NPR News: 06-21-2026 2AM EDT
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Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. Vice President Vance has arrived in Switzerland for talks between U.S. and Iranian negotiators on the ceasefire deal. U.S.
What recent diplomatic talks are taking place between the U.S. and Iran?
Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner are also there. Pakistan is mediating the talks, which are expected to take place Sunday. But as NPR's Dia Hadid reports from Islamabad, the talks come as tensions escalate, with Iran saying it's again closed the Strait of Hormuz.
The statement came even as Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsen Naqvi met the Iranian Foreign Minister. Naqvi's previous visits were to revive talks between the US and Iran. It also came as Iran insisted it had shuttered the Strait of Hormuz, accusing the US of not stopping its ally Israel of bombing Lebanon. Reuters reports at least 20 people were killed. But the U.S. insisted the strait remained open. Despite the tensions, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said a delegation was heading to Switzerland. Diya Hadid, NPR News, Islamabad.
Southern Europe is once again bracing for unusually high temperatures in the coming days. This follows a record-breaking heat wave in May and early June. As Alison Roberts reports from Portugal, one of the places where a high risk of wildfires exists is of particular concern.
Temperatures as high as 110 degrees are foreseen in Portugal's interior, with more than half the country at maximum fire risk by Tuesday. With nighttime temperatures in many areas stuck above 70 degrees in a country where most homes lack air conditioning, health officials are on high alert. Authorities are appealing to people not to observe the St John's Eve tradition on August 23rd of releasing hot air balloons with open flames. Neighbouring Spain and France are also expecting unusually high temperatures, though meteorologists dismiss suggestions these could go up to 120 degrees. For NPR News, I'm Alison Roberts in Lisbon.
Ebola cases continue to rise in the eastern portion of the Democratic Republic of Congo. There are now 900 confirmed infections and 234 deaths, and health workers are struggling to trace contacts and isolate people. Emmett Livingstone reports.
Congo says health workers are tracing 72% of the contacts of Ebola patients, but aid workers disagreed. In a Turi province, the epicenter of the outbreak, many people are avoiding hospital and deaths are occurring in communities unrecorded. Some senior aid workers say that they're only managing to trace about 40% of contacts. The Turi's health system has been devastated by decades of conflict and neglect. Convales medical staff there say they're also struggling to isolate suspected Ebola patients. Until recently, patients regardless of ailment were sharing toilet space at a rural hospital. Fixing these problems involves the slow task of building new infrastructure as Ebola spreads fast. For NPR News, I'm Emmett Livingstone in Kinshasa.
And this is NPR News. An evacuation is now underway in the Utah town of Alberta. Nearby wildfires threatening that community. Fire officials say the iron fire rapidly expanded in size on Saturday and has now burned more than 13,000 acres. Pope Leo visited the birthplace of Mother Frances Cabrini on Saturday. He used the visit in northern Italy to highlight the Catholic Church's duty to care for migrants. A new poll, meanwhile, shows most Catholics in the U.S. say President Trump has been too critical of the pope. NPR's Jason DeRose reports on the findings of a recent study from the Pew Research Center.
51% of those surveyed say the president has been overly harsh toward the pontiff, while just 19% say Leo has been too critical of the Trump administration. 16% of American Catholics say the pope hasn't been critical enough. The Pew poll also finds that nearly 8 in 10 approve of the first U.S.-born pope overall. Not surprisingly, Catholic Democrats and Independents express somewhat more favorable views of Leo than Catholic Republicans. Pew Research conducted the poll in late May and early June in the wake of public tensions between President Trump and Pope Leo over the war with Iran.
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