NPR News: 03-16-2026 2PM EDT
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh.
What are the latest updates on the U.S.-Israel war against Iran?
More than two weeks into the U.S.-Israel war against Iran, Iran reports at least 1,300 deaths. Lebanon, where Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters are engaged in conflict with Israel, says at least 880 people have been killed on its soil. Israel is reporting 12 deaths. And the United States says at least 13 American service members have been killed, including six, in a plane crash in Iraq last week. President Trump is pressuring other nations to send warships to help keep open the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial oil shipping route from the Persian Gulf to the rest of the world.
The level of enthusiasm matters to me. We have some countries where we have 45,000 soldiers, great soldiers, protecting them from harm's way. And we have done a great job. And what we want to know, do you have any minesweepers? Well, we'd rather not get involved, sir. I said, you mean for 40 years we're protecting you and you don't want to get involved in something that is very minor?
Trump declined to name the country's skeptical of committing warships. The United Kingdom's prime minister rebuffed Trump's demands on sending warships. We have more on that from NPR's Lauren Frayer.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says he's working with allies on a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He told reporters it will not be a NATO mission and says the UK will not be drawn into the wider war. Starmer has given the US only limited access to British military bases for what he calls defensive operations only. Trump has reacted with personal insults against Starmer. But at every stage, I've stood by my principles. Most Britons oppose the war, and Starmer, a human rights lawyer by training, said his relations with Trump are still good. He told reporters the U.K. is evacuating Britons from the Gulf, supporting them in Lebanon, and introducing price caps for heating bills inside the U.K. Lauren Frayer, NPR News, London.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has been diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer, according to an announcement from President Trump today. And Pierce Deepa Shivram reports Trump says Wiles intends to stay on in her role while undergoing treatment.
Trump posted the news on social media and called Wiles' prognosis excellent and said she'll be spending, quote, virtually full time at the White House during her treatment. At an event with the board of the Kennedy Center, Trump said Wiles already started her treatment and called her a fighter.
She's going to take care of it immediately as opposed to waiting. She said, let's do it now. I said, do it immediately. Because with that particular ailment, the faster the better.
Wiles has been serving as chief of staff since the beginning of Trump's second term, and she's the first woman to hold the position. Deepa Shivaram, NPR News, the White House.
The Dow is up 359 points. You're listening to NPR News. A line of powerful storms is moving across the eastern half of the U.S. A major snowstorm hit the upper Midwest over the weekend. A string of thunderstorms threatened a broad swath of the East Coast today, potentially spawning tornadoes. NPR's Rebecca Hersh reports the severe weather is drawing attention to the federal government's Hubble Emergency Agency.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is supposed to help respond to weather disasters, including assisting with search and rescue operations and debris removal. But the agency is struggling to get disaster assistance money out the door, with millions of dollars in promised disaster funding delayed. That includes large grants that local governments rely on to pay emergency officials and local first responders. And FEMA has lost thousands of workers since the Trump administration began. including nearly 500 in January alone. FEMA did not respond to questions about its readiness to respond to the latest storms. Rebecca Herscher, NPR News.
Two members of the Iranian women's soccer team are staying behind in Australia, where a top government official says they've been relocated to an undisclosed safe location.
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