NPR News: 04-04-2026 4AM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Rollin. Iran Friday shot down two U.S. aircraft in separate attacks. This is the first time U.S. aircraft have been taken down in the five-week-old war. One plane was in A-10 known as the Wardhog. The pilot was rescued, according to the U.S. The second plane is an Air Force F-15E fighter that has two pilots. One pilot has been rescued. NPR's Deep Harvaz says he has the latest on the search for the missing pilot. State media has televised a call out, asking for nomadic tribes and local villagers to target any foreign pilots in the area. The announcement includes a monetary reward for any capture. A U.S. official confirmed to NPR that a search and rescue operation is in progress. President Trump is expected to sign an order to pay all DHS employees as Congress remains deadlock over funding that agency. NPR's Winston-Johnston reports it adds uncertainty to airport security lines over the weekend.

1:03Air line analysts say wait times have improved since Trump took executive action to begin paying TSA agents after more than a month. But the recovery is uneven. Hundreds of officers resigned during the partial shutdown and it can take months to train replacements. Air line analyst Henry Hartfeld says that uncertainty could quickly affect operations. This is a day-to-day situation. If the back pay isn't fully repaid and if the TSA workers are concerned that they won't be paid for what they do now, that we're going to start seeing absenteeism increase again. That can lead to inconsistent staffing levels at airports making wait times harder to predict. Windsor-Johnston NPR News, Washington. South Asia depends on the Gulf States for most of its fuel needs. Iran's blockade of the fuel ships in the Strait of Hormuz has caused an unprecedented crisis for the region of some two billion people. NPR's Amkar Kandahkar has more.

2:04Gasoline prices in Pakistan have nearly doubled in the last two months after the government withdrew subsidies, saying that they couldn't afford them anymore. In the east, Bangladesh has cut office hours from 9 to 4 pm instead of 9 to 5 pm and ordered shops, markets and shopping malls to close by 6 pm to save energy. And in India, a cooking gas supply crisis has shut many restaurants and factories. Local media reports it has prompted several migrant workers to return to their villages. Authorities have now eased restrictions on the use of polluting fuels like kerosene for cooking and ramped up the use of coal for power generation. Amkar Kandahkar, NPR News, Mumbai. On this Easter weekend, Pope Leo on Good Friday carried a wooden cross at all 14 stations of the Roman Coliseum and you're listening to NPR News from Washington. UPS says it will continue offering drivers thousands of dollars to resign across the

3:06rest of the country. It comes after the delivery giant pulled the program, offering 13 central states, including Michigan, Illinois and Kentucky. From member station WAB in Atlanta, Marlon Hyde has the story. UPS says it's latest bio program where eligible drivers can accept $150,000 to resign was well received by its employees. Over 30 teams to local unions in its central region filed grievances against the Atlanta based company claiming the offer violates their contract. In a statement, UPS denies these claims and continues to engage with the local unions in the central region. In February, a federal judge rejected the team's Thursday's request to block the workforce reduction program. UPS says it will continue to offer buyouts to drivers in the remaining states as it moves to slash 30,000 positions this year. Fran P.R. News, Marlon Hyde in Atlanta. The White House is proposing a 2027 federal budget with a massive change in U.S. spending

4:08priorities, dramatically increasing the Pentagon's budget by more than $440 billion to $1.5 trillion and calling for a 10% cut in non-defense spending. President Trump wants to cut programs for housing, social services, health care and other domestic spending. The White House calls woke. He also wants to cut spending for the Environmental Protection Agency in half, reducing many of its clean water programs. Congress will get the final say. This is NPR News.