Iran war; Trump’s anti-weaponization fund; Ebola : NPR

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Today’s top stories

Israeli forces launched attacks in Lebanon and Iran, and Iran attacked Israel in retaliation. violence is threatening To plunge the Middle East back into all-out war. Sirens sounded across Israel this morning after missiles were fired by Iran and its ally Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Iran said it targeted two Israeli military targets in response to Israeli attacks on Iranian radar sites. Israel attacked central and western Iran early today after attacking Hezbollah targets in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

• 🎧 Iran has warned that any attack by Israel on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital will be considered a threat line.NPR’s Jen Arraf explains first up. Iran has called for a ceasefire in Lebanon as part of the broader Iran-US agreement. Last night Israel targeted an apartment building, killing two people. Arraf, who is in Beirut, says that in areas of Lebanon where Israel is still under threat, apartment buildings have been destroyed by air strikes. Despite the destruction, some residents, including the elderly and disabled, are still trying to live in these areas. Tire was once a thriving coastal city similar to Miami, but after the new attacks, displaced families began setting up tents on the beach near closed restaurants, and some simply sleeping on the sand.

President Trump walks out of an interview with NBC meet the Press When asked about his “anti-weapons” fund And his continued false claims about the elections. In the interview broadcast Sunday, the president defended his Iran policy and mentioned a possible peace deal, but he did not provide any details.

• 🎧 Trump made it clear during the interview that he has not given up funds worth about $ 1.8 billion of his administration.Despite assurances from Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch that it has been phased out. NPR’s Franco Ordonez says he expects the anti-gun funding to dominate the discussion in Washington. Republican and Democratic lawmakers are concerned that the fund, which the president says will support people who have been unjustly targeted by the government, could be used to pay the January 6 insurrectionists. Trump also said during the interview that he deserves more leniency and patience regarding the war in Iran. He then said that an agreement would be reached soon, or military action could resume. Ordóñez points out that the President has made similar statements on the war for several weeks without giving specific details.

Health officials in Africa are warning that the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is spreading more rapidly than any other Ebola outbreak in history. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says transmission rates are exceeding the initial trajectory of the 2014 West Africa epidemic. Health workers are working with limited resources as they struggle to bring the outbreak under control. 71 new cases were confirmed in three provinces in eastern Congo over the weekend. Congolese health officials say the surge in cases reflects “rapid and ongoing community transmission.” The Congolese government has stopped publishing the total number of suspected cases, but aid officials estimate the number could be in the thousands.

• 🎧 Health officials in Congo announced this over the weekend Three new patients have recovered, taking the total number of recoveries to 12. According to Emmett Livingstone, reporting from the Congolese capital Kinshasa, this shows that the virus is not necessarily a death sentence. Livingstone says that although the situation is still extremely dangerous, the Ebola strain currently circulating has a slightly lower mortality rate than other common variants. Experts say patients’ chances of recovery are greatly improved when they seek medical care early, but Livingston says the biggest challenge is access to adequate medical care.

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The Obama Presidential Center is opening its doors on Chicago’s South Side later this month. During a press preview, NPR and other media toured the building and grounds, highlighting the legacy of Obama’s presidency. The center is a vibrant complex that includes basketball courts, gardens, ball fields, a children’s playground, a branch of the Chicago Public Library, and an eight-story museum towering over it. Inside the museum, visitors will find numerous exhibits that not only chronicle the lives of the former President and First Lady, but also reflect the nation’s broader narrative, dating back to the Declaration of Independence. The museum reflects America’s ongoing journey toward becoming a more perfect union, a theme Obama often returns to in his speeches. Take a look inside with these photos.

behind the story

By Omkar KhandekarProducer at NPR’s South Asia Bureau

This week, NPR published a lengthy report on India’s controversial Great Nicobar project.

Over the past few years, India has been debating the future of an island that is home to less than 0.0007% of its population.

Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government wants to transform the sleepy Great Nicobar island into a business hub and a bustling township – the “Singapore of India”, as some call it.

The mega-project is estimated to cost over a billion dollars and plant approximately one million trees. Critics say it would be an environmental disaster. They say the project could also endanger the Shompen, one of the world’s last hunter-gatherer communities isolated from the modern world.

India’s ruling party, which sees the project as a “strategic gateway” to counter China in the Indian Ocean, has shrugged off the criticism. Journalists visiting Great Nicobar have reported being under police surveillance. When NPR took a low-profile tour of the island earlier this year, residents were eager to talk, though some requested to remain anonymous for fear of retribution. That fear was palpable: following our return, the local police launched a formal investigation into the reasons for our trip. People we spoke to said they had been interrogated by the police. Local authorities also restricted free access to areas marked for the controversial transshipment port.

The tussle in Great Nicobar is emblematic of the many state-backed infrastructure projects across India. While the Modi government is eager to push through such ambitious projects in the name of the economy or national security, calls to protect nature have grown louder as India has seen an increase in heat waves, glacial floods and extreme rainfall in recent years.

3 things to know before you go

1. A group of workers at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium has voted to authorize a strike just days before it is set to host its first US match at the World Cup. Some of the demands of the workers include higher wages and security on the job.
2. New research indicates that bumblebees, despite having small brains, can solve problems as automatically as animals with larger brains.
3. Researchers have installed a thermal camera system on an island in San Francisco Bay to help detect the heat emitted by whales’ exhaled breath. The changing climate has pushed animals into areas where ship strikes have been deadly.

Who edited this newspaper? Suzanne Nuyen.