NPR News: 03-21-2026 8AM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Louise Skivone. Iran's media is reporting that the U.S. and Israel have begun striking its netons' nuclear and Richmond facility in the central part of that country. Israel's military says it's not aware of the strikes, although at a news conference this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters that Iran no longer has the ability to enrich uranium. Three weeks into the U.S. Israeli war with Iran, more American and Marines are on their way to the Middle East, and as NPR's Quill Lawrence reports, more than 2,000 Marines are being deployed. The USS Boxer Group of three ships carrying thousands of Marines from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit has left California and will take about three weeks to reach the Gulf, according to two U.S. officials who are not authorized to speak publicly. That's in addition to the USS Tripoli Group, with more than 2,000 Marines, expected to arrive soon from Japan. Sent comm would not comment on the deployment or its mission, but Marines are traditionally

1:01ground troops. Quill Lawrence and PR News. Nearly two months of virtual learning ended just this week for students in St. Paul, Minnesota. The school district there offered online learning and response to the sweeping immigration enforcement surge in the state and the fear that it created among many families. NPR's Meg Anderson spent time at one school to find out how kids are feeling. More than a third of the students at the elementary school switched to online learning during the ice surge. NPR is not naming the school because the staff fears the federal government could target them. After weeks of online learning, the school year feels like it's starting all over again, and not every student came back. One family is now in El Salvador, others are in Mexico. But many of the students who returned are relieved, like Camila, a fifth grader. It felt good because I got to see my friends again, and they helped me feel safer. She says it's starting to feel just a little bit like how it was before.

2:02Meg Anderson and PR News. A convoy of humanitarian aid has set sail from Mexico to Cuba after a major energy black out from the front terrace desk in Eremoseo Sonora, KJZ's Nina Kravinsky has more. Cuba's electrical grid continues to crumble amid a U.S. energy blockade. The White House in January said it would put tariffs on any country that sends oil to Cuba. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters Mexico was looking for ways to provide Cuba with fuel without impacting her country. Mexico was one of Cuba's major oil suppliers before the U.S. ban. We always defend self-determination. As a Cuban people, who must decide how to govern themselves without foreign intervention, Sheinbaum said Mexico's Navy delivered more than 800 tons of humanitarian supplies to Cuba last month. For NPR News, I'm Nina Kravinsky, inert moseo, Mexico. This is NPR News in Washington. Shares in the computer server maker Super Micro plummeted yesterday, this after a company

3:07co-founder and two others were charged with exporting banned AI servers to China. NPR's John Ruich reports. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York says Super Micro co-founder Willie Leah and a company contractor were arrested. A third person is still at large. The indictment says they conspired to violate U.S. export controls. The government bans the sale to China of certain cutting-edge microchips used in artificial intelligence. The Department of Justice says the three people and co-conspirators used brokers and a company in Southeast Asia to ship banned U.S. chips from Taiwan to China. The Southeast Asian company bought $2.5 billion worth of servers containing the chips between 2024 and 2025. The company says in a statement it was not named as a defendant and the conduct of the individuals alleged in the indictment violates company policies and compliance rules. A choke hold on part of the world's helium supply is among the consequences of the war

4:08in Iran. Qatar supplies a third of the world's helium according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Helium is a byproduct of natural gas production. But when the bombing started three weeks ago, the nation had to pull back production. Now Qatar's state-owned gas company says it would crimp helium exports by 14%. Helium is critical to global tech supply chains, chip factories use helium to cool and protect waifers. I'm Luis Givoni, NPR News, Washington.