NPR News: 04-03-2026 7AM EDT

0:00Line from NPR News in Washington, encore of a Coleman, Iran is suggesting it could charge ships that sail through the Strait of Hormuz. NPR's Fatima Al-Khasa reports British officials held a multinational meeting yesterday to discuss ways to reopen it. Putting more diplomatic pressure on Iran, including via the UN, and rejecting any attempt by Iran to impose tolls on ships passing through, they said they explored the option of sanctions to bear down on Iran if the strait stays closed, but they didn't agree on anything concrete. NPR also talked about working with the International Maritime Organization to try to help about 20,000 sailors and thousands of ships that are currently stuck in the strait. NPR's Fatima Al-Khasa reporting, President Trump says Pam Bondi is out as U.S. Attorney General. He said she was a patriot and a loyal friend and moving to the private sector. Writing online, Trump says Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche will become the acting AG. Then Secretary Pete Hegseth has forced the Army's top general to step down and retire immediately.

1:04And Bios Greg Maire reports that Hegseth has ousted many senior military leaders without explanation. The Army's chief of staff, General Randy George, served more than four decades, including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was expected to remain in his current post for another year and a half, but defense secretary Hegseth abruptly forced him to resign. This is according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said General George was retiring effective immediately. No reason was given. Hegseth has ousted many top generals and admirals in the past year. He has not offered reasons for the individual dismissals, but has been sharply critical of the way the military was run before he took over the Pentagon. Greg Maire, NPR News Washington. A federal panel has approved President Trump's plan to build a 90,000 square foot ballroom. It's supposed to be constructed where the White House's east wing once stood.

2:05But NPR's Frank Langford reports a federal judge says the plan still needs approval from Congress. William Scharf, chair of the National Capital Planning Commission, said opposition to changing the White House complex is nothing new. Practically every change, every modification, every addition, and indeed every feature that we now celebrate as an iconic aspect of the White House was roundly and viciously condemned in its day. Commissioner Phil Mendelssohn agreed the White House needs a ballroom, but opposed the plan. I'm trying to be nice here. It's just too large. It's just too large. In fact, the ballroom would be more than one and a half times larger than the White House residents. A judge ruled last week that Trump has no authority to build the ballroom. The administration is appealing. Frank Langford, NPR News Washington. And you're listening to NPR News from Washington. The Trump administration and others are appealing a judge's temporary ruling about artificial

3:05intelligence company Anthropic. The company does not want its AI used for autonomous weapons or mass surveillance of Americans. The Pentagon says the US military gets to decide that. The federal judge is temporarily blocking President Trump from punishing Anthropic. Separately Anthropic says it accidentally leaked a significant chunk of its internal source code. It says this was by human error, but this leak can give rivals a close look at how Anthropic is building its AI tools. Taxes on sugary drinks are not effective in reducing consumption. That's according to a study in the journal Plus Medicine. And PR's Allison Aubrey reports researchers analyze data from a major fast food retailer. Researchers studied several years of transactions from Taco Bells, including from drive-thrues in Chicago, Oakland, California, Philadelphia, and Seattle. These are all places that had adopted soda taxes, aimed at reducing sugar consumption and

4:07encouraging healthier habits. But the study finds that the small tax on soda did not appear to influence decision-making. Other studies show that if soda tax can lead to decreased sales in grocery stores, but this doesn't seem to be the case in fast food. Researchers say it's possible the tax is too low for consumers to notice. Allison Aubrey, NPR News. Stock markets ended mixed in yesterday's training. Wall Street is closed today for the Christian observance of Good Friday. This is NPR.