NPR News: 03-17-2026 12PM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. In remarks, just moments to go at the White House, President Trump says we don't need NATO, but they should be there for us on Iran is coming after he posted on Truth Social today that most NATO allies have informed the United States they don't want to get involved in the US war. Trump says he's not surprised. European countries have raised concerns about being drawn into the war if they deployed warships to help keep the strait of Hormuz a key oil-shipping waterway open. Meanwhile, Israeli forces are confirming strikes. Any Iran have killed two of Iran's highest level officials since the assassination of Ayatollah Al-Khamenei on the first day of the U.S.-Israel war against Iran. The latest assassinations include security chief Ali Larjani and Pierre Sadeel Al-Shalchi has more on the other official killed. The Israeli military is also confirming the death of Rulam Reza Soleimani, who was the head of the besiege forces. Now that's the militia responsible for violently cracking down on the street protests against

1:03the Iranian government earlier this year. It killed thousands of those protesters, and it's estimated that the militia is made up of a million members. And Pierre Sadeel Al-Shalchi reporting. The Senate is expected to start debating the Save America Act today. It's President Trump's top legislative priority, and as NPR's Robert Sprint tells us, the eventual vote is expected to fail. Among its provisions is a requirement for voters to prove U.S. citizenship and present photo ID at the polls. Democrats say this would make it harder for millions of Americans to vote. President Trump has vowed not to sign any other legislation until the Save Act passes. After a procedural vote, Republicans are expected to draw the process out for several days of debate to keep the issue front and center. Democrats will likely use their floor time to criticize the legislation. The whole exercise could last days. Eventually, debate will end, and the bill will need 60 votes to pass. 60 votes for Republicans don't have. Barbara Sprint and Pierre News, the Capitol.

2:05A new report from Realtor.com says that renting a home in February was the cheapest it had been in four years. NPR Stephen Bessaha reports some of the steepest drops in rent prices came in the sunbelt. Austin, Texas was once the poster child for skyrocketing rents. But rent in the metro area is down more than $300 since its 2022 peak. Joe Berner is an economist with Realtor.com. He credits a boom of new apartments in Austin and a lot of the sunbelt. When you ask an economist how to bring prices down, we always say add supply and we're showing that that works in some of these metros. These are for vacant apartments. Berner says renters wanting to save should move or negotiate. So renters bark it in a lot of these places, so use that to your advantage and negotiate whenever possible. The national median rent for a two bedroom in February was $1,850. It's NPR news. America's democracy is at its lowest level in decades.

3:07That according to a leading report on global democracy that has just been released. NPR's Frank Langford has details. The Vita Institute puts out an annual report measuring the health of democracy across the globe. We found that last year America's Democratic ranking fell from 20th to 51st out of 179 countries, settling in between Slovakia and Greece. Staff and Lindbergh, the institute's founding director, cited many reasons why. It's a very rapid and aggressive concentration on power in the presidency, encroaching and taking powers from the legislature, along with attacks on media freedom and freedom of speech. Lindbergh says there's at least one bright spot. Elections have been free and fair, but he doubts Trump will accept a defeat in the midterms. NPR reached out to the White House for comment, but is yet to hear back. Frank Langford NPR news. Cuba is trying to recover from an electricity blackout that threw millions of people into the dark because of an aging electrical grid that collapsed.

4:10Meanwhile, President Trump, again, threatened Cuba with the possibility of, as he put it, a friendly takeover without mentioning President Trump's name, Russia's foreign ministry pledged long-term support to Cuba. The color green might be popping up across the U.S. more than usual today than again, it is St. Patrick's Day. A lot of people are marking the occasion with parades, pub crawls, and general community decked out in green. It's NPR news. Listen to this podcast, sponsor free on Amazon Music with a prime membership or any podcast app by subscribing to NPR News Now Plus at plus.NPR.org. That's plus.NPR.org.