"Live from NPR News," I'm trial Snyder.
U.S. military says no ships have evaded its blockade of Iranian ports, and Pierskuel Lawrence reports a dozen U.S. warships and more than 100 aircraft have been enforcing the naval blockade that began Monday morning. U.S. Central Command states on social media that no vessels headed to or from Iran have passed the state of Hormuz since the American blockade began, and that six merchant ships
had obeyed U.S. orders to return back to Iranian ports. St. Cum says the blockade will be enforced against any nation's ships and allows free navigation in and out of the Persian Gulf, except for Iranian ports. Iran, for its part, has effectively blocked any other commerce through the straight for weeks, with the mere threat of Iranian mines and drone attacks keeping all but a trickle of shipping
anchored in the Gulf. Iran has charged a few ships, millions of dollars for safe passage, now the U.S. blockade will likely end that practice. Quilerance and Pyrenees
Despite the blockade of Iranian ports, President Trump is indicating that a second round of
talks with Iran may be in the works. He told the New York Post Tuesday that fresh talks could take place in the next couple of days in his llama bot after they failed to reach a break through over the weekend. Speaking in Georgia, Vice President JD Vance at President Trump wants to make a grand bargain with Iran, but that it's a problem that won't be solved overnight.
Americans are getting bigger tax-free funds, that's due in large part to the signature tax law passed by Republican last year, but in PiersTV saw how reports are so far a few Americans are noticing the bomb. The average refund is about $350 more this year compared to the same time last year. Most filers should receive at least some bump according to Andrew Loutz with the bipartisan
policy center. The center surveyed Americans and found only 27% think last year's tax changes favored them. We know that the vast majority of Americans are going to get a tax cut this year
“from this bill, but people don't perceive it as that, right?”
Even among Republicans, only 35% said the tax changes favor them. Part of that could be because the White House projected average refunds around $1,000, not the $350 that's been the case so far. Steve Imbassahat and PR News. In the House Chamber Tuesday, Clerk Tylee Salee read the resignation letters submitted
by Texas Republican Tony Gonzalez and California Democrat Eric Swallwell, who maintains the allegations against him are false. Expelling anyone in Congress without due process within days of an allegation being made is wrong, but it's also wrong for my constituents to have to be distracted from my duties. Therefore, I plan to resign my seat in Congress effective at 2 p.m. Eastern time on April 14,
2026.
While well-facing sexual misconduct allegations and a second woman came forward to stay
to accuse him of rape, Gonzalez has acknowledged an affair with a former staffer, who later died by suicide. This is NPR. The Trump administration released this budget request for fiscal year, 2027 earlier this month in a break with the past, impures Gabriella, a manual reports a global health
budget is now not being broken down by specific diseases and health areas. For years, lawmakers in Congress earmarked the biggest chunk of global health dollars to HIV/AIDS, Malaria and tuberculosis also got specific amounts, same with nutrition. Jeremy Lewin with the State Department would like to see that change. The way that we have funded our global health programs is incredibly inefficient and
it's siloed.
“It's important to have funding that is more flexible.”
He says money that is not tied to a specific disease will give policymakers greater latitude in determining how they want to use those funds. Others worry it will mean Congress and the public have less input and insight into how the money is spent. Gabriella, Emmanuel, and P.R. News.
In the Pacific, the U.S. Northern Mariana Islands are being battered by a super typhoon that asked whether service says the storm is as strongest on ours so far this year. It was packing sustained winds of up to 150 miles per hour when it made landfall. A Frenchman who spent 100 euros on a raffle ticket is now the owner of a Pablo Picasso worth 1 million euros.
Ariadara learned he won the portrait following Tuesday's draw at Christie's auction house
in Paris, a raffle was a third one Picasso for 100 euros lottery.
The previous raffle supported cultural and humanitarian causes. The proceeds of this one went to Alzheimer's research. This is NPR News. Maybe somebody tells you too much about the twisting of a movie or they tell you who dies at the end.
In other words, you've run into a spoiler.
“How should you handle spoilers and what even counts as a spoiler?”
We'll tell you how we handle spoilers as critics on NPR's pop culture hacky hour. Listen via the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
