Live from MPR News in Washington, on Corva Coleman, President Trump says U.
Iran could start up again in the next two days.
He told the New York Post that slow discussions were happening. But in an interview airing now on Fox Business, Trump said he thinks the war with Iran is almost over. "I think it's supposed to over here. I mean, I view it as very close to over.
You know what? If I pulled up stakes right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild that country. And we're not finished. We'll see what happens.
“I think they want to make it deal very badly."”
It's not clear what Iran's view is, but the current two weeks ceasefire is set to expire next Tuesday. Meanwhile, separate diplomatic efforts are taking place to resolve conflicts in Lebanon and Gaza. And Pierre's Daniel Esther reports from Tel Aviv. Also the U.S. military announced it has now completed its blockade of Iranian ports in
the state of Hormuz, blocking Iran's export routes by sea. That adds economic pressure on Iran one week into the two weeks ceasefire. In Washington, Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors met for rare diplomatic talks between those two enemy countries. But Israel is refusing Lebanon's call for a ceasefire.
Has Bala refuses to disarm, and Israel is expanding its occupation of southern Lebanon. In Cairo, high-level talks with Hamas are aimed at disarming the group in Gaza. But Hamas says it won't discuss that until Israel increases aid and allows more travel in and out of Gaza. Daniel Esther and Pierre News, Tel Aviv.
“Congressman Tony Gonzalez and Eric Swall will have resigned their seats ahead of expected”
action by their house colleagues to expel them. Both are accused of sexual misconduct and sexual assault. Last month, Consolus, a Republican from Texas acknowledged Anna Fair with a staffer, who later died by suicide. Well, a Democrat from California has denied sexual misconduct and assault allegations.
It is tax day. If you're planning to file a tax return by mail, you may want to stop by a post office in person today. And Pierre's Hansi Low-Wang reports, the US Postal Service may not post mark some tax returns and other mail on the same day that they are sent.
Driving off your fiddle income tax return at a mailbox or with a letter carry today may not be enough to file your taxes on time. That's because the IRS requires the envelope to have a postmark date that's honored before the filing deadline. The US Postal Service usually automatically stamps post marks on envelopes when a process
is mail that's dropped off. But exactly when that processing happens has become more complicated in more parts of the country. And it's because USPS has cut back half and it picks up mail in certain areas as part of its reorganization.
That means some first-class mail dropped off today may not get postmarked until tomorrow.
And that could lead to the IRS applying late filing or late payment penalties. Make sure your tax return gets a postmark for today, USPS recommends going to a post office and asking for a free manual postmark at the counter. Hansi Low-Wang and Pierre News. You're listening to NPR News from Washington.
A federal appeals court is blocked a lower judge's effort to investigate former homeland security secretary Christy Nome and other Trump officials for potential criminal contempt. The appeals court ruling was two to one. His judge James Boesberg abused his discretion by probing Nome's actions in sending deportation flights to El Salvador.
The appeals court judge who disagreed said the ruling will hurt future judges who need to examine the actions of the executive branch. There have been more than 1,700 US measles cases so far this year, a study in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds a 1% drop in measles vaccinations could cause
the US 1.5 billion dollars a year.
The US has now signed global health agreements with 30 other countries, worth about $21 billion, and Pierre's Gabriella Emmanuel reports. The US is hammering out five-year aid agreements directly with governments in low and middle-income countries. This is instead of working through non-profits and big international organizations.
Jeremy Luin is helping roll out the new strategy at the State Department. He says this is encouraging self-reliance for the recipient countries. They actually know how to take care of their own populations pretty well. When this strategy was first announced, the administration had said the agreements would be up and running this month in April, but things are behind schedule.
Luin says September 30 is the new goal. Gabriella Emmanuel and Pierre News. We've all been there, 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.
