Warfare in Iran; N.C., Texas primaries; Clinton hearings : NPR

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Right now’s prime tales

The U.S. has evacuated diplomats throughout the Center East and shut down some embassies at present because the warfare with Iran enters its fourth day. The U.S. is telling residents to evacuate greater than a dozen international locations. Restricted flights out of the Center East resumed yesterday, however a whole bunch of hundreds of vacationers stay stranded at aviation hubs within the area. Israeli warplanes are placing Tehran in Iran and Beirut in Lebanon. In the meantime, Iranian drones hit the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia. A minimum of six U.S. service members have died in motion. Trump mentioned his administration expects the battle to go on for “4 to 5 weeks, however we now have the aptitude to go far longer than that.” The Iranian Crimson Crescent Society stories not less than 555 Iranians have been killed for the reason that joint U.S.-Israeli navy marketing campaign started on Saturday.

• 🎧 Right now, the Israeli navy mentioned it’s ready for weeks of warfare. An official within the area, talking anonymously, tells NPR’s Daniel Estrin that Israel believes it may possibly obtain its warfare objectives in simply two weeks. However Estrin says there are blended messages about these objectives. Yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed Fox Information that regime change is the target. In distinction, U.S. officers yesterday walked again the concept that this warfare was about regime change.
• 🎧 Trump administration officers briefed prime congressional lawmakers yesterday concerning the warfare. Congress is ready to vote this week on measures that will restrict the president’s means to intervene additional in Iran with out congressional approval. NPR’s Barbara Sprunt tells Up First that the lawmakers are anticipated to vote largely alongside partisan traces, regardless of most Individuals’ disapproval of the warfare. However Sprunt says there are some outliers. A small variety of Republicans plan to curb the president’s actions, whereas some Democrats worry the decision restricts the flexibleness wanted for real-time menace response.
• ➡️ The current battle between the U.S. and Iran is hardly the primary time the 2 nations have clashed politically and militarily. These are seven key historic factors of their relationship since 1953.
• ➡️ The Trump administration’s justification for the warfare is testing the president’s “Make America Nice Once more” voters’ ideology on what “America First” really means.

Right now is the final day for voters to solid their ballots in North Carolina and Texas’ primaries. The outcomes will assist decide management of Congress within the fall and reveal what voters need for the latter half of Trump’s second time period. Each states have costly Senate primaries that supply a preview of every occasion’s route. That is what it’s essential know.

• 🎧 As a result of each states redistricted final yr, there are even fewer aggressive Home races than regular. The Senate races are actually the place the battle is, NPR’s Ashley Lopez says.
• ➡️ Sustain with the stay major election outcomes for North Carolina, Texas and Arkansas.

Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem is anticipated to testify earlier than the Senate at present. The Division of Homeland Safety has been shut down for almost a month after lawmakers failed to achieve a funding deal and agree on adjustments to how immigration officers function. Noem is anticipated to inform Senate Judiciary Committee members concerning the toll the funding pause has had on Individuals, together with making air journey tougher as Transportation Safety Administration workers work with out pay.

Home Republicans have launched video of former President Invoice Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s depositions concerning the Epstein recordsdata. The Cluntons sat for hours final week for separate closed-door testimonies after the committee threatened them with contempt costs. That they had each requested for public hearings. Throughout the interrogation, each Clintons denied any information of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes previous to his pleading responsible in 2008 to state costs in Florida for soliciting prostitution from an underage lady.

Deep dive

An indication presents parking and charging amenities for electrical vehicles at a retail park in Berlin in 2023. Proof from the oldest era of electrical autos suggests their batteries are lasting longer than was anticipated within the early days of the EV business.

Odd Andersen/AFP

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Odd Andersen/AFP

Within the early days of contemporary electrical autos, drivers frightened that EVs would require costly battery replacements inside just a few years. Everybody is aware of the painful actuality of a dying smartphone battery. EV batteries had been designed to last more than smaller, cheaper batteries. Regardless that batteries include warranties, the warranties usually expire earlier than the automobile does. If a high-voltage battery fails midway by a automobile’s life, drivers should substitute it, dealing with a price ticket of $5,000 to $20,000. However there’s excellent news. Because the EV fleet ages on the highway, new knowledge gathered from tens of hundreds of autos clearly exhibits that these batteries are lasting longer than anybody anticipated.

• 🔋 Electrical automobile battery checks underestimated their lifespan as a result of real-world driving is gentler. Not like testing, driving includes stops and begins. Every begin attracts the battery’s power down a bit, whereas every cease permits a slight recharge.
• 🔋 Engineers who developed fashionable EVs designed techniques that actively handle temperature to enhance battery lifespan and software program to always monitor battery well being.
• 🔋 EV house owners can prolong battery life by parking their autos within the shade and lowering quick charging. Quick charging is the most important stressor that may result in faster-than-usual degradation.

Image present

Individuals collect on Lake Mendota close to an inflatable Statue of Liberty crown and torch on the Winter Carnival at UW-Madison on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, in Madison, Wisconsin.

Kayla Wolf for NPR

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Kayla Wolf for NPR

Final month, Madison, Wis., hosted its 14th annual Frozen Belongings Pageant. Throughout the winter months, the town, which was constructed on a skinny strip of land between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, embraces its frozen lakes. Individuals generally have interaction in ice fishing, skating, ice crusing and snowshoeing. Traditionally, folks within the space valued ice for different functions, like ice harvesting. Frozen lakes mattered a lot to the town that data of when the ice froze annually return greater than 100 years. Right now, folks participate in a contest to guess the day Lake Mendota will freeze. Take a take a look at this yr’s pageant, which options kite flyers, skydivers, ice hockey and the one 5K that takes place solely on ice.

3 issues to know earlier than you go

Tomato clownfish, just like the one seen right here nestled in a sea anemone, lose all however one among their white stripes (the pinnacle bar) as they develop up.

Camille A. Sautereau

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Camille A. Sautereau

1. Tomato clownfish seem able to adjusting once they lose their stripes, a brand new PLOS Biology examine reveals. The examine means that younger fish could alter their bodily look to assist them discover a foothold (or finhold) within the native social hierarchy.
2. Yesterday, the Supreme Courtroom intervened in New York’s redistricting course of, blocking a decrease court docket resolution that will probably have flipped a Republican congressional district to a Democratic one.
3. This week, the Getty Villa Museum in Los Angeles begins providing a uncommon take a look at its historical Egyptian “E book of the Lifeless” scrolls. The assortment of 19 manuscripts consists of one which dates again almost 3,500 years. (through LAist)

This article was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.