NPR News: 03-29-2026 3PM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Noir Rahm. An Iranian official today accused the U.S. of planning a ground invasion. Iran's military says that would be met with force. NPR's Emily Fang reports. Writing in telegram Iran's parliament speakers struck an aggressive stance. Writing quote, the enemy publicly signals negotiations while secretly planning a ground invasion. He's referring to news that the U.S. is triply, carrying 3,500 U.S. Marines and sailors, as arrived in the Middle East, though the U.S. military has not said where the Marines will be deployed and how. Earlier, Iran rejected a 15-point plan the U.S. had proposed to end the war. And put forth its own proposal that would give Iran official control over the street of Hormuz and have the U.S. pay for war damages. Israel said it had started a new wave of strikes on Iran over the weekend as well, targeting weapon sites. Iranian officials said they hit universities in Tehran and Isfahan. Emily Fang in pure news, Van Turkey. Pakistan is hosting a meeting of diplomats from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt to urgent

1:04end to the war. The U.S. and Israel are not taking part, but continuing to launch strikes against Iran. UNICEF says more than 2,000 children have been killed or injured in Iran, Lebanon, and Israel. I'm Kuwait since the start of the war. Spokesperson Ricardo Pirae says more than a million children are at risk because of the fighting. 87 children either killed or injured every single day, every 24 hours, hundreds of thousands displaced. It just, that's the consequence of war. The children are the first to suffer and the ones who suffer the most. He says children not only lose their homes, but they lose their right to go to school and they get separated from their families. Defense officials in Finland say several drones crash in his territory today is not clear where they came from. In recent days, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania reported Ukrainian drones had crashed there after going a string during intensified attacks on Russian oil and gas facilities.

2:05TSA workers could see their first paychecks in more than a month as soon as tomorrow, despite the partial government shutdown. NPR's Eric McDaniel reports. A White House memo directs DHS to move money around to pay 60,000 TSA employees. But the core fight remains. Democrats in Congress are withholding money from all of DHS, including TSA, in hopes of changing how immigration agents can conduct themselves. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has so far refused to take up a unanimous Senate deal that funds all non-immigration functions at DHS as these negotiations continue. Democratic Representative Adam Smith said on Fox News Sunday that Johnson is making a mistake. We can have that debate and fund TSA if Mike Johnson would just let us vote on what every single senator supported. Let's prompt in their corner, though, House Republicans haven't shown any signs of budging. Eric McDaniel and P.R. News Washington. This is NPR News in Washington. A new report shows 59 million Americans are caregivers for older parents, spouses, and

3:06other loved ones. NPR's Ellison Aubrey reports the numbers are from AARP and reflect the emotional and financial toll caregiving can have. If you take your parent to the doctor or help out by picking up their groceries, they're likely part of the unpaid caregiving economy. AARP estimates that includes 49 billion hours of care each year. Without family caregivers, millions of older adults would require institutional care, which would drive up costs for families and taxpayers. There's also the physical and emotional toll of caring, says CEO Dr. Maesha Mentor Jordan. Caregivers are stretching their finances, sacrificing their own well-being, and too often they are doing it alone. She says policymakers can do more to support caregivers, including tax credits and deductions to offset costs. Alice and Aubrey, NPR News. NASA could return to the moon as soon as this week. The astronauts are now in quarantine ahead of the Artemis II mission.

4:08They answered questions today, virtually. Even Commander Reed Weissman says they're hoping to blast off Wednesday, but not counting on it. This is the first time we're going to try this. This is the first time we're loading humans on board. And I will tell you the four of us, we are ready to go. The team is ready to go, and the vehicle is ready to go. But not for one second, we have an expectation that we are going. We will go when this vehicle tells us it's ready, when the team is ready to go. They'll be the first astronauts to fly to the moon in more than 50 years. I'm Nora Rom, NPR News in Washington. 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.