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Right now’s high tales
Israel launched assaults on central Beirut final night time, intensifying its offensive in Lebanon after the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel. The change marks a number of the fiercest combating between the 2 sides for the reason that starting of the conflict in Iran. Right now, U.S. Central Command confirmed that at the least 4 crew members had been killed when a refueling plane went down in western Iraq. Yesterday, Iran’s new supreme chief, Mojtaba Khamenei, issued his first message, vowing to maintain the Strait of Hormuz closed.
Folks examine the location of a destroyed department of Al-Qard Al-Hassan, a non-bank monetary establishment run by Hezbollah, which was hit by an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut, Thursday, March 12, 2026.
Hussein Malla/AP
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Hussein Malla/AP
- 🎧 Israel issued its first-ever evacuation order for the reason that conflict in Iran started for a 300-yard radius of a constructing within the Bachura neighborhood of Beirut, NPR’s Hadeel Al-Shalchi tells Up First. The Israeli army claims it’s killing and focusing on Hezbollah operatives, however the specifics of what was focused in that constructing final night time are unclear. An official not approved to talk publicly instructed NPR that the strike was symbolic and was meant to ship the message that Israel wouldn’t tolerate Hezbollah’s hearth for much longer. The Lebanese president has just lately known as for direct talks with Israel to finish the conflict and requested the worldwide group to assist bolster its military to attempt to disarm Hezbollah. Israel hasn’t commented publicly, however the official instructed NPR that Israel sees optimistic indicators from Lebanon to crack down on Hezbollah. Al-Shalchi says it would not be stunning if talks occur quickly.
The FBI is investigating two separate assaults that occurred yesterday. In Michigan, an armed man rammed a automobile into Temple Israel synagogue. In Virginia, one other man opened hearth in a Reserve Officers’ Coaching Corps classroom at Outdated Dominion College, killing one and wounding two others.
- 🎧 Safety officers exchanged gunfire with the alleged suspect in Michigan, who was discovered useless. Authorities recognized him as 41-year-old Ayman Mohamad Ghazali. He was a naturalized citizen born in Lebanon. NPR has confirmed that an Israeli strike in Lebanon killed two of Ghazli’s brothers and two of his brother’s kids earlier this month. His mother and father had been wounded and are within the hospital. Authorities haven’t but shared a motive for the assault and say that their investigation will take time, in accordance with Alex McLenon of NPR community station WDET.
- 🎧 Authorities recognized the Outdated Dominion College shooter as 36-year-old Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, from Sterling, Va. Members of the ROTC class wrestled him to the bottom, and he was finally killed. Jalloh was honorably discharged from the Virginia Military Nationwide Guard in 2015. Steve Walsh of NPR community station WHRO says he appears to have been radicalized within the following years. He was sentenced to 11 years in jail and 5 years supervised launch in 2017 after he pleaded responsible to trying to supply materials assist to the Islamic State of Iraq. He was launched in 2024. The FBI is investigating the incident as an act of terrorism, citing his earlier arrest and witness experiences of him yelling “Allahu Akbar,” the Arabic phrase for “God is Biggest.”
The Senate yesterday handed the most important housing invoice in a long time with an 89 to 10 vote. The bipartisan laws goals to enhance housing affordability and availability by deregulating, increasing current packages and banning giant firms from shopping for single-family houses, with few exceptions.
- 🎧 The invoice, which has over 40 provisions, goals to drive down housing prices by encouraging extra homebuilding, NPR’s Stephan Bisaha says. The nation is hundreds of thousands of houses in need of assembly the demand, however Bisaha explains that the federal authorities does not have a “large lever” it could actually pull to mandate extra development. So the laws is an amalgam of various packages and incentives that co-sponsor Sen. Elizabeth Warren describes as a “big meatball.” It features a standard provision banning institutional traders from shopping for single-family houses. Whereas folks blame these traders for driving up costs by outbidding households, analysis on that is blended. Bisaha notes that giant traders personal few houses throughout the U.S. and, in some instances, they assist decrease prices.
Dwelling higher
Digital generated picture of african american ethnicity younger man carrying swimsuit standing on purple ramp and seeking to a number of message chat icons. Synthetic intelligence chatbot communication idea.
Andriy Onufriyenko/Second RF/Getty Photos
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Andriy Onufriyenko/Second RF/Getty Photos
Dwelling Higher is a particular collection about what it takes to remain wholesome in America.
Tech firms are rolling out platforms particularly tailor-made for well being care session, and AI is rapidly changing into a key participant in shaping folks’s medical choices. OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, experiences that greater than 40 million folks seek the advice of the platform day by day for well being info. However new analysis exhibits that AI can mislead customers in sure medical eventualities. And the standard of the well being info it imparts depends upon how successfully an individual prompts the instruments.
- 🗨️ A research discovered that even when AI accurately identifies a situation, it usually doesn’t current the subsequent steps with sufficient urgency. Researchers discovered that bots “under-triaged” in 52% of emergency instances, treating the ailment as much less critical than it was.
- 🗨️ Well being care might be troublesome to afford and entry, which is why consulting AI can usually be higher than the options, says Robert Wachter, a physician at UC San Francisco.
- 🗨️ Adam Rodman, a hospitalist who researches AI packages, says a very good time to make use of AI is earlier than or after seeing a physician to develop into extra knowledgeable about your situation. This helps you employ time along with your medical supplier effectively.
Weekend picks
Take a look at what NPR is watching, studying and listening to this weekend:
🍿 Motion pictures: In Hoppers, a younger lady makes use of mind-hopping know-how to inhabit an animatronic beaver with the hope of saving a beloved glade from critical threat of destruction by the use of the city’s slimy mayor.
📺 TV: MGM+’s American Traditional is a hidden gem, says NPR TV critic David Bianculli. Within the collection, a Shakespearean actor returns to his small hometown after a disaster and works to avoid wasting the native theater.
📚 Books: In her new guide Darkology: Blackface and the American Means of Leisure, Rhae Lynn Barnes traces the origin of minstrel exhibits, that are performances the place an actor portrays a racist depiction of a Black, usually previously enslaved, individual.
🎵 Music: Kacey Musgraves’ new tune “Dry Spell” discusses the longest interval she spent on her personal as an grownup. The tune seems on her sixth album, Center of Nowhere, releasing Might 1. She sat down with NPR Music for an unique first interview about her new music.
🌮 Meals: The Oscars are this weekend. If you happen to invite folks over to observe, NPR has some punny menu concepts to replicate this yr’s idiosyncratic slate of greatest image nominees.
❓ Quiz: I’ve scored a 9 out of 10 for 2 weeks in a row. I’ll attain that good rating quickly. Within the meantime, it’s your flip to goal for a flawless outcome.
3 issues to know earlier than you go
NASA workers temporary the media on Thursday on the Kennedy Area Middle in Cape Canaveral, Fla. in regards to the delayed Artemis II mission. The information convention centered on revisions and fixes being finished to the rocket elements.
Gregg Newton/AFP through Getty Photos
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Gregg Newton/AFP through Getty Photos
- NASA yesterday introduced it’s focusing on a launch date as early as April 1 for Artemis II, a 10-day mission that can ship 4 astronauts across the moon and again.
- Smiljan Radić Clarke has received the Pritzker Prize, an award usually known as the Nobel of structure.
- Fisher F003, a big weasel outfitted with a GPS collar by researchers, traveled roughly 80 miles, the longest documented dispersal journey for the species. (through NHPR)
This text was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.
