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Chapter 1: What recent developments occurred in the Strait of Hormuz?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Hurst. Iran says the Strait of Hormuz is now open to commercial vessels, while the fragile temporary ceasefire with the U.S. is in place. And ships have to coordinate their transit through Tehran. But the White House says the U.S. blockade also remains in place. Wall Street liked the news that sent crude oil prices tumbling and stocks soaring.
NPR's Scott Horsley has more.
If the Strait remains open long term, and I will underscore if, that would remove a sort of cloud of uncertainty that's been hanging over the economy. You know, when families or businesses are making plans, they like to have some idea of what to expect. And it's really hard to make a big purchase or plan a vacation or make an investment or hire a new worker now.
if you don't know what your energy bill is going to look like in the next month or two. The good news is, even as gas and diesel prices soared over the last six weeks, we didn't see people cutting back very much in other spending.
NPR's Scott Horsley reporting. Congress has approved a short-term extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. NPR's Claudia Grisales reports the controversial law was set to expire on Monday.
Congressional leaders had sought to extend the key national intelligence tool for five years. However, members from both sides of the aisle thwarted that plan as they sought more stringent privacy protections for U.S. citizens. Now, members must go back to the drawing table to come up with a compromise before... the new April 30th deadline.
The tool is Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows targeted warrantless surveillance. The government says the intelligence collected underpins a huge share of the president's daily intelligence briefings.
But critics, both Democratic and Republican, have long been concerned about the government reviewing Americans' private information gathered as part of the surveillances. Claudia De Salis, NPR News.
Early voting ends tomorrow for a special election in Virginia Tuesday that could allow Democrats to create four more favorable congressional seats for the party. NPR's Ashley Lopez reports it's part of a nationwide redistricting battle started by President Trump last year.
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Chapter 2: What changes are being proposed in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act?
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