NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-14-2026 5AM EDT

Episode Date: April 14, 2026

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dave Mattingly. Pakistan is offering to host a second round of peace talks between the U.S. and Iran in the coming days. That's according to the Associated Press. The AP says Pakistan is proposing a meeting take place before the end of the current ceasefire. This follows 21 hours of negotiations in Pakistan last week, which produced no agreement between the U.S. and Iran. The offer comes a day after U.S. Navy ships began a blockade in the Strait of Hormuz. Israel and Lebanese ambassadors to the U.S. are scheduled to meet today in Washington to discuss a ceasefire. It's the first such direct meeting between the two governments in decades.

The talks will take place as the Israeli military surrounds a town in southern Lebanon, which Israel describes as a command point for Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters. NPR's Katlansdorff has more from Beirut. Israel says that it will have full control of the Lebanese town of bin Chabil, quote, within days. The town has become the center of intense fighting. It's part of land that Israel says it's seizing from Lebanon to create what it calls a buffer zone, so Hezbollah can't fire rockets into Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli defense minister Israel Katz,

both joined invading troops inside Lebanon over the weekend, where Katz said Israel would remove the threat, quote, just as we did in Gaza, including demolishing homes so they can't become, quote, terror outposts. Lebanon says nearly 40,000 houses have been destroyed or heavily damaged, mainly in the south, in the past five weeks. Kat Wonsdorf, NPR News, Beirut. Crude oil prices are hovering near $100 a barrel as the U.S. Navy continues its blockade of ships moving in and out of the Strait of Hormuz. NPR's Camilla Dominooski has more. This past weekend, 14 vessels per day passed through the Strait of Hormuz, according to the trade data platform, Kepler.

That's down sharply from the pre-war average of 100 a day, and that's before any U.S. blockade was imposed. Because ships take a long time to travel by sea, the world had a bit of a buffer, insulating importers from shortages, but that's gone now. The last ship carrying jet fuel from the Persian Gulf to Europe arrived last week, reports the commodity intelligence group Argus. There are no more on the way right now. The oil cartel OPEC remains optimistic that the supply crisis won't tank the global economy, holding forecasts for economic growth. growth and global oil demand unchanged. Camila Dominovsky, NPR News. The cost of gasoline and diesel fuel in the U.S. have stabilized in recent days after weeks

of price hikes. AAA says regular is averaging about $4.12 a gallon. That's two cents cheaper than a week ago. Diesel is averaging $5.65 a gallon the same as it was seven days ago. White House economists have issued a report concluding the U.S. has a shortage of 10 million houses. It says more construction would help to lower prices. This is NPR News. Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell of California says he will resign from the House amid allegations of sexual assault and misconduct. The announcement from the seven-term

congressman came on the same day. The House Ethics Committee said it was opening an investigation into him. Republican Congressman Tony Gonzalez of Texas says he plans to retire from Congress. The Ethics Committee had opened an investigation into Gonzalez after he acknowledged having an affair with a former staff member who later took her own life. Tomorrow is the deadline across the U.S. for people to file their federal income tax return. NPR's Hansi Lo Wong says those still planning to mail their return are being advised to show up at a post office. The IRS says it considers a mail tax return to be filed on time if it has a right address, enough postage, and a postmark date that's on or before the filing deadline.

The U.S. Postal Service usually automatically stamps postmarks when it processes mail that's dropped off. But exactly when that processing happens has become more complicated and more parts of the country. As part of the Postal Service's reorganization, USPS has cut back how often it picks up mail in certain areas more than 50 miles from one of its regional processing centers. That means some first-class mail may not get postmarked until the day after it's collected. To make sure your tax return gets a postmark on the first. same day you mail it, USPS recommends going to a post office and asking for a free manual postmark at the counter. On Zila Wong, NPR News.

Wall Street futures are higher this morning. Dow futures are up 85 points. I'm Dave Mattingly, NPR News, in Washington.