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What is the current status of the U.S. military blockade on Iranian ports?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Louise Schiavone. The U.S. military says no ships have evaded its blockade of Iranian ports. NPR's Quill 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 Strait of Hormuz since the American blockade began, and that six merchant ships had obeyed U.S. orders to return back to Iranian ports. CENTCOM 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 Strait 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. Quill Lawrence, NPR News.
In Washington, the D.C. Court of Appeals has blocked an effort to investigate former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, as well as other top Trump officials for possible criminal contempt. NPR's Ximena Bastillo reports.
The appeals panel ruled two to one that District Judge James Boasberg's attempt to probe the executive branch is a, quote, clear abuse of discretion. The two Trump appointees ruled against Boasberg's content investigation.
The third judge on the panel, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, dissented, saying the panel's decision would hurt the future of all federal judges to hold the executive branch to account. Judge Boesberg sought to investigate the administration after he said it defied his orders not to proceed with deportation flights to El Salvador.
This is the second time in this case that the courts have blocked any attempt to investigate the Trump administration for contempt. Ximena Bustillo, NPR News, Washington.
The U.S. is experiencing a resurgence of measles with more than 1,700 confirmed cases so far this year. Now a new study finds that rising measles cases come with significant human and economic costs. NPR's Maria Godoy has that story.
Last year, the US confirmed 2,287 measles cases, the highest number in decades. In a new modeling study, researchers at Yale estimated that responding to those cases cost the country some $244 million. The average cost per case was more than $104,000.
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