Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Wilman.
A funeral service was held Saturday for an American service member killed in the war in the Middle East.
“35-year-old Captain Cody Quirk of Winter Haven, Florida, was among six people killed by a drone strike at a command center in Kuwait.”
His stepmother, Stacy Quirk, says, "He leaves behind a legacy worth celebrating." "We don't just say goodbye. We say thank you. Thank you, Cody. For your courage, your heart, your laughter, and for the life you've lived so fully." Master Sergeant Robert Bunch said Quirk lived a life of courage, commitment, and sacrifice.
That level of selfless service is something we can never fully repay, but we can honor it by remembering his legacy.
Iran attacked two communities near Israel's main nuclear research centers Saturday night, at least seven people were seriously injured and several buildings were damaged. The attack came after Israel's military hitter Iran's main nuclear enrichment site.
“It's the first time. Israel's nuclear research facility was targeted. Israel says it was not able to intercept the missiles.”
In Cuba, that country's electricity grid is collapsed for the second time in a week, leaving 10 million people without power. As Katie Silver reports from Mexico City, it's the latest in a series of widespread outages as the U.S. oil embargo continues to take its toll. The state-owned Union Electricer said Cuba's grid had a quote "total disconnection on Saturday." It also happened this past Monday and earlier this month. The Caribbean island's infrastructure has been crippled after Donald Trump cut off Venezuela and oil shipments to Cuba,
and threaten tariffs on any country that it provides fuel. Reports suggest multiple tankers carrying Russian fuel on route to Cuba.
The first two to arrive Monday. Mexico has also indicated it is trying to find ways to resume selling oil to Cuba after stopping early this year due to U.S. pressure.
“For NPR News, I'm Katie Silver and Mexico City.”
American retailers are predicting a strong growth in sales in part fueled by tax refunds and the forecast of a cool-down in inflation. The nation's top retail trade group is forecasting that spending its stores and restaurants will grow 4.4% this year as NPR Zelina Salio tells us. The National Retail Federation says this growth will be greater than the recent years or the years before the pandemic. The forecast counts on a slight boost from tax cuts at the start of the year. It also predicts that inflation might ease in the second half of the year.
The group acknowledged that it's not considering any potential fallout of the war in Iran, including the impact on shipping or gas prices. Chief Economist Mark Matthews says the retail group is still optimistic that the resilient American consumer, and, quote, "the underlying fundamentals of the U.S. economy will support continued stability in the year ahead,
adding the silo and beer news Washington."
And your listening to NPR News. The World Health Organization says a strike on a hospital in Sudan's dire 4 region as killed at least 64 people. 13 of those who died were children. The WHO also says the strike made the hospital non-operational. It's not clear where the strike came from, and both sides in the fighting are blaming each other for the attack. People who are self-employed and make too much money for federal help with health insurance premiums are facing tough choices right now.
Empiriously, the Simmons Duffin reports that premium costs for affordable care act plans have doubled this year. 10 Warner and Parvine Vora are in their mid 50s and live in Manchester, Connecticut. They're self-employed and use the ACA for health coverage. Last year, they had to drain one of their two small retirement accounts. Now they're wondering how they can pay for surgery on Vora's other eye and Warner's other hip. And eyeing the retirement account that's left.
And this is supposed to be meant for our 60s or 70s or 80s. They say they feel stuck in a broken system with healthcare premiums and out-of-pocket costs only getting more expensive each year. Selina Simmons Duffin and PR News. The FDA says almost 90,000 bottles of a children's pain reliever have been recalled because of reports of contamination. The children's ibuproof and oral suspension is manufactured by taro-pharmaceuticals.
The recall was announced after some customers reported a gel-like mass and black particles in the product. The FDA says that the recalled product is unlikely to pose a serious health risk. I'm Dale Wilman and PR News.
