NPR News: 03-26-2026 1PM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. As Iran and the United States push their respective demands to stop the war, Israel is speeding up its military strikes in Iran ahead of a possible ceasefire. That is according to a person briefed on the matter who spoke with NPR's Daniel Astrin in Tel Aviv. The person who did not have authorization to speak publicly says the Israeli military is speeding up its targeting in Iran over the next 48 hours, focusing on trying to hit Iran's arms factories as much as possible in case a ceasefire is declared. While the U.S. and Iran both want a deal to end the war, there are wide gaps between their demands. Pakistan is emerging as a potential host for talks, an official in Islamabad not authorized to speak publicly, tells NPR Pakistan's interior minister held a secret meeting with Iran's ambassador today. Israel wants to keep pressing on in the war, and Iran continues targeting Israel with missile fire towards central Israel and the Jerusalem area.

1:01Daniel Astrin and P.R. News, Tel Aviv. Triple A says on average, people are paying nearly $4 for a gallon of regular gasoline in the United States, the result of ongoing oil shipping disruptions from Iran's blockade of the street of Hormuz. The President Trump's cabinet meeting today, Treasury Secretary Scott Besson sought to reassure Americans. Many people, especially the Democrats, underestimate the will of the American people for short term volatility for 50 years of safety that we are going to have on the other side of this. And I believe energy prices will be lower, inflation will be lower. NPR Scott Horsley highlights one way the government is trying to control the price surge. The EPA will allow gas stations to keep selling fuel with a higher ethanol content this summer. The move is likely to cause some additional air pollution. It's intended to keep a lid on gas prices. That's NPR Scott Horsley. The United Kingdom is facing the sharpest downgrade to its forecast for economic growth for any major economy according to the organization for economic cooperation and development.

2:05It says many major economies will be affected with the UK being among the worst. Your ZPR's Ruth Sherlock. The OECD has slashed its forecast for Britain's economic growth from 1.2% down to 0.7%. And it says inflation is also predicted to be higher than expected. This comes as it downgrades its forecasts for many of the world's major economies. The halting shipments through the critical strait of Hormel's waterway and the closure and damage of some energy infrastructure is causing energy prices to soar, as well as that of other vital commodities such as fertilizer, which is pushing up the cost of everything from car and heating fuel to food. Among the G7 countries, the OECD says the only country predicted to have higher inflation than the UK is the United States Ruth Sherlock, MPON News United Kingdom. It's NPR News. Members of Congress are set to vote on advancing a bill to fund the Department of Homeland

3:07Security. The top official at the Transportation Security Administration warns that if the partial government shutdown continues tomorrow, TSA will have missed nearly a billion dollars in paychecks since the shutdown began weeks ago. Ha Win McNeill also tells lawmakers that its some major U.S. airports travelers have waited more than four hours at security checkpoints as more TSA officers call out sick at rates of 40 to 50%. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kitter has died. NPR's Net at UlaBee Reports Kitter wrote deeply reported bestsellers on topics ranging from computers to people dedicating themselves to public health. Tracy Kitter's breakthrough book came out in 1981. The soul of a new machine is about the development of a then unusual device known as a computer. Computers are an interesting sort of machine for people who are disposed in that way I think that they're so complicated. After on NPR, the year the book came out, now it's considered a tech classic.

4:11He went on to write a book about a year he spent immersed in a low-income fifth grade classroom, and he wrote influential books about people on the front lines of what he called morality and medicine. His biography of humanitarian Dr. Paul Farmer, Mountains Beyond Mountains, came out in 2003. Tracy Kitter died Tuesday of lung cancer. He was 80 years old. Net at UlaBee NPR News. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News. Listen to this podcast sponsor-free on Amazon Music with a prime membership or any podcast app by subscribing to NPR News Now Plus at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.