NPR News: 04-10-2026 6PM EDT

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Libby Casey. Vice President JD Vance is on his way to Pakistan to head a U.S. delegation in peace talks with Iran. President Trump spoke to reporters at Joint Base Andrews this afternoon and set expectations. Well, I wish him luck. He's got a big thing. I will find out what's going on. They're militarily defeated, and now we're going to open up the Gulf with them, with or without that'll be open or the straight as they call it. And I think it's going to go pretty quickly. And if it doesn't, we'll be able to finish it off one way or the other. Trump was on his way to a fundraiser at the Trump Winery in Virginia. He said a good deal would mean no nuclear weapons capability for Iran. Trump said the Strait of Hormuz will be opened up, although the president again said other countries will have to take that on, or that Iran would reopen the Strait out of its own interests. According to Iranian media, the head of Iran's forensic medical agency says that over 3,000 people have been killed so far in the war. The Iranian Red Crescent has also released some figures on the number of damaged civilian facilities. NPR's Deep Hervaz has more from Von Turkey. The head of Iran's forensic medical agency says the country's death toll in the war over the past six weeks has surpassed 3,000. State media outlets quote Abbas Masjid al-Adoni as saying that some 40% of the bodies are unidentifiable. And this casualty figure differs from what human rights groups have estimated. They put the number of civilian deaths at somewhere between 1,000 and 1,700 in recent days. And they've also estimated that over 6,000 military and revolutionary guard members have been killed. Additionally, 857 schools, 32 universities, and 338 hospitals were damaged or destroyed by airstrikes according to the Iranian Red Crescent. Deep Hervaz, NPR News, Von Turkey. Lower-income Americans are cutting back on their discretionary spending because of higher gas prices. That's according to a new report from the Bank of America Institute. But NPR's Stephen Basaha says most Americans are still spending elsewhere. Lower-income Americans are spending a bit less on things like travel and restaurants. But David Tinsley with the Bank of America Institute says overall spending outside of gas is still up. Consumers so far are weathering this gasoline shop quite comfortably. They're still finding room to spend on the nice to have parts of their basket. Larger tax refunds could be helping to cover those higher gas prices. So far, the average refund is about $350 higher than last year due to tax cuts from Republicans' one big beautiful bill act. Stephen Basaha, NPR News. March saw a sharp spike in inflation because of the largest monthly jumping gas prices in six decades. As a result, the Federal Reserve may postpone any interest rate cuts for months. This is NPR News, live in Washington. A top UN official is raising alarms about the humanitarian situation in Haiti, where half the population is in need of food aid and 12 percent of the population has been displaced by gang violence. NPR's Michelle Kellerman has an update. Briefing UN reporters about her recent trip to Haiti, the director of the Crisis Response Division at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs calls the situation stark. Edam Wasornu says Haitians are facing, in her words, relentless violence, mass displacement, and shocking levels of gender-based violence. We're not in the famine threshold yet, but we don't want to get there, so we sound the alarm at this early stage. The UN is trying to raise $880 million for Haiti. The U.S. is pledging about 10 percent of that. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, Washington. Greece is the latest nation to ban social media for children under age 15. The new law is expected to take effect on January 1, 2027. It's targeting social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Greece's prime minister shared the news directly with kids via social media this week, telling children that the ban is for their own good because parents and young people have told him that hours on social media platforms have induced stress, anxiety, and sleeplessness. Australia was the first nation to ban social media for children under 16 in December. Turning to Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 269 points. The Nasdaq composite rose 80 points. This is NPR News.