NPR News: 04-02-2026 6AM EDT

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korvakulman.

President Trump says the U.S. will finish its military mission in Iran in a few weeks.

And PR's Quill Lawrence reports on Trump's first formal address to the nation since starting

the war.

President Trump didn't say much that it was new, repeating that Iran's military has been

destroyed and promising more bombing to come.

The President said the closure of the Strait of Hormuz was not America's problem, but should

be dealt with by other countries that rely on it more heavily.

They are decimated both militarily and economically and every other way, and the countries of

the world that do receive oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage.

Iran's closure of the Strait has driven up the price of oil worldwide, and it's not

clear any other country besides the U.S. could open it by force.

Trump did not suggest a major ground operation is imminent, despite thousands of additional

troops in or en route to the region.

Quill Lawrence and PR News.

When his address Trump did not repeat a threat to pull the U.S. out of NATO, but he did

tell allies if they want Persian Gulf oil they should go take the Strait of Hormuz away

from Iran.

But European allies, including Britain's Prime Minister of Plainley, said this is not

their war.

They've also complained the U.S. did not consult them.

Oil markets are not reassured by Trump's words, and benchmark oil prices have climbed

nearly 7 percent overnight.

The Iran War is forcing business economists to downgrade their forecasts for the coming

year.

And PR Scott Horsley reports on the new survey by the National Association for Business

Economics.

The name conducted its usual quarterly survey of economists at the beginning of March,

then went back at the end of the month and asked forecasters how their views might have

changed.

Not surprisingly, four weeks of war and a resulting spike in energy prices left economists

with a considerably gloomier outlook.

On average, forecasters are now projecting higher inflation and slower economic growth.

And they were in the early days of the war, they also expect weaker hiring.

More than three-quarters of the economists surveyed, now say geopolitical conflicts pose

a downside risk for the economy that's up from four months ago when fewer than half

the forecasters surveyed felt that way.

Scott Horsley in Pair News, Washington.

NASA has successfully launched its Artemis II lunar mission from Florida.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman celebrated the lift off.

After a brief 54-year intermission, NASA is back in the business of sending astronauts

to the moon.

NASA's last lunar mission, the Apollo 17, flew in December 1972.

The Artemis team is spending a day in Earth orbit, they'll test their equipment, one

problem already surfaced, the toilet.

The astronauts used an alternate method until engineers were able to fix it.

If mission managers approve, the Artemis crew will then point their capsule toward the

moon, they'll fly around it, then return to Earth after about ten days in space.

You're listening to NPR.

Members of a federal planning agency will meet today to hold a final vote on President

Trump's planned White House ballroom.

The vote is going ahead, even though a federal judge ordered a temporary stop to construction

this week.

The judge says Congress has to authorize this.

The planning agency can still vote on the ballroom, but cannot override the judge's order.

Trump officials have filed an appeal.

A federal appeals court has blocked the Trump administration from overhauling federal spending

on homelessness projects.

NPR's Jennifer Leiden reports the administration has been trying to set new conditions on

that aid.

Last fall, the federal housing agency issued a plan to slash money for permanent housing

and shift it to programs that require those seeking assistance to first work and stay

sober.

Housing Secretary Scott Turner said that would nudge people toward self-sufficiency.

The change would have upended two decades of bipartisan federal policy, and local laygroups

warned it could push 170,000 people back into homelessness.

In its latest ruling, the appeals court side's evidence that the long-time focus on permanent

housing has proven effective, and it noted that Congress recently approved a budget

to fund that approach.

In a statement, the housing agency HUD says the current approach is misguided, and it

remains committed to reforming it.

Jennifer Leiden and Pair News, Washington.

The US Geological Survey says there was an earthquake overnight south of San Francisco.

Its magnitude was 4.9.

The shallow quake was fell to cross the Bay Area, but there aren't any initial reports

of damage or injuries.

I'm Corva Coleman and Pair News in Washington.