NPR News: 03-22-2026 7PM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst. Iran says it will close the strait of Hormuz indefinitely if President Trump follows through on his threat to, quote, obliterate Iran's power plants if it doesn't let ships go through the strait. And here's Emily Fang has more. Iran is blocking most ships from transiting the strait of Hormuz, and that's caused the price of oil and gas to increase sharply this month. Trump wrote on social media on Saturday that the U.S. would, quote, hit an obliterate Iranian power plants if the strait was not open within 48 hours. Iran's President Masood Pazashkiin wrote on social media site X shortly after that the strait was open for, quote, all except those who violate or soil. A spokesperson for Iran's armed forces went even further, saying, quote, nothing can stop us from destroying all American infrastructure in the Middle East region. Should Trump make good in his threat, and that the strait of Hormuz would remain totally closed until Iran could rebuild its power plants if the U.S. hit them.

1:00Emily Fang in Pyrrhus, Vann, Turkey. House Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries is pushing back against a plan from President Trump to send ICE agents to help with security lines at airports as TSA officers who are working without pay call out, leading to long lines. Hundreds of quid as the partial government shutdown over changes to immigration enforcement continues. The last thing that the American people need are for untrained ICE agents to be deployed at airports all across the country, potentially to brutalize or in some instances, kill them. We've already seen how ICE conducts itself. Portezartam Holman says they're still working out the deployment, but that they will be at large airports with long lines and will assist TSA. I don't see an ICE agent looking at an X-ray machine because we're not trained in that. There are certain parts of security that TSA is doing, and we can move them off those jobs and put them in the specialized jobs to help move those lines. Both men speaking there on CNN.

2:01Ajeri and Los Angeles is expected to deliver a verdict this week in a trial over social media addiction. Pyrrhus Bobby Allen reports jurors have heard weeks of testimony about whether Instagram and YouTube were designed to hook young people. Ajeri of five men and seven women have been deliberating for more than a week and have indicated they may be close to a verdict. The case focused on a California woman who said she developed oppression, anxiety, and body image issues after compulsively using Instagram and YouTube as a young child. Lawyers for the women say metta and Google built defective products that led to her becoming addicted to social media and contributed to her mental health struggles. Tech company attorneys say social media platforms are being scapegoated for a complex mental health issues that have many root causes. It's the first time the question of social media addiction has been before Ajeri, and the case is tied to 1,600 other pending cases. The outcome could shape how those cases eventually settle. Bobby Allen, MPR News. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. The Supreme Court hears arguments tomorrow on mail-in ballots.

3:05The case involves Mississippi's allowance of a grace period for accepting ballots postmarked on election day, but arriving later. It was brought by President Trump's allies who want to bar mail-in voting except in certain cases such as illness or military service. Trump has claimed with outsiding evidence that the practice allows fraud in elections. The World Happiness Report finds the same country has reported the highest well-being for almost a decade, and it's still ranked number one. It also finds a stark decline in life satisfaction among young people in the United States, as MPR's Emmy held reports. For the ninth year running, Finland ranks as the world's happiest country, the US 23rd. But Americans have dropped to near the bottom globally when it comes to falling happiness among young people under 25. There's no single reason, but researchers say heavy social media use stands out. Co-author Martin Berger says more than five hours a day is associated with less life satisfaction.

4:09And time lost, he says, doing other meaningful things, like meeting in person. People in Nordic countries ranking high in happiness are on social media a lot too, but researchers say a mix of other factors, like strong social supports, contribute to well-being, Emmy held, and P.R. News. We're listening to NPR News from Washington.