NPR News: 04-03-2026 10AM EDT

0:00Line from NPR News in Washington, on Corp. of a Coleman, the U.S. and Israel continue to fire at Iran. Iran is firing at its Persian Gulf neighbors. Officials in the United Arab Emirates say a fire broke out at a gas facility in the city of Abu Dhabi. And Piers A.Battrowi reports. U.S. Abu Dhabi says fallen debris from an interception sparked a fire at its hapshan gas facility on Friday, forcing the suspension of operations at what is one of the world's largest gas processing plants. The UAE says Iran has launched more than 2,000 drones and more than 470 missiles at it since the U.S. Israeli war on Iran began five weeks ago, most have been intercepted. Meanwhile, the Gulf Arab state of Bahrain has proposed a resolution to the UN Security Council that would authorize countries to take, quote, defensive measures to secure the passage of ships through the strait of Hormuz. But any measure that appears to authorize the use of force in the strait is likely to face vetoes, including by Russia and China. A fifth of the world's oil and gas flows through the strait, but Iran has effectively closed it in response to the war.

1:00A.Battrowi and Piers News, Dubai. Meanwhile, Iran is saying it wants to charge a toll for crossing the strait. President Trump wrote online this morning that, quote, with a little more time, we can easily open the Hormuz strait, take the oil, and make a fortune. This seems to conflict with the national address Trump gave Wednesday night. He said then, other nations need to handle the strait, not the U.S. The stock market is closed today for the Good Friday holiday, and PR Scott Horsley reports that will give investors more time to digest a better than expected report on the job market. The labor department says U.S. employers added 178,000 jobs last month. That's a lot more than forecasters had expected, especially given the economic jitters caused by the war with Iran. Construction companies, factories, and restaurants, all added jobs in March. Both care once again saw the strongest hiring in the economy, though some of that was the result of people going back to work after a February strike. The monthly jobs tally was conducted in the first half of March, so may not fully reflect

2:02the fallout from the war with Iran, despite sharply higher prices for crude oil and gasoline. The report shows no increase in employment among oil and gas drilling companies. Scott Horsley in Piers News, Washington. President Trump says former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is out of the job and moving to the private sector. It is not clear whom he'll nominate for the position, but North Carolina Republican Senator Tom Till has told CNN he will not support any Trump nominee if they approve of the actions of the January 6th rioters. The threshold for somebody following Pam Bondi ends the moment I hear they said one thing that excuse the events of January the 6th. I've been very clear on that. So I hope whoever they have in mind to follow General Bondi was very clear on my position on January the 6th. Till is says he has previously opposed two other nominees to federal positions for the same reason. You're listening to NPR. The White House is asking Congress for one and a half trillion dollars in defense spending.

3:05It's the largest increase ever in modern history that's 40 percent more than what was requested last year. And Trump is also asking lawmakers to cut $73 billion in domestic spending. The White House released a budget summary today. In remarks to religious leaders earlier this week, Trump said that the country is fighting wars and quote, we can't take care of daycare. He says that should be up to the states. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, there is a kind of fish that can scale a 50-foot rock wall behind a waterfall. The researchers say it's the first time this behavior has been documented in Africa. Reporter Ari Daniel tells us more. Pasifique Quelle Mutambala, a PhD student at the University de Lubumbashi, spent a few rainy seasons at the waterfall where he saw thousands of these upwardly mobile fish called shell ears. Ah, the first time I was very excited, yes, very excited.

4:07CT scans revealed their front fins have an array of single-celled hooks, which they used to grip the rock. The fish alternate between wriggling rapidly upwards and mostly resting. The entire ascent takes almost 10 hours. Mutambala says the findings have conservation implications because cutting off the water supply to this waterfall to fill a dam or for irrigation could harm the fish. For NPR News, I'm Ari Daniel. Again, Wall Street is closed today in observance of Good Friday. This is NPR.