NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-07-2026 9PM EDT

Episode Date: April 8, 2026

NPR News: 04-07-2026 9PM EDTTo manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. President Trump says the U.S. and Israel will suspend bombing Iran for two weeks as long as Iran reopens the Strait of Hormuz. Though Israel says it detected another wave of Iranian missiles following Trump's announcement and missile alerts were also activated in the United Arab Emirates. Trump posted on social media that this would be a double-sided ceasefire and that the U.S. received a 10-point peace proposal from Iran, which he said was workable. The statement comes after Trump pledged to destroy Iran's civilization if a deal wasn't reached tonight. Iran says it will reopen the Strait of Hormuz with, quote, due consideration to technical limitations, as NPR's Aibatrowi explains. So that leaves open the possibility that we will see more ships going through the strait. But now it's clear that the strait is under Iran's control.

The comment on technical limitations suggests to me the number may not be at the level of ships per day that were transiting freely before this war began. And also we heard from Iran's Supreme National Security Council that the government would negotiate with the U.S. this Friday in Pakistan's capital Islamabad. And like Trump, they too said this doesn't mean an end to the war. And they noted that they are entering these talks with complete distrust. NPR's Aibatrowi reporting. Meanwhile, Pakistan's prime minister who helped broker the ceasefire wrote online that it also includes Lebanon, where Israel has killed more than 1,400 people as it battled with Iran-backed Hezbollah. More than a million people. have been displaced during the conflict. U.S. journalist Shelley Kittleson has been released after being kidnapped in Baghdad last week. The powerful Iran-backed Iraqi militia said in a statement earlier in the day that it had decided to free the journalist. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the release shows the administration's steadfast commitment to the safety and security of American citizens, no matter where they are in the world. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the Justice Department is officially launching its national front.

Enforcement Division. He says the focus is on prosecuting fraud and taxpayer programs like health care and food benefits. NPR's Jacqueline Diaz has more. Blanche says the Trump administration will not spare any resources in the Justice Department's effort to take down fraudsters. The acting attorney general announced new details of the National Fraud Enforcement Division during a press conference. During which he said the DOJ is looking to bring in 93 prosecutors in every district across the country to focus specifically on fraud cases. Critics have said this new division is redundant to divisions at the DOJ that have done this work for years. But Blanche says this effort will be comprehensive and will involve coordination across the whole government to take down government

fraud. Jacqueline Diaz and PR News. Oil prices plunged tonight and U.S. stock futures jumped after Trump pulled back on his threats against Iran for two weeks. You're listening to PR News from Washington. Republican District Attorney Clay Fuller has won a runoff election for a Georgia congressional district to replace former Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green. That's according to a race call from the Associated Press.

He defeated Democratic candidate Sean Harris by about 12 percentage points. Environmentalists and the Makisuki tribe argued that in federal appeals court today that the immigrant detention facility in Florida's Everglades, must wind down to preserve the environment in the tribe from member station WLRN, Joshua Sibayos reports.

The Mikasuki tribe of Indians says the facility dubbed alligator Alcatraz is interfering with its people's daily lives. Betty Asiola is an activist and member of the Mikasuki. We can't even go down that road anymore to do what we do on a cultural aspect to honor, you know, our loved ones that have transitioned on. We're being put in a situation to have to look elsewhere to do that. Her tribe and local environmentalists are suing Florida and the federal government to close the detention center because of its cultural and environmental impact. At issue is whether or not operations at Alligator Alcatraz should be halted while their lawsuit is ongoing.

It's unknown when the court will hand down a decision. For NPR News, I'm Joshua Sabios in Miami. The Artemis two astronauts made an interstellar call with the International Space Station. It's the first such moonship-to-space ship radio link. Cup ever for Artemis 2's Christina Cook and the station's Jessica Muir. It was a reunion. The two teamed up for the world's first all-female spacewalk in 2019. This is NPR News.