NPR News: 03-24-2026 1PM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Former Senator Mark Wayne Mullin is said to become the newest member of President Trump's cabinet. The Republican is due to be sworn in by Trump later this hour as Secretary of Homeland Security. NPR's Elena Moore reports Mullin is taking charge of a department that's been partially shut down for more than a month. It's been a busy few weeks for Mullin, who was tapped to replace Christy Nome as Secretary of DHS at the beginning of March. He sped through the confirmation process, but now Mullin faces a fresh set of challenges. Congress is scheduled to go on recess at the end of the week, but party leaders remain at odds over how to end the DHS shutdown. Trump is also pressuring lawmakers to prioritize passing the Save America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote. So if lawmakers go on recess without a deal, Mullin may be taking over a department where nearly half its workers aren't getting paid. Elena Moore and Pierre News.

1:01A small group gathers in solidarity with asylum seekers outside the U.S. Supreme Court, where justices have heard arguments over the president's power to limit asylum processing. The Trump administration seeking to revive a policy called metering that allows federal immigration agents to turn away asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border when the crossings deemed overburdened. The policy is separate from Trump's sweeping ban on asylum at the border that's also being legally challenged. While President Trump says the U.S. is in talks with Iran to end the war, Iran came under more airstrikes today as they run fired missiles and drones at Tel Aviv Israel and Gulf nations. Lebanon says it is expelling the Iranian ambassador in Beirut. Lebanon is only the second Arab country to take such action during the U.S. and Israeli-led war in Iran. Wars killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon and left more than a million displaced, according to Lebanese health officials. And Piers-Lorne Faire reports from the Lebanese capital.

2:02Lebanon's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it's withdrawn the Iranian ambassador's accreditation and demands he leave no later than this Sunday. Israel's foreign minister said he welcomes the move. Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants are a force in Lebanese politics, but relations between Beirut and Tehran have deteriorated. The last Israel-Hazbullah war in 2024 left thousands dead in the country with billions of dollars in damages. Now, some Lebanese blame Hasbullah for dragging them into another war this time in Iran. At the onset, Hasbullah fired rockets into Israel in support of Iran, sparking Israel's retaliation. Israel's defense ministers threatening now to destroy more homes in southern Lebanon, in a stepped-up effort to oust Hasbullah once and for all. At last, check on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average is at 55 points at 46,260. You're listening to NPR News. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has officially designated South Korea as its main enemy,

3:09while slamming the U.S. as a perpetrator of state terrorism. In a speech to Parliament, Kim Jong-un said he would retaliate against any provocations from the South. He said that the U.S. has carried out terrorism and invasions around the world, and promised to keep building his country's nuclear arsenal. Kim did not mention President Trump by name, and he is insisted that he is willing to negotiate if the U.S. drops his hostile policies. NPR is NPR reporting from Seoul. There's a new tax deduction available this filing season in the U.S. for the first time, some tax payers will be able to deduct the interest they pay on their car loans. The deduction is only available for new cars bought last year, and only if those cars were assembled in the U.S. Here's on PR's Camila Domenoski. In addition to being restricted to new cars built in the U.S., there's also an income limit. The deduction phases out above $100,000 of modified adjusted gross income, or $200 grand for married couples. It's available whether you itemize or not.

4:10Art Gallegos, a tax guy in Chicago, has had to explain to his clients that they won't get any paperwork in the mail about it. For 2025, there is no tax form that gets sent to you that says, hey, here's your portion of car loan interest that you paid. The tax change came in last year's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, so there hasn't been time to set up that kind of a process. Camila Domenoski, NPR News. U.S. talks to her mostly lower the sour than NASDAQ is down 158 points. It's NPR.