A.M. Edition for Mar. 9. Oil is surging past $100 a barrel as Iran strikes critical infrastructure in the Gulf, leading states to dial back production and halting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. WSJ reporter Joe Wallace says higher fuel prices are just one likely outcome as the inflationary impacts of shipping disruptions mount. Plus, correspondent Benoit Faucon analyzes Mojtaba Khamenei’s selection as Iran’s next supreme leader. And why VW dealers are up in arms as the automaker looks to sell direct to consumers. Luke Vargas hosts.
Plus: Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are among the investors in Powerus, a company formed to bring Ukrainian drones to the U.S. And activist Starboard Value builds a big stake in french-fry maker Lamb Weston. Daniel Bach hosts.
Israel struck Tehran's oil facilities as Iran named a new supreme leader, the hardline son of the Ayatollah Israel killed on day one, and a senior Israeli military official tells NPR the war needs three more weeks. President Trump reversed course on Kurdish fighters entering Iran, and Iraq's Kurdish deputy prime minister tells NPR in his first interview with western media since the war began that the Kurds will not be part of the fight and are not guns for hire. And the war is strangling the Strait of Hormuz, where hundreds of tankers and container ships are now stranded, raising fears of a global energy crisis.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Hannah Block, Tina Kraja, James Hider, Mohamad ElBardicy and HJ Mai. It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Ben Abrams. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
(0:00) Introduction (01:55) Iran War Escalates (5:17) Kurds Stay Out (10:52) Global Shipping Crisis
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In recent weeks, the Defense Department has tussled with Anthropic over how its artificial intelligence could be used on classified systems. That fight became bitter and negotiations fell apart. And war in the Middle East has made it increasingly clear how much the U.S. military has been relying on A.I.
Sheera Frenkel, who covers technology for The New York Times, explains the standoff and what it reveals about the future of warfare.
Guest: Sheera Frenkel, a New York Times reporter who covers how technology affects our lives.
Iran’s clerics choose a new ayatollah. American officials face questions over a strike at a girls’ school. And New York police say a pair of men threw improvised explosive devices during a clash with anti-Islam protesters.
President Donald Trump wants to dramatically change how Americans vote, and to make that happen he’s holding all other legislation hostage until Congress passes the SAVE America Act. The bill would require that Americans prove citizenship via a passport or a birth certificate to register to vote. Make no mistake: Trump wants America to pay the price for the election he lost to Joe Biden in 2020. Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford joins us to explain how states are ready to fight Trump’s next moves to restrict voting.
And in headlines, Iran finds a new supreme leader in the son of the former one, a federal judge wants to reverse layoffs at the Voice of America, and the Trump administration threatens intervention in Cuba.
Kate, Leah, and Melissa break down the oral arguments in United States v. Hemani, a Second Amendment case which challenges a law prohibiting “unlawful users” of controlled substances from possessing a firearm. Then, they cover two truly heinous shadow docket rulings–a case out of New York where SCOTUS’s conservatives seem to have found an impermissible racial gerrymander they believe in, and another on the outing of transgender children–before speaking with California Attorney General Rob Bonta about standing up to the Trump administration on issues like tariffs, federal law enforcement overreach, and antitrust. They also pour one out for Krispy Gnome’s (née Kristi Noem) generationally awful tenure at the Department of Homeland Security. This episode was recorded live at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco.
As California’s governor – and a topic of discussion among some as a possible 2028 presidential candidate – Gavin Newsom is an exceedingly public figure with a busy schedule to match. His new memoir, Young Man in a Hurry, provides a glimpse into Newsom’s rise to political prominence and his ongoing goal of self-discovery. In today’s episode, Newsom sits down with NPR’s Ailsa Chang to discuss his book, the question of his own relatability, and why he uses “playground insults”’ on social media to push back against the Trump administration.
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A July ICE protest ended with a police lieutenant shot, 19 people arrested and nine people now on trial. For Trump’s Department of Justice, it’s a chance to see how calling groups “domestic terrorist organizations” performs in a courtroom.
Guest: Leeja Miller, lawyer and YouTuber based in Minneapolis.
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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.
