NPR News: 04-15-2026 11AM EDT

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. President Trump says he thinks the war with Iran could soon end. He spoke in an interview with Fox Business News journalist Maria Bartiromo. His comments come as there are reports the U.S. and Iran could hold a second round of peace talks. Trump also told Fox Business News he wants to fire Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell. Powell's term is the Fed Board Chief ends May 15, but he can remain until a new chair is confirmed to buy the Senate. He can also stay on as a Fed Reserve Governor. Trump has been pressuring Powell to leave. Well, then I'll have to fire him, okay? If he's not leaving on time, I've held back firing him. I've wanted to fire him, but I hate to be controversial, you know? I want to be uncontroversial, but he will be fired. Trump said he'll be fired. It's not clear if Trump meant he'd force Powell out even as a temporary leader or if he would seek to force Powell off the board entirely. The war in Iran could trigger a global recession. That's according to the latest forecast from the International Monetary Fund. The IMF singled out the United Kingdom as one of the hardest hit economies. That's because of the U.K.'s reliance on imported oil and gas. NPR's Fatima Al-Qassab reports from London. Like in the United States, households in the U.K. are already feeling the pinch from the war in Iran. Leaders around Europe are increasingly frustrated at rising fuel prices. Britain's Finance Minister Rachel Reeves blamed President Trump for the economic pain being felt by families in the U.K. and U.S. in an interview with the Mirror newspaper. I feel very frustrated and angry that the U.S. went into this war without a clear exit plan. In Ireland, the government has announced hundreds of millions of dollars in tax cuts on motor fuel after fuel protests brought much of the country to a standstill. To save prices stay high, expect more of these protests around the world. Fatima Al-Qassab, NPR News, London. It's tax day. If you're planning to file a tax return by mail, you may want to stop by a post office in person. NPR's Hansi LeWong reports the U.S. Postal Service may not postmark some tax returns and other mail on the same day they are sent. Dropping off your federal income tax return at a mailbox or with a letter carried today may not be enough to file your taxes on time. That's because the IRS requires the envelope to have a postmark date that's on or before the filing deadline. The U.S. Postal Service usually automatically stamps postmarks on envelopes when a process is mailed that's dropped off, but exactly when that processing happens has become more complicated in more parts of the country. That's because U.S.P.S. has cut back how often it picks up mail in certain areas as part of its reorganization. That means some first-class mail dropped off today may not get postmarked until tomorrow, and that could lead to the IRS applying late filing or late payment penalties. To make sure your tax return gets a postmark for today, U.S.P.S. recommends going to a post office and asking for a free manual postmark at the counter. Hansi LeWong, NPR News. You're listening to NPR. A federal appeals court has blocked a lower judge's effort to investigate former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other Trump administration officials for potential criminal contempt. The appeals court ruling was two to one. It said federal judge James Boasberg abused his discretion by probing Noem's actions in sending deportation flights to El Salvador. The appeals court judge who disagreed said this ruling will hurt future judges who need to examine the actions of the executive branch. Germany is hosting an international conference today to raise funds for the humanitarian situation caused by the war in Sudan. The U.N. says the humanitarian crisis is the largest in the world and that a famine in Sudan is the worst in the world for decades. And Piers Emanuel Akinwotu reports. Germany's government says it hopes to raise more than $1 billion from the conference and spark international action. The crisis is especially bad in the western region of Darfur, where millions are facing famine-like conditions. Mohamed Tijani is an aid worker with care and NGO supporting aid camps in Darfur. I met a woman. She told me that I prefer to die instead of seeing my child crying from requesting for food. A woman told me that I buried two of my children because of hunger. The region is controlled by the rapid support forces or RSF who are at war with Sudan's army. The U.N. says violence by the RSF and Allied Arab militias bears the hallmarks of a genocide against African ethnic groups. Emanuel Akinwotu, NPR News, Lagos. And you're listening to NPR News from Washington.