S. military had no immediate comment. A strike in Baghdad blamed by Iran-backed militias on the U.S. and Israel, killed at least one leader of the Milton Group, Cattab, Hezbollah, one of Iraq's main Iran-backed groups, according to a malicious source. He also asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak about the issue.
He said the leader of the group who was believed to be the target, escaped unheard. Jane Raff and Piers News, Erbil, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Countries in the Persian Gulf say they're being attacked by Iranian drones today, a day after
“the U.S. bombed Iran's key oil export terminal, Hark Island, which is a lynch pin for”
Iran's economy. But he says the U.S. didn't hit oil infrastructure. Professor of modern European history, Cornell University, Nicholas Mulder. It's an island that's far offshore because it's the only place where big oil carrying ships can easily dock.
And one advantage in the current situation for Iran is that it's relatively far north in the Persian Gulf. So it's still quite a ways away from the Strait of Hormuz. Speaking there to ABC News, meanwhile, President Trump is asking neighbouring countries to help patrol the Strait of Hormuz to keep it open, even though Iran's foreign minister
says it's only close to ships with ties to the U.S. and Israel.
T.S. officers have now missed their first full paycheck as the partial government shut down
of the Department of Homeland Security continues and Piers Windsor-Johnston has more. Reports are coming up with ways to support T.S. officers as the shutdown stretches on. A Denver International Airport officials have placed donation boxes around the terminal collecting grocery store and gas gift cards for workers. Denver Airport Public Information Officer, Kalin Villagrana, says travelers and people in
the area are dropping off dozens of cards. Those were the specific types of support we identified, helped them with, you know, their basic needs, getting to the airport, getting to their job, and also, you know, making sure that they have food on the table. Other airports are stepping in as well, Seattle Tacoma International Airport has set up
the food pantry for T.S.A. workers and Piers Windsor-Johnston. This is NPR. Times running out to register to vote in this year's primary elections in some states, Illinois is getting ready to hold a primary next week on March 17th in Indiana and Ohio, April 6th, is the last day to register in person or online.
That's also the postmark deadline for anyone registering by mail. The post office recommends mailing voter registration applications at least a week before your state's deadline to make sure it gets there on time. Officials are also warning people to make sure their voter registration is up to date. A spacecraft, the size of a large box of cereal, should students start helping to answer
a big question whether there's life on planets that are outside of our solar system. And Piers Joe Palca has more. The spacecraft is called Sparks, an acronym for "Star Planet Activity Research Cube Set." Cube sets are a class of tiny, inexpensive probes that can still do significant scientific research.
Sparks has an ultraviolet telescope that will be used to study solar flares coming from stars that might have planetary systems. Understanding those flares is key to understanding whether an orbiting planet might have an atmosphere that could sustain life. Sparks was built and is operated at the Arizona State University. It launched in January. Ground controllers have now checked out its instruments and say it's ready to start
making scientific measurements. For NPR News, I'm Joe Palca. Another negative day on Wall Street yesterday is the Iran oil crisis continues with the doubt on 119 points. You're listening to NPR News. It's tax season, and you might be tempted to use a tax hack that you see on social media. But not so fast.
You watch it, you're like, "Oh, that seems interesting, right?"
“The first thing you need to do is just kind of slow down, take a breath.”
How do avoid bad tax advice and tax scams so you don't end up in trouble with the IRS? Listen to the Life Kit podcast in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
