NPR News: 04-21-2026 7AM EDT
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What is the latest update on U.S.-Iran peace talks?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman. It's still unclear whether the U.S. and Iran will hold peace talks soon in Pakistan. Reporter Duri Buskaran has more from Van, Turkey.
Despite extensive security preparations in Islamabad, Iran's state media reported today that no delegations from Iran have traveled to the city ahead of a ceasefire deadline. They've issued an on-screen alert displaying the message, no delegation from Iran has visited Islamabad so far. U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance is expected to lead the U.S. delegation to the talks. Iran has not said who they could send. President Trump told reporters a renewal of the ceasefire is, quote, highly unlikely. This while Iran's chief negotiator wrote on social media that his country would not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats. For NPR News, I'm Derry Buskaran in Van, Turkey.
The Senate Banking Committee holds a confirmation hearing today for President Trump's nominee for the next Federal Reserve Board chair, Kevin Warsh. Democrats are asking how independent he'll be from Trump, who wants to cut interest rates. NPR's Scott Horsley says Warsh has come around to that point of view.
The last time Warsh was on the Fed's governing board, he earned a reputation as an inflation hawk. That is, someone who'd be wary of cutting interest rates and perhaps letting prices get out of control. But more recently, he has changed his tune and argued the Fed has room to cut rates without rekindling inflation because artificial intelligence is going to make workers so much more productive in the future.
NPR's Scott Horsley reporting. But Warsh's nomination could be in trouble. North Carolina Republican Senator Tom Tillis says he will not support any nominee until President Trump drops a probe into the current Fed chair, Jerome Powell. The U.S. Supreme Court will again consider the doctrine of separation between church and state. The justices will decide a case that tests whether Catholic preschools may be excluded from a publicly funded program if the preschools refuse to enroll the children of gay or transgender parents. NPR's Nina Totenberg has more.
The Archdiocese of Denver and two Catholic parishes contend that a voter-approved, publicly funded preschool program that is open to children attending any school, public or private, including faith-based schools... unconstitutionally discriminates against schools that refuse to admit the children of gay and lesbian parents. The case, which the court is expected to hear next term, seeks to overturn a 36-year-old Supreme Court precedent, which declared that as long as a law is applied neutrally to everyone, it is constitutional. Though the decision was written by conservative icon Antonin Scalia, the current court's conservative supermajority has repeatedly ruled in favor of religious groups that object to policies that they consider a matter of conscience.
Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington. You're listening to NPR.
The satirical news site The Onion says it is close to a new deal to take over the InfoWars media company owned by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. He owes more than a billion dollars to Sandy Hook families because he lied and said the 2012 school shooting was faked. The Onion wants to take over the site and turn it into a parody of itself. A federal bankruptcy judge rejected a sale of the InfoWars site more than a year ago. Japan's government has scrapped restrictions on selling offensive weapons to foreign customers. This represents both an end of a half-century-old ban on lethal arms exports and a major move to build up Japan's defense industries. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports.
The changes were approved by Japan's Cabinet and National Security Council. They allow the export of lethal weapons only to countries that have agreements with Japan about protecting classified defense technologies and countries that are not involved in active conflicts. Japan's government can, though, claim exceptions based on national security. Opponents of the move object to the fact that parliamentary approval is not needed for arms sales, and they say the changes go against Japan's pacifist constitution.
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