NPR News: 03-20-2026 7PM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. President Trump posted on social media that his administration is getting close to meeting its objectives during the war in Iran and considering winding down military efforts. He called on nations that use the critical straight of Hormuz to police it, but quote, it shouldn't be necessary once Iran's threat is eradicated. Earlier today, Trump called NATO allies cowards for not joining operations to secure the straight. The war has tested Trump's traditional approach of negotiating through threats. Over the last week, the president has run into some significant political limits, as NPR's Tamar Keith explains. Trump didn't build a case for this war with the American public or with traditional allies. He didn't build a coalition of the willing in advance. And now he's coming in after the fact, telling Americans high gas prices are a small price to pay for defeating the Iranian threat and slamming the NATO alliance for not sending in ships to help open the straight of Hormuz, it's much harder to get buy-in after

1:02the fact. NPR's Tamar Keith reporting, a federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from limiting reporters access to the Pentagon. US District Judge Paul Friedman in Washington, D.C., cited with the New York Times and ruled that the Pentagon policy illegally restricts the credentials of reporters who walked out of the building rather than agree to the new rules last year. The international energy agency is calling the global fuel crisis the largest supply disruption ever in the global oil market. As NPR's Ruth Sherlock reports, the agency says governments, businesses and households should take action. The suggestions include reducing driving speeds by at least six miles per hour on highways and taking public transport or car sharing. The war between the US and Israel and Iran has disrupted oil tankers moving through the critical strait of Hormuz waterway and damaged energy infrastructure across the Gulf. The IEA says it could take months or even years to restore oil and gas flows from the region,

2:03Ruth Sherlock and Pionius. The Department of Justice is seeking to dismiss charges against two former Louisville police officers involved in the deadly 2020 raid on Breonna Taylor's apartment. Louisville Public Media's Roberto Roldan reports. Joshua Jains and Kyle Meeney are facing misdemeanor charges for allegedly lying on the search warrant. The charges were initially brought by federal prosecutors under President Joe Biden who argued that Jains and Meeney included false information in the warrant application, directly leading to Taylor's death. The case has run into trouble in recent years. A federal judge has downgraded the charges against the two former officers twice and the DOJ under President Donald Trump has backed off prosecuting any of the officers involved in the raid. The lawyers representing Jains and Meeney are not opposing the dismissal, but it still needs to be approved by the judge. For MPR News, I'm Roberto Roldan in Louisville. US Stocks sank again today, the S&P 500 fell one and a half percent. This is NPR. Nearly 90,000 bottles of a children's pain reliever have been recalled due to reports

3:06of particles and other possible contaminants. The FDA says tarot, pharmaceuticals, children's ibuprofen oral suspension was recalled after some customers reported a gel-like mass and black particles in the product. Regulators say it's unlikely to pose a serious health risk to consumers. A new study finds that humans and animals have shared acoustic tastes, and NPR's Nate Rot has more. Animals make a lot of sounds to attract mates, and scientists know that some are more effective than others. Take the Pacific Field Cricket. That call is less appealing to other crickets than this one. And it turns out, according to the new study published in the journal Science, it's more appealing to people too. Scientists had more than 4,000 volunteers listen to pairs of calls from 16 different species and pick which ones they preferred. Like do you prefer this song, Sparrow? Or this one?

4:06And they found that, overall, humans agreed with the animal's preferences, suggesting we share a sense of beauty with the natural world. Nate Rot, NPR News. France says it's taking appropriate measures after a naval officer's use of the Strava sports app inadvertently enabled journalists to geolocate the aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle in the Mediterranean. Limond newspaper says it traced a naval officer's March 13th run, and then matched the Strava data on a same day satellite image. This is NPR News from Washington.