NPR News: 05-31-2026 6PM EDT
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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Hurst. The U.S. military has struck an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific. Empire Chandelier Stuster has more on the latest of multiple strikes in recent days.
U.S. Southern Command says it carried out a strike on a vessel along a drug trafficking route in the eastern Pacific on Saturday. The U.S. military says the boat was operated by a designated terrorist organization and was, quote, engaged in narco-trafficking operations. Three men who Southern Command calls narco-terrorists were killed. Video posted on social media by Southern Command shows a small boat floating in the ocean and then a cloud of smoke after the strikes. This is the fourth strike the U.S. military has conducted on alleged drug smuggling boats in recent days. Since September, the U.S. military has targeted suspected drug smuggling boats in the Eastern Pacific and the Caribbean, killing more than 200 people.
Criticism is growing around the legality of their attacks and whether they are even effective at stemming the flow of drugs. Shondalese Duster, NPR News.
Primary elections continue across the country this week. Voters are heading to the polls in a number of states Tuesday, including California, Montana, and New Jersey. Empire's Stephen Fowler has more on key races to watch in Iowa.
Iowa is no stranger to political attention in presidential elections, but a slate of surprisingly competitive midterm contests highlights the state's importance for both parties' futures. In Tuesday's primary, all eyes will be on the Democratic race for U.S. Senate, where state lawmakers Josh Turek and Zach Wall seek the nomination to run against Congresswoman Ashley Hinson. On the Republican side, there's a crowded field in the governor's primary. But Friday evening, President Trump endorsed Congressman Randy Feenstra in an effort to push him over the top. For November, the Senate governor and three of four House races are all likely to be competitive. Stephen Fowler, NPR News.
workers in the U.S. are putting a record amount of their paychecks into retirement. It's according to a new report from Fidelity on retirement savings for the first quarter of the year. But NPR's Stephen Basaja says the report also shows growing signs of economic distress.
For workers that have a 401k, their total savings rate reached about 14.5%. That is the contribution from both employees and employers, and a record rate according to Fidelity. Mike Shamrell is vice president of thought leadership at Fidelity Investments.
The good news is we're seeing very positive behaviors, not only among older workers who may be higher salaried, who may have a little bit bigger nest egg, but also among our Gen Z employees.
Fidelity did report some signs of financial stress. Two and a half percent of workers with retirement accounts dipped into their savings last quarter, a slight increase from a year earlier. Stephen Basaja, NPR News.
You're listening to NPR News from Washington. A United Airlines flight from New Jersey to Spain pulled a mid-air U-turn last night. The problem? A suspiciously named Bluetooth device. That's according to social media accounts and air traffic control audio. And here's Camilla Dominovsky has more.
United says a, quote, potential security concern sent the flight en route to Palma de Mallorca back to Newark instead. The airline didn't elaborate on the nature of the concern, but air traffic control chatter in Newark captured a voice explaining that someone had named a Bluetooth speaker, quote, a certain four-letter word. Not that kind of four-letter word. The device was named BOM, according to a self-identified passenger on the flight who posted on TikTok about the saga. The plane eventually arrived more than nine hours late. Camila Dominovsky, NPR News.
The JFK Profile in Courage Awards takes place tonight. Being honored, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for protecting the independence of the Fed and collectively the people of Minneapolis-St. Paul for their response to President Trump's immigration crackdown surge in the Twin Cities that led to the shooting deaths of two U.S.
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