NPR News: 03-21-2026 9AM EDT

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Louise Skivone.

Iran's media is reporting that the U.S. and Israel have begun striking its Natanz nuclear

enrichment facility in the central part of that country, at the same time thousands

of U.S. Marines are being deployed to the region.

The U.K. has accused Iran of recklessly lashing out after to emerge that two ballistic

missiles were fired at an important base used by British and American forces in the Indian

Ocean.

The missiles failed to reach Diego Garcia.

The island is nearly 4,000 kilometers from Iran.

John McDonald is a member of Parliament for the British Labour Party he spoke to the BBC.

The problem with these wars is that it is those small steps that eventually get you

on to an escalator into a serious conflict and that's what I'm worried about.

For me, what's happening is that decisions are being taken by Trump and Netanyahu, which

we're not part of and as a result of that, they then expect us almost automatically to

back them up.

Meanwhile, the spring equinox, the first day of spring, has arrived in Iraq, Iran and

other countries.

This is an important cultural celebration.

NPR's Jaina Raff was in the Kurdistan region of Iraq in the ancient town of Akre, where

the annual fireworks dancing and fire marked Kurdish resilience and renewal.

It's pouring rain here, but there are hundreds and hundreds of people carrying lit torches

and making their way up the mountain.

This celebration marks the first day of spring, but it also references mythology in which

China tyrant was defeated and the flames are a symbol of victory of light over darkness.

It's a tradition that's much, much older than the countries in which it's celebrated.

And more than anything, as war rages around the region, it's a symbol of the endurance here

of Kurdish identity.

Jaina Raff and NPR News, Akre, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

The Republican elections bill now being considered by Congress doesn't appear likely to pass, but

as NPR's Miles Park reports, Republican controlled states are passing their own bills.

Republican lawmakers have worried about non-citizen voting for years, but the issue is taken

on new urgency with President Trump's claims ahead of the 2024 election that non-citizens

would vote in mass to influence that race.

There's no evidence that happened or has ever happened in American elections for that

matter, but states are still passing new restrictions to protect against the possibility.

Models with new voting requirements have now passed or are about to pass in Florida, South

Dakota, and Utah.

And similar laws passed in recent years in Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Wyoming, according

to the Voting Rights Lab, which tracks election policy.

Miles Parks, NPR News, Washington.

This is NPR News.

A federal judge in Oregon ruled against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy

Jr. this week in a case about gender-affirming care for youth.

As NPR Selina Simmons-Duffin reports at issue, is a declaration that Kennedy signed in December.

The declaration stated that treatments for transgender youth, like hormones, puberty blockers,

and rarely surgery, are unsafe and ineffective and fail to meet, quote, standards of healthcare.

That contradicts the position of major medical groups.

A group of Democratic state attorneys general sued, arguing that Kennedy can't unilaterally

change medical standards.

On Thursday, a federal judge in Oregon ruled against Kennedy.

The Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to NPR's query.

Kennedy also proposed that all Medicare and Medicaid funding could be withheld from hospitals

that provide gender-affirming care to youth.

Many hospitals have already shuttered their programs.

Selina Simmons-Duffin and P.R. News.

Vacuation warnings are up across the Hawaiian Islands as a second powerful storm dumps

heavy rain, north of Honolulu rising waters behind the 120-year-old Wahiwa Dam are raising

alarms that the dam might fail Hawaii's governor or just residents to seek safety.

After nearly a century of operations, CBS News is shutting down its radio division.

Dozens of people will be part of the company's overall layoffs decision starting in May.

In 1927, CBS Radio News was the precursor of the entire CBS News operation as it currently

exists.

I'm Louise Skivone and P.R. News, Washington.