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Right now’s high tales
The battle within the Center East reveals no indicators of slowing down as Israel introduced new strikes on western Iran yesterday. Iran’s international minister has denied President Trump’s declare that Iran requested for a ceasefire. The Strait of Hormuz stays closed, reducing off 1 / 4 of oil and pure gasoline provides from the remainder of the world. Trump is pressuring nations to assist reopen it. New Israeli floor operations in Lebanon are additionally heating up a second entrance within the struggle.
Israeli air protection system fires to intercept missiles throughout an Iranian assault over Tel Aviv, Israel, early Sunday, March 15, 2026.
Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
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Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
- 🎧 NPR’s Daniel Estrin tells Up First that one main query in regards to the struggle is whether or not it can finish with Iran nonetheless in possession of its extremely enriched uranium, which it might use to construct a nuclear weapon. Iran says it’s buried underneath the rubble of final yr’s struggle. Whereas Iran’s army is weakened, the regime stays intact and able to inflicting international disruption. In the meantime, Israel’s plans proceed to shift. Right now, a army spokesperson revealed that operations in Iran are set for the subsequent three weeks. In Lebanon, Israel is ramping up its army presence and making makes an attempt at diplomacy. An individual briefed on the matter tells Estrin that Israel is pushing for direct ceasefire negotiations with Lebanon.
- 🎧 As gasoline costs soar, international markets battle and polls present that Individuals are skeptical of the struggle, Trump’s administration is pushing a message of victory. The administration at first struggled to offer clear justification for U.S. involvement on this struggle, leaving it politically susceptible, NPR’s Franco Ordoñez says. Jenny Stromer-Galley, who research political messaging at Syracuse College, tells him that the concentrate on profitable goals to shift the narrative in direction of a theme of collective power and imaginative and prescient. The president is repeatedly utilizing easy, sturdy language as a branding instrument, which Stromer-Galley says is an try and persuade individuals of one thing their eyes can not see. His criticism of the media has additionally intensified. The FCC chair has threatened to revoke broadcast licenses over stations’ protection of the struggle.
Senate Republicans are making ready to vote on the president’s controversial SAVE Act this week. The invoice goals to handle a hot-button challenge that is near Trump’s coronary heart: non-citizen voting. Trump stays adamant that it is a widespread concern within the U.S., regardless of a scarcity of proof.
- 🎧 The invoice would require a photograph ID that proves U.S. citizenship, like a delivery certificates or passport, in an effort to register to vote. Hundreds of thousands of Individuals do not have easy accessibility to these paperwork, NPR’s Miles Parks says. Because the vote approaches, it’s more and more possible that Trump might be dissatisfied with the outcomes. Senate Democrats are firmly against the invoice. To cross the laws, it wants 60 votes to interrupt the filibuster threshold, however Republicans solely maintain 53 seats. Trump has insisted he would not desire a watered-down model of this invoice. However Parks says that if it had been narrower and presumably centered solely on picture ID, it may need garnered extra assist from each events.
Linda Holmes, Pop Tradition Joyful Hour host, joins the Up First e-newsletter as we speak to offer key takeaways from final night time’s Oscars.
It was an excellent night time for finest image winner One Battle After One other, in addition to for Sinners, on the Oscars final night time. There have been just a few surprises (a uncommon tie), plus some politics, too. Listed here are our takeaways from the night:
- 🏆 Celebrated director Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After One other) lastly received finest director after three earlier nominations. He additionally introduced dwelling finest tailored screenplay.
- 🏆 Michael B. Jordan received a uncommon finest actor award for what could be very a lot a style movie — the vampire horror drama Sinners. He beat performers from rather more historically awards-friendly movies.
- 🏆 Amy Madigan received finest supporting actress for her deeply unsettling and completely singular efficiency in Weapons, which is much more totally a horror film than Sinners.
- 🏆 Cassandra Kulukundis received the long-overdue, first-ever Academy Award for casting, for One Battle After One other. The most important drawback within the class was that everyone could not win.
- 🏆 Autumn Durald Arkapaw, who received finest cinematography for her work on Sinners, was solely the fourth lady, and the primary lady of shade, to be nominated within the class. She is the primary lady to win.
Try pictures from the purple carpet and see the full listing of winners.
Keep popular culture savvy by subscribing to the Pop Tradition Joyful Hour e-newsletter. As soon as every week, you may get NPR’s information to motion pictures, TV, books, music and extra.
Life recommendation
It might probably really feel troublesome to reclaim your time and a spotlight out of your telephone when it is designed to maintain you scrolling. Life Equipment spoke to consultants in behavioral science, psychology and know-how for real-world recommendation. Try these expert-recommended methods to successfully keep off your telephone:
- 📱 Attempt “urge surfing,” which is the observe of using out the urge to choose up your telephone with out doing something about it. The extra you do it, the much less you’ll really feel it’s important to give in to the urge.
- 📱 Make your gadget much less visually engaging to lower your motivation to make use of it. Flip it black-and-white or arrange a easy dwelling display with solely a listing of apps and no photos.
- 📱 Preserving your telephone out of the bed room cuts down on telephone time by eradicating the temptation to scroll earlier than mattress, in the midst of the night time and whenever you first get up.
For extra recommendations on easy methods to higher keep off your telephone, hearken to this episode of NPR’s Life Equipment. Subscribe to the Life Equipment e-newsletter for professional recommendation on love, cash, relationships and extra.
Image present
Actors gaze as much as the sky throughout JJ’88’s “ROOT” within the hip-hop artist and former inmate’s documentary/visible album Songs from the Gap. Earlier than the music begins, protagonist and producer James “JJ’88” Jacobs describes meditating on his and others’ redemption whereas incarcerated and in solitary confinement.
Courtesy of Netflix
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Courtesy of Netflix
Songs from the Gap is a robust visible album and documentary that tells the story of James Jacobs, generally known as hip-hop artist JJ’88, as he displays on life inside California’s jail system. In 2004, at age 15, Jacobs shot and killed a 20-year-old at a celebration. By 2021, Jacobs had spent extra time in jail than outdoors it. After assembly and befriending Contessa Gayles whereas she was on task for CNN, Jacobs and his producer, Richie Reseda, approached filmmaker Gayles with a daring imaginative and prescient. They needed to create a visible album that Jacobs had written throughout his incarceration. The movie intertwines Jacobs’ letters and recorded telephone calls with Gayles and Reseda, showcasing scripts, shot lists and lyrics. The documentary delves into themes of Black boyhood, household ties, religion, crime, forgiveness and redemption, making a compelling narrative of resilience and hope. Try these photographs from the movie.
3 issues to know earlier than you go
A screenshot from the all-out winner of the forty sixth annual Razzie Awards, Warfare of the Worlds, starring Ice Dice.
Amazon Prime Video
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Amazon Prime Video
- The remake of the traditional sci-fi novel Warfare of the Worlds starring Ice Dice cleaned up on the forty sixth Annual Golden Raspberries, or Razzie Awards, which parody the Academy Awards.
- German thinker Jürgen Habermas, an influential thinker on modernity and democracy, died Saturday in Starnberg, Germany, at 96.
- Trump introduced Friday that Richard Grenell is stepping down as head of the Kennedy Heart earlier than it closes for scheduled renovations in July.
This article was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.