NPR News: 03-28-2026 2AM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Wilman. The House of Representatives approved a temporary funding bill Friday night for the Department of Homeland Security. The vote was along partisan lines, a lack of DHS funding, has caused the current partial government shutdown. Early Friday morning, the Senate had passed a bipartisan funding proposal, but House Speaker Mike Johnson refused to put it up to a vote during the House debate, Democrat James McGovernor Massachusetts called out Republicans. I want to say to the American people, if you woke up this morning not knowing who to blame for this shutdown, you will go to bed tonight with no doubt. It is House Republicans and Speaker Johnson. U.S. officials say at least 10 U.S. service members were injured Friday when Iranian missiles hit a military base in Saudi Arabia. The attack hit Prince Sultan Air Base. The attack also damaged several U.S. refueling planes. U.S. says a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted before it reached that country. It's the first time Yemen has joined in the fighting in the region.

1:02President Trump is sending thousands of troops to the Middle East, as he tries to press Iran to open the strait of Hormuz to allow passage by trapped oil and gas tankers. As NPR's Ayyabatrawi reports, this comes as officials from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar met separately with Vice President Thands. The UAE and Qatar host thousands of U.S. troops, and their energy facilities have been hit in Iranian counter-strikes in the war. The UAE says a ceasefire with Iran isn't enough. It's pushing for a deal that addresses Iran's nuclear enrichment, its drones and missiles, and its control of the strait. The UAE says Emirati Minister Sultan El Jabbar, who heads Abu Dhabi's National Oil Company ad-Nakh, met this week with Vance and Senator Lindsey Graham, who backs regime change in Iran. Qatar says its Prime Minister Muhammad al-Fani met Vance Friday. Qatar has taken a more conciliatory tone. It says Iran's attacks on its sovereignty are unacceptable, but that the war must end through diplomatic means. Ayyabatrawi and Pair News, Dubai

2:16Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco seized more than 400 more boxes of ballots this week. That's according to a lawsuit filed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat. Bonta said Bianco defied his order to halt the investigation by carrying out the latest ballot seizure. Last month, Bianco seized 650,000 ballots based on a tip from a local watchdog. The group claims that more votes were counted than were cast for last year's election to redraw California's congressional map to favorite Democrats. Bonta wants a judge to stop Bianco's election probe for a lack of evidence. Bianco did not respond to a request for comment. For NPR News, I'm Madison Oman in San Bernardino. And you're listening to NPR News. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the US is not pushing Ukraine to hand over territory to Russia in order to get security guarantees and a cease-fire plan. Ukraine's president said this week that the US was doing just that, but Rubio Friday said Volodymyr Zelensky was lying. Rubio says the Trump administration was simply telling Zelensky what Russia is demanding.

3:20In the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, six seeded Notre Dame pulled off the upset of the day by defeating Vanderbilt and number two seed, 67 to 64, in Fort Worth on Friday. Greg Ecklen reports. Notre Dame point guard Hannah Hidalgo was the floor leader. She scored 31 points and added 11 rebounds, but her defensive play was highlighted by her steals. With ten in the game, Hidalgo said an NCAA tournament record with 26 in three games so far. I wanted to come out and I told the team to name a defensive intensity, so I came out and just tried to be a person of all, as I always tried to. Meanwhile, the two number one seeds playing on Friday stepped toward their respective regional finals with victories, as Yukon downed North Carolina 63 to 42, and UCLA was an 80-56 winner over Minnesota. For NPR News, I'm Greg Ecklen. Police say they believe golfer Tiger Woods had taken prescription medicine or some other drug before he was involved in a traffic accident Friday in Florida. He was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, but a breathalyzer test showed

4:24no sign of alcohol. A land rover driven by Woods hit another vehicle and his land rover overturned Woods was not injured in that accident. This is at least the third time Woods has been involved in a traffic accident. I'm Dale Wilman, NPR News. According 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.