"Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he's ordered his cabinet to open direct
negotiations with Lebanon.
“The two countries have no diplomatic relations.”
This after the deadliest day and the ongoing Israeli invasion of Lebanon, where more than 300 people were killed yesterday according to authorities. And here's Lauren Fraer has more from Beirut." Israel and Lebanon have fought several wars. They treat each other as enemy states.
Anyone who's ever set foot in Israel is technically not allowed to enter Lebanon. So direct negotiations between these two countries would be historic. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu says they'll focus on disarming his Bala and arranging peaceful relations. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaz Salam has pledged to restrict weapons to quote legitimate forces
only. Netanyahu said he appreciates that.
He's president Joseph Owens says he wants a ceasefire first followed by direct negotiations.
A person briefed on the matter but not authorized to speak publicly tells NPR, the talks
“will take place between Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors in Washington.”
No word on exactly when. Lauren Fraer and PR News Beirut. Across the country, people are trading lower monthly insurance premiums for higher health costs. Jackie 48 with KFF Health News has more.
After some financial help from the government ended in January, many found the only affordable care act plans they could swing each month came with steep deductibles. That means higher costs before insurance pays. Some people are skipping care altogether. Thomas Lehman, a dog walker in Atlanta saw his deductible jump to $7,500 this year.
I mean, we only use it from maybe emergencies or semi-emergencies. These plans are also becoming more common in the workplace. In 2023, 30% of people with employer insurance had a high deductible plan, up from 4% in 2006. Jackie 48 from KFF Health News reporting.
The four astronauts who circle the moon are stowing items safely away and making other preparations to come back home. As NPR's NL Greenfield Voice reports, the Artemis 2 crew will splash down off the coast of California tomorrow evening. While talking to reporters from space, astronaut Victor Glover said he'd been thinking
about the return to Earth ever since he was assigned to this mission a few years ago. We have to get back. There's so much data that you've seen already, but all the good stuff is coming back with us. There's so many more pictures, so many more stories.
He said he hadn't even begun the process, everything that they'd seen and done. And riding a fireball through the atmosphere is profound as well. NASA officials have calculated that during reentry, the capsule's maximum speed will be nearly 24,000 miles per hour. That's really fast, but won't top the reentry speed record set by the returning Apollo
10 astronauts in 1969. NL Greenfield Voice NPR News. Wall Street's trading higher at this hour, you're listening to NPR News from Washington. Boston Public Schools is rolling out a new effort to teach students how to use artificial intelligence.
“Boston Piers Windsor-Johnston reports some experts say AI literacy is quickly becoming essential”
for the future workforce. The school district is launching what it calls an AI literacy initiative aimed at helping students understand not just how to use artificial intelligence, but how it works and where it could go wrong. Sarah Crazley is a fellow at Cornell University.
She says that kind of training is essential.
AI literacy is yes about learning how to use the technology, but at a judge those results how to have a healthy skepticism about what the machine returns back. Crazley says those skills will become critical as AI becomes more embedded in daily life and the workplace. She cautioned students who lack that foundation could face challenges as entry-level jobs
continue to shift, Windsor-Johnston and PR News. U.S. Postal Service says its financial crisis is so bad it has to temporarily suspend employer contributions to a federal pension plan for employees. The Post Office says it will stop making $200 million payments every two weeks starting tomorrow.
U.S. P.S. says if it doesn't get more money from Congress, it could run out of money soon. This after raising prices temporarily for some services because of rising fuel costs. On Wall Street that I was up 317 points the Nasdech is up 124 S&P 500 up 34. I'm Janine Herbst and PR News in Washington.
