NPR News: 03-05-2026 2PM EST

0:00Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The Embattel Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noam, is out, according to President Trump's post on Truth Social. Trump says he has selected Senator Mark Wayne Mullin of Oklahoma to take over at the end of the month. It's unclear if Mullin will initially serve in an acting capacity. The cabinet position requires Senate confirmation. Trump says Noam will move into the role of special envoy for the shield of the Americas. He says that's a new security initiative in the Western Hemisphere, his administration plans to announce Saturday in Florida. Noam, and by extension, the Trump administration faced mounting criticism over immigration enforcement tactics, especially in Minnesota, where federal agents killed two U.S. citizens. U.S. and Israeli planes continue to hit cities across Iran with airstrikes and they're offensive against the country's clerical regime. The attacks are displacing many civilians from their homes, but at the Turkish border with Iran, as NPR's Ruth Sherlock tells us many Iranians are also choosing to cross

1:04back into their country. A regular stream of mini-buses arrives at the Turkish side of this remote northern border with Iran. They're full of Iranians who are crossing back into their country at this time of war. It's exactly at hard times, at difficult times, that people need to go back to their country, says, Shahran Mirzai, and be next to their loved ones. He's been working on a construction site in Turkey, but now he's on his way to Urumya, south of the border, to be with his wife and four children. He wants to be with them, but he's also worried about leaving his job and how the family will manage without an income. Ruth Sherlock and Pion use in Turkey on the border with Iran. The U.S. Army has named the last two U.S. soldiers of six killed by an Iranian drone attack march first. And PR's Quill Lawrence reports they died on a basing Kuwait in the first hours of the U.S. Israel war with Iran. The military has identified 45-year-old Major Jeffrey R. O'Brien of Indianola, Iowa.

2:08And in an unusual announcement, the army said the other soldier is believed to be Chief warrant officer III, Robert M. Marçan of Sacramento, who was 54. But positive identification of his remains have not yet been completed by a medical examiner. All six of the soldiers were with a logistics company out of Des Moines, Iowa, and deployed to Port Shwai'ba, Kuwait. The Pentagon has denied media reports that their office on base lacked sufficient protection. Quill Lawrence and PR news. As oil prices continue to rise in the wake of the Iran war, U.S. stocks continue. Their slide. The Dow Jones industrial average is down more than 1,000 points or more than 2 percent. At 47,709, the S&Ps down 1.2 percent, the Nasdaq is also down more than 1 percent. You're listening to NPR News. Mortgage rates rose back to 6 percent this week. Rates had fallen below that mark last week for the first time in two and a half years,

3:09but NPR Stephen Bessaha says they went back up due to the war. The war has disrupted the bond market. Rates are concerned about rising fuel prices and the inflation that comes with it, and since mortgage rates tend to follow 10-year treasury bonds, rates rose slightly from 5.98 percent back to 6. Not a huge jump, but enough to have people reconsidering refinancing their loans. This signals a shift away from the expectation mortgage rates will continue falling and a shift toward more economic uncertainty. Stephen Bessaha and PR news. President Trump's White House ballroom project got an overwhelming amount of negative feedback from the public, and PR's Hammer Keith reports the National Capitol Planning Commission is holding a hearing today in Washington that includes extensive public comments. The written comments received by the Commission fill more than 10,000 pages. They include lines like this one, quote, the size and design of the proposed White House ballroom are hideous. White House staff secretary and commission chairman Will Scharf said at the top of the

4:13hearing that more than 100 people have also signed up to speak. I think it's important that each of these people are heard. As a result, we expect that this meeting will run into tomorrow. Because of all this, Scharf said a vote on the project won't happen until the commission's next meeting in April. The Dow has fallen more than 1,000 points or more than 2% its NPR.