Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor, Johnston.
A U.S. delegation is traveling to Pakistan today for a new round of peace talks with
Iran.
“The Iranian Foreign Minister is also there, but as NPR's Cat-Lan store reports, he”
has no plans to meet with U.S. officials. U.S. special envoy Steve Whitcloth is traveling to Islamabad, along with President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Iraqji is also there, but Iranian officials have made it clear.
They plan to only meet with Pakistani officials, not with the U.S. Iran has dismissed Trump's extension of the ceasefire as "meaningless," saying the continued U.S. blockade on Iranian ports as a violation of that agreement. The U.S. is continuing to intercept ships coming to or from Iran as Iran is maintaining
military control of the straight-of-war moves, barring most commercial ships from passage.
The ships in and around the straight are not moving, an issue that will loom large over the talks in Pakistan. Cat-Lan store of NPR News, Beirut. The Trump administration is placing economic sanctions on a Chinese oil refinery and almost
“40 other shipping firms involved in transporting Iranian oil.”
Reporter Sharish Fam has more from Hong Kong. The U.S. Treasury Department set on Friday that it sanctioned a major oil refinery in China because it was helping sustain Iran's oil economy. The Department is also targeting dozens of other shipping firms and vessels that it said are part of a clandestine network of tankers working on behalf of Tehran to bypass international
sanctions. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson said in a statement that "any person or vessel buying and moving Iranian oil, quote, "risk exposure to U.S. sanctions." China has previously said it opposes what it calls illegal, unilateral sanctions. For NPR News, I'm Sharish Fam in Hong Kong.
Some top Democratic lawmakers are asking the U.S. Postal Service to confirm how it will respond to President Trump's executive order that calls for restricting voting by mail. NPR-Sonsi-Lawong reports five different lawsuits are seeking to block the order. President Trump is calling for the U.S. Postal Service to maintain lists of eligible voters and not to deliver mail and bounce to anyone not on those lists.
Olses by Democrats on the two dozen states and voting rights groups argue the Constitution gives power to state legislatures and Congress not the President to set federal election rules. And U.S. P.S. has no authority to refuse to deliver ballots to voters because they're not on a list. It's not Democrats on House Oversight and Administration Committees, Representative Robert
Garcia and Joe Morelle are asking U.S. P.S. to confirm whether we'll try to follow Trump's order. The mail agency has not made clear its position, but the American Postal Workers' Union has an ad campaign against the order. Because I know my vote will count.
We're May rule on whether to block the President's order as soon as next month on Zila Wong NPR News. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. Wildfires are continuing to burn in South Georgia, officials say dry conditions and gusty winds are fueling the flames making them harder to contain.
Governor Brian Kemps says the fires are under investigation. We believe that one of the fires started when somebody was welding their gate. Sparks fell on the ground, started to fire. They could get it put out and just breath from there. We believe the other fire was a balloon that landed on a power line.
The fires have destroyed dozens of structures, including 120 homes. K-pop's biggest group is coming to the U.S. this weekend. NPR's Isabella Gomez-Sarmiento reports BTS will kick off the North American leg of its worldwide tour in Tampa. BTS' World Tour spans more than 70 days, and within just days of tickets going on sale,
all of the stadium shows in North America, Europe, and the UK sold out. That's because this isn't just any regular tour. It's the band's comeback since the one on hiatus nearly four years ago, from mandatory military service in South Korea. Last month, BTS released the long-awaited album Ariron, which debuted at number one on
the Billboard 200 chart. The group our turn is a major milestone for its Ferment fan base known as the Army. Bloomberg projects that this tour could rival Taylor Swift's Aeros Tour, which is the most accessible tour of all time, is the Bello Gomez-Sarmiento and PR news. I'm Windsor Johnston and PR news in Washington.
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