Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor, Johnston.
The U.S. and Saudi Arabia launched a wave of air strikes targeting Iranian back militias
“in Iraq today, and P.R.J. and Iraq reports the armed group set at least 20 of their fighters”
were killed. The U.S. and Saudi Arabia blamed the Iran-backed militias in Iraq for drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities this week. Iraq's Prime Minister, who met President Trump last week in Washington, convened an emergency security meeting in Baghdad after the air strikes.
The U.S. has been pressing Prime Minister Ali Azadi to rein in Iranian-affiliated militias that are part of Iraq's official defense forces. Jordan's military also said it's shot down five Iranian missiles early Wednesday, Iran has been targeting U.S. bases in the kingdom.
China, Raf, and Pyrenees, among Dr. Anthony Fauci will testify before the Senate today.
Republicans are expected to press him on the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including questions about the virus's origins and past public health guidance and PR's Jonathan Lambert reports.
“Fauci has headed to the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee after getting”
subpoenaed by Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. The two have spared for years over the COVID-19 pandemic. Paul believes the coronavirus came from a lab and has repeatedly alleged that Fauci covered up evidence. Fauci has pushed back against such claims, maintaining his open to the lab like theory,
but that existing evidence supports the virus jumping from an animal to a human. Questions will likely center on over 1,000 pages of Fauci's private notes released by the Senator over the weekend. Paul claims that there are discrepancies between how Fauci talked about COVID origins in public and in private.
The scientists accused Paul of cherry picking examples from early in the pandemic when there was a lot of uncertainty. Jonathan Lambert and PR News.
“The Senate has confirmed Jay Clayton to serve as President Trump's new spy chief and”
PR's Jenna McLaughlin reports Clayton's nomination to criticism from Democrats who questioned his independence and lack of intelligence experience. Jay Clayton will be Trump's new director of National Intelligence. Clayton is currently the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Advocates like Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas say that jobs intersection with
national security, such as the indictment of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, prepared him to lead the intelligence communities 18 agencies. Critics like Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, say Clayton has already shown he won't directly challenge the president's falsehoods.
"He is never going to stand up to Donald Trump."
Clayton pointed to Clayton's refusal to say President Biden won the U.S. presidential election in 2020 during his confirmation hearing as one example, General Gawlin and PR News. "You're listening to NPR News from Washington." The National Weather Service says the tornado that tore through Northeastern Wisconsin on Monday was an EF-3 with winds reaching 140 miles per hour.
The tornado stayed on the ground for about 12 miles and was roughly 1,500 yards wide. It destroyed homes over turn vehicles and brought down trees and power lines in the city of Appleton and surrounding communities. The governor has declared a state of emergency in the affected areas. South Dakota Governor Larry Rodin has won the Republican nomination for governor, Jason
Jurks of South Dakota Public Broadcasting reports Rodin's runoff victory over a populous challenger. Rodin was a lieutenant governor and moved into the state's top seat when governor Christy Knome joined the Trump administration last year. Rodin's opposed abortion pills pledged to reform the state's prison system and passed
legislation to lower property taxes by raising sales taxes. He was challenged for the nomination by business executive Toby Dodin, who was backed by the right-wing turning point organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk, the self-described political outsider ran on eliminating homeowner property taxes. The state where a Democrat hasn't been governor since the 70s, the GOP nominee has into
the fall as the front runner and faces former state legislator Democrat Dan Allers. For NPR News, I'm Jackson Dirks and Aberdeen, South Dakota. Federal Reserve policy makers wrap up a two-day meeting in Washington today. The central bank is expected to leave interest rates unchanged even as inflation remains above its two percent target.
I'm Windsor-Johnston and P.R. News, in Washington. NPR News stands for your right to be curious because the forces shaping our world can be hard to see. Follow NPR's planet money wherever you get your podcasts and start seeing how the economy
