"Lie from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh.
The U.S. military says it will start enforcing a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz today.
“It's an effort to put additional pressure on Iran.”
NPR's Greg Myri reports President Trump announced the blockade yesterday after U.S.
Iran peace talks over the weekend failed to produce a breakthrough.
The U.S. Navy has a substantial presence in the region. The President Trump says it won't take long for the U.S. to "clean out the Strait." Still, the blockade comes with risks. Iran is believed to have placed mines in the waterway. Also, Iran says that if any of its ports are attacked, it will respond by attacking ports
belonging to Arab Gulf countries. Iran has effectively closed the waterway for the past several weeks, aside from a small number of friendly or neutral commercial ships it allows through. It's not clear if any of those ships will attempt to challenge the U.S. blockade. Greg Myri NPR News, Washington.
"Pope Leo has arrived in Algeria on an 11-day tour in Africa.
“He will also travel to equatorial Guinea, Angola, and Cameroon.”
This trip comes in the wake of a sharp public attack from President Trump. Mutensions over the war in Iran. Here's NPR as a manual I can walk to."
"Pope Leo is the first Pope to arrive in Algeria.
Because of the largest country, Catholics are a tiny minority among the largely Muslim population. But Algeria is the birthplace of the order of St. Augustine to which Pope Leo belongs. The trip however comes amid escalating tensions with the White House of the war in Iran, criticised by Pope Leo.
And on Sunday night, President Trump attacked the Pope." "We don't like a Pope that's going to say that it's okay to have a nuclear weapon. We don't want to pop this as rhyme is okay in our cities. I don't like it. I'm not a big fan of Pope Leo."
And while still on an aircraft landing in Algeria, Pope Leo responded. "Too many people are suffering in the war of today. Too many innocent people are very killed.
“And I think someone has to stand up and say when we find there's a better way to do this."”
"If I know, I can go to NPR News, Lagos." Hungry's new Prime Minister Alek, Peter Majer, is pledging a shift back toward Democratic standards from the authoritarian rule of Victor Orban, who was voted out of power Sunday by a landslide. And Garene Americans, such as Unaheutu, spoke to NPR's Frank Lankford about the outcome.
"Then being credible, this gives hope to our generation that we can actually make change. And democracy's not dead." Orban was closely allied with President Trump, Russia's Vladimir Putin and other rulers critics of characterizes hard-line or authoritarian. The last check on Wall Street, the Dow, is up to 12 points at 47,928.
This is NPR News. President Trump has fired the board of the San Francisco Presidio Treas, the federal agency that oversees Radio National Park. Pijon Sioboshi, with Member Station KQED, says the board's six members had been appointed by former President Joe Biden.
The San Francisco Chronicle first reported that all six trustees were terminated last week. Lisa Petrie is a spokesperson for the trust. She says the park will continue to operate normally. Trump signed an executive order last year, cutting any federal funding to the trust, but Petrie
says it has been self-sufficient since 2013.
The trust's website says it raised nearly $60 million in net income just last year.
No word yet on when the board will be filled. For NPR News, I'm Bijon Sioboshi in San Francisco. Democratic Congressman Eric Swallwell is suspending his campaign for California governor. A former staff member says a lawmakers sexually assaulted her, at least three other women accused Swallwell of sexual misconduct he denies wrongdoing.
A cloud Jaguar may have been spotted in the Honduranets, Sierra DelMed, and Don Mountain range for the first time in a decade. The conservation organization, Panthera, says it couchered images of the lone male in early February. The pictures shared exclusively with CNN, Mark's a positive sign for Honduras's conservation
efforts to protect Jaguars from the threats of poaching and deforestation. I'm Lakshmi Singh and PR News in Washington.
