Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Amy Held.
Signs point toward escalation as the war on Iran enters its third week, thousands more
“U.S. forces are heading to the Middle East, including 2,200 Marines, and Iran's remaining”
missiles and drones are striking throughout the region, much aimed successfully at disrupting the world's oil supply. Prices are up 40% since the war, but energy secretary Chris Wright tells ABC News this week key for seas it coming to an end soon. The conflict will come to the end in the next few weeks, and we'll see a rebound in supplies
and pushing down a prices after that. Experts say a quick recovery is not possible. Meantime, the death toll from the war is growing, some 2,000 Iranians and Lebanese have been killed, millions have been displaced, and at least 13 U.S. service members have been killed. The Iraqi government is raising concerns about the risk of thousands of ISIS
detainees escaping. They were transferred to Iraq from Syria last month by U.S. forces. Officials say there were 6 attacks Saturday on the Baghdad airport compound where the prisoners
“are now being held, and PR's Dana Roth reports.”
The U.S. military transported more than 5,000 accused ISIS fighters from Northeastern Syria to Baghdad in March. That's when Syrian Kurdish forces were in danger of losing control of the prisons after Syrian government forces advanced and took over Kurdish health territory. Iran and Iran backed militias in Iraq have been attacking the airport. In retaliation for U.S. attacks on Iran and its proxies, Iraq's Justice Ministry says some of the strikes
Saturday landed very close to the prison, and it's concerned about the security of the facility. Jainorath and PR News in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. As the war with Iran goes on, prediction market bets on battle moves are also heating up. This is raising questions about insider trading in Washington. At least one senator is sounding the alarm saying Congress cannot police itself, and PR's Luke Kagan reports.
Financial disclosure rules are clear. Lawmakers and staff must report stock bond and cryptocurrency earnings, but there are no specific rules for event contracts on prediction markets. Says Oregon Senator Jeff Markley, a Democrat. Nobody has said to me we're making these bets, but I'm confident that they are. Billions are wagered each week on prediction markets like Poly Market, where bets range
from sports elections to war. But the rules governing how U.S. officials can use these new markets haven't kept up, says former White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter.
The problem is they may not have to disclose what they actually bet on whether it was a football
game or a war. Bet's on prediction markets include U.S. troop movements and Iranian regime change, Luke Garrett and PR News, Washington. It's NPR News. Voters and France are choosing mayors in 36,000 cities, towns, and hamlets in today's first
round of municipal voting. The local races are being closely watched for signs of a national and international phenomenon. NPR's Eleanor Beardley reports the far right has been surging throughout much of France. Marine LePens working class far right national rally party hopes to capture three major cities in the south, Marseille and Nice and Too Lone, and several smaller towns in between.
The far left is looking to capture a swath of towns across the north. The French electorate
is fragmented with the largest blocks on the extremes, and for the first time in 25 years
political commentators believe socialist-governed Paris could swing right. But political analysts, Jean-Yves Camou believes Parisians will stick with a center-left green coalition in the end. Paris is an African city, where the case of people, well-off people, who do not want to add a kind of extrusion to take the old of this city council.
The second round runoff will take place on March 22nd, Eleanor Beardley and Pierre-Nous Paris. In the U.S., its selection Sunday, otherwise known as the start of March Madness, featuring the best in Division 1 College Basketball. The 68 teams selected for the men's bracket will be revealed at 6 p.m. Eastern, followed
by the women's teams, two hours later, tournament play gets underway this week for the next three weeks. Its single elimination until this championship for women that's April 5th in Phoenix and men are the next day in Indianapolis. This is NPR News.
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