NPR News: 03-12-2026 5PM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. Oil and gas prices continue to surge amid President Trump's war against Iran, in less than two weeks gasoline prices have jumped from under $3 per gallon to more than $3 in 60 cents. And the price of crude oil jumped up around 10 percent today hitting $100 per barrel. President Trump has pivoted from bragging about low gas prices earlier this year to now saying oil prices make the U.S. a lot of money because of oil production. Trump's desire to flex the U.S.'s muscle on the global stage has come at odds with voters as costs rise ahead of November midterm elections. Dozens of Senate Democrats are demanding answers about a strike to a girl's school in Iran that left at least 165 dead. As NPR's Jeff Brumfield reports, it appears the U.S. was responsible. In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Democratic Senators demanded answers about the strike. They wanted to know how the school came to be targeted, what weapon systems were used,

1:00and whether artificial intelligence played a role in choosing targets in Iran. The letter comes a day after the news of preliminary assessment by the Pentagon found the U.S. was responsible for hitting the school. Iranian state media has published images showing parts from a U.S.-made Tomahawk missile. It says was used in the strike. Jeff Brumfield and PR News. Big retailers like Costco and Amazon are facing pressure from lawmakers and class action lawsuits to share their tariff refunds with shoppers. Big importers are still waiting to find out when or how the Trump administration will return the money companies paid for those tariffs before they were struck down by the Supreme Court. Senator Ed Markey, the top Democrat on the Small Business Committee, has now written to some of the largest importers, including UPS, Walmart and Amazon, urging them to commit to refunding their shoppers and small business clients any tariff expenses they pass down. Costco and FedEx also face the prospect of class action lawsuits from shoppers.

2:02When the Supreme Court struck down about half of President Trump's tariffs, it paved the way for importers to get refunded, but didn't say how. Big retailers have argued that they had actually absorbed most of the tariff costs, though some certainly trickled down as higher prices. Aline Seluch and PR News. Police say a man drove a truck into a Jewish synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan today. Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard says security officers fired at him before he crashed through the doors. FBI, more than likely, will be taking the lead on his based on some of the preliminary investigative information we have, but we're not going to go into that at this point. Bouchard says a body was found inside the truck and that something ignited in the vehicle. He says a security guard was knocked unconscious, but will recover. Everyone inside the building has been accounted for and there were no other injuries. Worries about the war with Iran sent stocks sliding today. The S&P 500 fell more than one and a half percent. This is NPR News from Washington. British Prime Minister Kier Starmer is weathering fallout from his choice of Peter Mandelson

3:05as U.S. Ambassador despite warnings about Mandelson's friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. Former says he made a mistake and apologized to Epstein's victims. Documents show Starmer had been told that Mandelson's association with the sex offender posed reputational risks. Majorities of people from most religious groups in the U.S. favor abortion rights. That's according to a new study from Pew Research as NPR's Jason DeRose reports. Nearly six in ten Catholics and seven in ten black Protestants favor abortion being legal in all or most cases. The finding was similar for white Protestants who do not identify as evangelical, 63 percent favor abortion rights. The outlier was white evangelical Protestants. Among them three-quarters oppose abortion being legal in all or most cases. Meanwhile among those religiously unaffiliated, meaning atheists, agnostics, or no religion in particular, more than eight in ten favor abortion rights. Pew Research surveyed more than 8,500 U.S. adults in late January.

4:08Overall, the study found 60 percent say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Jason DeRose, NPR News. A vertical underground pipe has somehow pushed straight up more than 32 feet out of a busy street in Osaka, Japan, nearly reaching an elevated road above the 11-foot diameter steel pipe rose up overnight unseen by any witnesses. Today it was lowered after firefighters cut a hole in it and officials say the road will be closed for several more days. This is NPR News. This week on the NPR Politics Podcast, the war on Iran is rippling through the global economy, and we're unpacking what that could mean for this November's midterms. Plus, detailed reporting on the tactics ICE is using to surveil American citizens. Listen this week on the NPR Politics Podcast. On the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.