NPR News: 03-11-2026 4PM EDT

0:00Who should win the Oscar for the best original song this year? On the latest all songs considered from NPR music, we rank the nominees. I think Diane Warren should have won two Academy Awards. The problem is very often the lyrics are not much more insightful than you would find on the nearest throw pillow. Here's the NPR music podcast on the NPR app or wherever you get podcasts. Lie from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Trump is telling oil companies that it is safe. To use the Strait of Hormuz. NPR's moralize and reports that is despite ongoing attacks on commercial vessels in the U.S. Israel War against Iran. Twenty percent of the world's oil travels through the Strait of Hormuz right next to Iran. Shipping traffic has ground to a halt there because of the war. And that has caused oil prices to go up around the world. President Trump says U.S. forces are taking out any threat posed by Iran and that oil companies should continue using the Strait. I think they should. I think they should use the Strait of Hormuz.

1:02Look, we took out just about all of their mindships in one night. Trump said he, quote, didn't think there were any more minds in the Strait, but Iran could still attack commercial ships as it tries to prevent shipping in the waterway. Mara Liason NPR News. An investigation by the U.S. military now suggests that the deadly bombing of an Iranian girl school was caused by an American Tomahawk missile. NPR's Quill Lawrence reports about 175 students and staff were killed in the Strait. A U.S. government official not authorized to speak publicly confirmed to NPR that the Pentagon's investigation into the missile strike is looking at how this targeting error occurred, not whether the U.S. was responsible. President Trump suggested this week that Iran fired the missile, but the U.S. is the only country in the conflict that has Tomahawks. NPR previously reported that the girl's school may have been shown on outdated U.S. intelligence maps as a military building. If confirmed, it would rank among the worst incidents of U.S. inflicted civilian casualties

2:06in decades. A special Pentagon office to prevent accidental targeting of civilians created by Congress was scaled back to a skeleton crew by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth soon after he took office last year. Quill Lawrence NPR News. The State Department says Iran-backed militias attacked a U.S. managed diplomatic facility in Baghdad overnight. Secretary Marco Rubio says the Iraqi government must take all possible measures to protect U.S. diplomatic personnel. Investors are digesting a fairly mild report on February inflation today, but as NPR as Godwarsley tells us, the cost of living index from March could look very different. A new report from the Labor Department shows annual inflation in February was 2.4 percent. About what forecasters had expected, and similar to the previous month, the March cost of living index could be a lot uglier. Now, the U.S. war with Iran is triggered a spike in gasoline prices. Triple A says gas prices have jumped about 60 cents a gallon since the war began. Gas prices were already creeping up last month, along with rent and grocery prices,

3:10falling prices for used cars and auto insurance helped keep the February inflation rate in check. Godwarsley, NPR News, Washington. The Dow's closed down 289 points. This is NPR News. Millions of people in Northern Illinois and other parts of the Midwest are under storm and tornado advisories this afternoon. Tornados at struck parts of Illinois in Indiana earlier killed an elderly couple. Several people were also reported injured. Home insurance costs in the United States are expected to keep rising in part because climate change is fueling more extreme and destructive weather. NPR's Michael Coffley reports. Industry forecas show home insurance premiums rising nationwide this year by up to 8 percent. While disaster costs fell in 2025, Rob Hoyt notes it marked another year in which the U.S. suffered more than a hundred billion dollars in losses from extreme weather, voicing insurance expert at the University of Georgia. We're talking about a quote better than typical year in recent times,

4:11but that should be interpreted as amongst a very troubling set of years from a catastrophic loss perspective. Insurance costs have also been rising because people keep moving to risky areas, like regions prone to wildfires and hurricanes. And when disasters hit, inflation has made rebuilding more expensive. Michael Coffley and NPR News. Microsoft is backing Anthropic in the AI company's battle with the Pentagon. The tech giant has filed an amicus brief urging the judge to temporarily halt the Pentagon's decision to label Anthropics AI products a national security threat. The administration effectively blacklisted Anthropic after the company refused to allow unrestricted military use of its Claude AI model. U.S. stocks have ended the day mostly low with a doubt closing down 289 points. This is NPR News.