NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-18-2026 5PM EDT

Episode Date: August 18, 2026

NPR News: 08-18-2026 5PM EDTSee 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. The United Arab Emirates says Iran fired two missiles toward it. Iran denies the allegation. It would mark the first direct attack on that country by Iran in nearly three months. NPR's Aibatr reports. The UAE's defense ministry says the missiles fell in open water. That suggests Iran may be sending warning shots as the war, now in its six months, shows no sign of ending. Iran's Revolutionary Guard and top Iranian officials are insisting on specific concerns. sessions from the U.S. like unblocking billions in frozen dollars before they say they'll reopen the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump, meanwhile, posted a map of the region with a circle on the vital waterway, calling it, quote, new U.S. territory. The waterway was free for ships to transit before the war. Maritime tracking backed by the U.K.'s Royal Navy reports a ship was struck Tuesday while attempting to exit the Strait of Harmuz near Oman. It reported a casualty on the ship and says Oman's Coast Guard assisted the rest of the crew.

And PIR News. Voters are at the polls in four states today. Florida, Alaska, and Wyoming have primary elections. And there's a special election for California congressional district. The race for Florida's seventh congressional district has national implications. Incumbent Republican Cory Mills has been mired in legal controversies. Central Florida public media's Joe Mario Pedersen reports. Representative Mills is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee related to allegations of campaign finance violations, misuse of congressional resources. sources and whether he engaged in sexual misconduct or dating violence. Mills was previously endorsed by President Donald Trump. However, over the weekend, Trump released his endorsement list for Tuesday's primaries and omitted Mills. Mills is in a Republican primary facing three challengers. One of them is Ryan Elijah, a local former TV anchor. A recent survey of early voters and those likely to vote projected Elijah heavily favored over Mills. For NPR news, I'm Joe Mario Pedersen in Orlando. Bond markets are being hit hard by fears about inflation and the continued rise in government deficits. As NPR's Rafael NOM reports, that matters beyond Wall Street. To understand the bond market, it helps to understand a basic principle. When bond prices fall, like they are now, their yields or the interest rate that the bonds have to pay rises. It's simple.

When investors own a bond that's declining in value, they will demand to be paid higher interest rates as compensation. Just like a bank might charge you more expensive. interest rate on a loan if they get worried about your finances. Bond yields can influence a lot of the borrowing costs across the economy, like mortgages or car payments. So when yields rise, they can make those things more expensive. And right now, bonds are tumbling over economic fears, so yields are rising. The yield on the 30-year bond, for example, hit its highest in almost 20 years. Rafael NPR News. Wall Street pulled further back from its all-time high today. It's NPR.

Liberia has agreed to accept up to 1,200 people deported from the U.S. They'll arrive within a year with the first group of 20 expected on Thursday. Liberia's information minister says the group will include Africans, as well as nationals from North America, South America, and the Caribbean. The Department of Education is warning schools to align their discipline policies with the Trump administration's reading of federal civil rights law. NPR's Corey Turner explains, Under the Obama and Biden administrations, the Department's Office for Civil Rights told schools,

if you're suspending students of color at disproportionately high rates, it could be considered discrimination, even if it's not intentional. Some schools responded by softening discipline policy, especially for students of color. Today, the Trump administration told schools that too could be discrimination. And when it comes to discipline, schools shouldn't be considering race at all. In a press release, it said that discipline, it said that discipline, systems must be neutral and fair. Civil rights experts warn under this new policy, school discrimination will be even harder to find and fight. Corey Turner and PR News. Frank Beard, the drummer for Texas rock band ZZ Top and the only guy in the band without a beard

has died. He passed away at his ranch in Richmond, Texas, with family by his side. The trio maintained their original lineup for over five decades. Bassist Dusty Hill. died in 2021, singer and guitarist Billy Gibbons is still touring at age 76. Frank Beard was 77 years old. This is NPR.