Center East conflict; SAVE America Act; Oscars 2026 : NPR

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Right now’s prime tales

The battle within the Center East exhibits no indicators of slowing down as Israel introduced new strikes on western Iran yesterday. Iran’s overseas minister has denied President Trump’s declare that Iran requested for a ceasefire. The Strait of Hormuz stays closed, chopping off 1 / 4 of oil and pure gasoline provides from the remainder of the world. Trump is pressuring international locations to assist reopen it. New Israeli floor operations in Lebanon are additionally heating up a second entrance within the conflict.

• 🎧 NPR’s Daniel Estrin tells Up First that one main query concerning the conflict is whether or not it can finish with Iran nonetheless in possession of its extremely enriched uranium, which it may use to construct a nuclear weapon. Iran says it’s buried beneath the rubble of final yr’s conflict. 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 wrestle and polls present that People are skeptical of the conflict, Trump’s administration is pushing a message of victory. The administration at first struggled to supply clear justification for U.S. involvement on this conflict, leaving it politically weak, NPR’s Franco Ordoñez says. Jenny Stromer-Galley, who research political messaging at Syracuse College, tells him that the deal with profitable goals to shift the narrative in direction of a theme of collective power and imaginative and prescient. The president is repeatedly utilizing easy, robust language as a branding software, which Stromer-Galley says is an try to persuade individuals of one thing their eyes can’t see. His criticism of the media has additionally intensified. The FCC chair has threatened to revoke broadcast licenses over stations’ protection of the conflict.

Senate Republicans are making ready to vote on the president’s controversial SAVE Act this week. The invoice goals to handle a hot-button situation 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 an absence of proof.

• 🎧 The invoice would require a photograph ID that proves U.S. citizenship, like a delivery certificates or passport, as a way to register to vote. Hundreds of thousands of People haven’t got easy accessibility to these paperwork, NPR’s Miles Parks says. Because the vote approaches, it’s more and more possible that Trump will likely be disillusioned 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 does not need a watered-down model of this invoice. However Parks says that if it had been narrower and probably targeted solely on photograph ID, it might need garnered extra assist from each events.

Linda Holmes, Pop Tradition Completely satisfied Hour host, joins the Up First e-newsletter at this time to supply key takeaways from final night time’s Oscars.

It was an excellent night time for greatest image winner One Battle After One other, in addition to for Sinners, on the Oscars final night time. There have been a number of surprises (a uncommon tie), plus some politics, too. Listed below are our takeaways from the night:

• 🏆 Celebrated director Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After One other) lastly gained greatest director after three earlier nominations. He additionally introduced house greatest tailored screenplay.
• 🏆 Michael B. Jordan gained a uncommon greatest actor award for what may be very a lot a style movie — the vampire horror drama Sinners. He beat performers from far more historically awards-friendly movies.
• 🏆 Amy Madigan gained greatest supporting actress for her deeply unsettling and completely singular efficiency in Weapons, which is much more absolutely a horror film than Sinners.
• 🏆 Cassandra Kulukundis gained the long-overdue, first-ever Academy Award for casting, for One Battle After One other. The largest downside within the class was that everyone could not win.
• 🏆 Autumn Durald Arkapaw, who gained greatest cinematography for her work on Sinners, was solely the fourth girl, and the primary girl of shade, to be nominated within the class. She is the primary girl to win.

Try pictures from the crimson carpet and see the full record of winners.

Keep popular culture savvy by subscribing to the Pop Tradition Completely satisfied Hour e-newsletter. As soon as every week, you will get NPR’s information to motion pictures, TV, books, music and extra.

Life recommendation

It could really feel troublesome to reclaim your time and a spotlight out of your cellphone when it is designed to maintain you scrolling. Life Package spoke to specialists in behavioral science, psychology and expertise for real-world recommendation. Try these expert-recommended methods to successfully keep off your cellphone:

• 📱 Strive “urge browsing,” which is the follow of driving out the urge to choose up your cellphone with out doing something about it. The extra you do it, the much less you’ll really feel you must give in to the urge.
• 📱 Make your system much less visually attractive to lower your motivation to make use of it. Flip it black-and-white or arrange a easy house display with solely a listing of apps and no footage.
• 📱 Protecting your cellphone out of the bed room cuts down on cellphone 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 tips about the way to higher keep off your cellphone, take heed to this episode of NPR’s Life Package. Subscribe to the Life Package e-newsletter for knowledgeable 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 track 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 strong 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 exterior 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 wished to create a visible album that Jacobs had written throughout his incarceration. The movie intertwines Jacobs’ letters and recorded cellphone 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 photos 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, Battle of the Worlds, starring Ice Dice.

Amazon Prime Video

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Amazon Prime Video

1. The remake of the traditional sci-fi novel Battle of the Worlds starring Ice Dice cleaned up on the forty sixth Annual Golden Raspberries, or Razzie Awards, which parody the Academy Awards.
2. German thinker Jürgen Habermas, an influential thinker on modernity and democracy, died Saturday in Starnberg, Germany, at 96.
3. Trump introduced Friday that Richard Grenell is stepping down as head of the Kennedy Middle earlier than it closes for scheduled renovations in July.

This article was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.