NPR News: 03-18-2026 6AM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Kurova Coleman, Israel's Struct Central Beirut today, saying it was targeting Hezbollah militants and installations. The Lebanese health ministry said 10 people were killed in two attacks this morning. This comes as the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for Southern Lebanon, and PR's Hadeel Al-Shelji reports from Beirut. The Israeli military struck and destroyed a building that it had previously targeted in the Basouta neighborhood of Beirut, an evacuation order for residents in that building was issued on social media at 4 a.m. local time. The attack followed at 5.30 a.m. local time. Israeli military said it was targeting the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. Bashura is a residential and commercial area near the Lebanese Prime Minister's office and several foreign embassies. The Lebanese health ministry also condemned Israeli strikes that damaged three public hospitals in Nabatee, a major city in Southern Lebanon. Hadeel Al-Shelji, NPR News, Beirut. A U.S. warship with U.S. Marine ground troops aboard

1:01is being tracked off Singapore. The Wall Street Journal reports the Pentagon is moving them to the mid-East. President Trump is responding to the resignation of his director of the National Counterterrorism Center. Joe Kent published a blistering resignation letter saying he could not support the administration's war on Iran. Kent alleges it was begun after pressure from Israel and its powerful U.S. lobby. Trump has dismissed him as weak on security. NPR's Greg Mayri says that when Kent was nominated by Trump last year, he got no Democratic Senator's support. Senate Republicans confirmed him as head of the National Counterterrorism Center last July, while Democrats were sharply critical. One of the most outspoken was Washington Democratic Senator Patty Murray. She described Kent as a, quote, conspiracy theorist who espouses white supremacist views. And she said he also pushed the, quote, false conspiracy that the January 6th insurrection was somehow a deep-state plot.

2:02NPR's Greg Mayri reporting. The Federal Reserve is expected to hold its benchmark interest rate steady today. NPR Scott Horsley reports the Fed is caught between rising energy prices and a softening job market. The price of gasoline and diesel fuel has jumped sharply since the U.S. launched its attack on Iran two and a half weeks ago, even before the war began, inflation was running stubbornly higher than the Fed's target. That makes it harder for the central bank to cut interest rates, even as the job market shows signs of needing more support. Over the last six months, the U.S. economy's added virtually no jobs. Jerome Powell is nearing the end of his term as Fed Chairman, but the timetable for confirming a successor is up in the air. A key Republican Senator has promised a block confirmation of President Trump's nominee, Kevin Worsh, until the Justice Department ends. It's Criminal Probe with the Central Bank. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. You're listening to NPR News. A Senate committee will open the confirmation hearing today

3:02for Oklahoma Republican Senator Mark Wayne Mullin to be the next Secretary of Homeland Security. The agency oversees the Transportation Security Administration that's partially shut down in a congressional dispute over how the Trump administration has federal immigration agents operate. TSA agents are not getting paid and security lines and airports are getting longer. The head of the U.S. Postal Service says that agency is months away from running out of money. He says it may have to stop delivering mail next year. And Beers-Hanzilo Wang reports the Postmaster General is asking Congress to help stabilize the self-funded agency. The Postal Service relies on stamps and service fees, not tax dollars, to deliver mail and packages six days a week to every address in the country. But people in businesses are sending a lot less mail than in past decades. Now, Postmaster General David Steiner says U.S. P.S. could be out of cash for paying its workers as soon as this October. But says that could be delayed until February 20, 27, if it holds off on paying more of its obligations.

4:04If you want the same number of delivery days and post offices, we can do that. But someone has to pay for it. If you want to have a discussion about reducing services, we can do that too. But there's one thing we can't do, and that is the status quo. Steiner says Congress should change laws to let the Postal Service borrow more money and reform how it pays for retirement benefits. Hansilo Wang and Per News. The WNBA and its Players Association have reached a contract agreement. It comes five months after the previous contract was supposed to expire. The WNBA season starts in 51 days. This is NPR.