NPR News: 03-17-2026 5AM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, and I'm Dave Mattingly, Iran continues to launch retaliatory strikes at some of its Gulf Arab neighbors in the Middle East. They include the United Arab Emirates. The airspace in Dubai was briefly closed earlier today. The UAE's military says it was forced to respond to incoming missile and drone attacks from Iran. A fuel storage facility near the airport was hit by a suspected drone sparking a fire enforcing a temporary halt to commercial airline flights. Israel says it launched new strikes on Tehran and targeted Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. The U.S. and Israeli attacks against Iran are in their third week. President Trump says his plan tripped to China later this month could be postponed because of the war with Iran. The president says his administration is asking Beijing for a month or so delay. Iran says it plans to attack industries with links to the U.S. in the Middle East. NPR's Aurasu Resvani has more.

1:02Iran's revolutionary guard corps says that in the coming hours, it will strike industries across the region that are associated with the U.S. The group is urging workers to evacuate and civilians to avoid areas near production facilities. The message was first reported by Iran's Tasnim News Agency, which is associated with the revolutionary guard corps. Last week, the news agency published a list of major U.S. companies in a social media post that included Amazon, Microsoft, and Palantir. The revolutionary guard's threat came soon after Iran's foreign minister Abbas Erarchi called on neighboring countries that host U.S. forces to clarify their positions on the war, adding that certain countries are, quote, encouraging this slaughter. Aurasu Resvani NPR News Urbihl in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. In Texas, a Palestinian student protester from New Jersey has been released from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detention Center after more than a year in custody. Priscilla Rice with Member Station KERA has more from Dallas.

2:06Likha Kordia had been held at the Prairie Land Detention Center since last March after she was arrested for allegedly overstaying her visa. She previously had been arrested while protesting at Columbia University against Israel's war in Gaza. She was the last out of four student protester still in ICE custody. On Friday, a federal immigration judge ordered Kordia be released on a $100,000 bond. She was granted a smaller bond last year, but the Department of Homeland Security filed an appeal keeping her in custody. Her supporters and legal teams say she will keep fighting to stay with her family in the U.S. For NPR News, I'm Priscilla Rice in Dallas. Areas of Michigan's upper peninsula got hit with three feet of snow from this week's late winter storm, more than 110,000 homes and businesses in the state are still without power? This is NPR News. Nearly 130 Democratic members of Congress are calling on the federal government to prevent a funding shortfall for reproductive health clinics in the U.S.

3:10NPR Selina Simman-Steffen says this follows the Trump administration's release of its Title 10 funding guidance. Title 10 allows thousands of health centers around the country to provide free and low-cost birth control, cancer screening, and testing for sexually transmitted infections to people without insurance. This year, grantees were given just one week to complete their applications. Usually they have three or four months. Claire Coleman runs the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association. She worries Title 10 grantees might have to cut staff or hours or even services if there's a delay in funding. That's all going to be on the table on the 1st of April, if these awards don't come out on time. The Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to NPR's request for comment. Selina Simman-Steffen and P.R. News, Washington. The Federal Reserve begins its latest policy meeting today amid ongoing U.S. and Israeli attacks against Iran, higher costs for oil, and still rising gasoline prices.

4:14This widely expect the Fed to leave interest rates unchanged at this week's meeting. The Central Bank left rates alone at its January meeting following three quarter-point cuts in the final months of last year as the Fed balanced elevated inflation against a sluggish job market. Triple A says the cost of regular gasoline has risen 25 cents a gallon in the last week. I'm Dave Mattingley in Washington. With this year's Oscars, one battle after another took home the award for Best Picture, Michael B. Jordan won for lead actor, and the telecast had plenty of jokes at Timothy Shalamay's expense. Listen to a recap on pop culture happy hour via the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.