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Today’s high tales

Iran despatched greater than 300 drones and ballistic missiles towards Israel on Saturday. Nearly all of them were intercepted by Israel and its allies, together with the U.S., the U.Okay. and France. Iran says the strikes have been in retaliation for a suspected Israeli airstrike that killed high Iranian officers at an Iranian consulate in Syria. No deaths have been reported. Here’s what to know about Iran’s unprecedented assault.

Israeli Iron Dome air protection techniques launch to intercept missiles fired from Iran, in central Israel on Sunday.

Tomer Neuberg/AP

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Tomer Neuberg/AP

Israeli Iron Dome air protection techniques launch to intercept missiles fired from Iran, in central Israel on Sunday.

Tomer Neuberg/AP

• “This is not the shadow war anymore,” NPR’s Daniel Estrin, who’s in Tel Aviv, tells Up First. “This is not Iran hiding behind proxy groups in Yemen or Lebanon.” He provides that Israel sees this first-ever declared assault from Iran as an escalation. Estrin studies the query now could be how Israel will respond. Some officers he spoke to say they need a powerful army response. Others see a diplomatic alternative to construct a strategic alliance within the area and even finish the struggle in Gaza.
• U.S. officers say President Biden has advised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. will present “ironclad” assist to assist Israel defend itself however won’t participate in offensive operations towards Iran, NPR’s Greg Myre studies from Washington. Myre says the U.S. would like Israel to see this as a “very successful operation” that proves Israel can defend itself with assist from its allies, and it ought to contemplate de-escalation.
• The House of Representatives is shifting its schedule this week to consider legislation supporting Israel in gentle of Iran’s assault.

For the primary time in American historical past, a former president is occurring trial as a felony defendant.Jury selection starts today in New York City for Donald Trump’s hush cash trial. At the middle of the trial are funds Trump’s then-attorney, Michael Cohen, made in 2016 to grownup movie star Stormy Daniels to forestall her from talking about an alleged affair with Trump. Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 out of his personal pocket. The former president’s felony costs stem from how he reimbursed Cohen. Trump has pleaded not responsible to 34 felony costs and says he’ll take the stand.

From our hosts

NPR’s Michel Martin interviewing filmmaker Kyra Knox about gun violence in Philadelphia on March 26.

HJ Mai/NPR

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HJ Mai/NPR

NPR’s Michel Martin interviewing filmmaker Kyra Knox about gun violence in Philadelphia on March 26.

HJ Mai/NPR

This essay was written by Michel Martin, Morning Edition and Up First host.

As a part of the We, The Voters sequence, NPR is bringing you tales of gun violence and its impression on communities all week.

What does it imply to stay in a spot wracked by gun violence?

A variety of tears.

That may appear apparent… however I’ve been doing this work a very long time and it is uncommon to go report a narrative and have nearly everybody you interview — women and men — cry sooner or later or need to compose themselves. This occurred again in 2018 after we took a workforce to Puerto Rico a yr after that devastating hurricane to report on how the territory was recovering —or not.

You’d be going alongside, asking folks how they have been and what they have been as much as, when sooner or later their eyes would fill they usually’d look away. Every time.

It occurred once more just a few weeks in the past after we have been touring round Pennsylvania reporting on how gun violence is affecting people’s lives and in addition our political conversations on this election yr.

We went to a bunch of locations: Philadelphia, Lancaster, Harrisburg. We talked to all types of individuals. Once once more, you would be speaking to somebody –a political chief, a trainer, a filmmaker, a mother, a dad, a coach—and they’d say, oh, yeah, my oldest daughter, my greatest pal, my son, my nephew, my neighbor, my cousin—was shot, was murdered, was hit in a drive by, took his personal life – with a gun.

Guns are woven into the material of American life. And they’re woven into the material of American dying. We have a snapshot of how individuals are eager about that in an enormous and consequential state that has performed an outsized position in our nation’s politics and will accomplish that once more. Through tears.

Picture present

Scientists Carly Biedul, Bonnie Baxter and Heidi Hoven search for migratory birds on the eerily dry south shore of the Great Salt Lake in Utah.

Lindsay D’Addato/for NPR

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Lindsay D’Addato/for NPR

Scientists Carly Biedul, Bonnie Baxter and Heidi Hoven search for migratory birds on the eerily dry south shore of the Great Salt Lake in Utah.

Lindsay D’Addato/for NPR

Utah’s Great Salt Lake, the biggest saline lake within the Western Hemisphere, reached peak water ranges within the Eighties. Since then, it has steadily dried as much as an alarming stage — a course of accelerated by megadrought and local weather change. The lake can also be dwelling to a vigorous ecosystem for migratory birds. A workforce of biologists has been monitoring these contradictions as state leaders begin paying consideration and taking motion.

See photographs of the lake and biologists at work.

3 issues to know earlier than you go

Conan O’Brien eats a hen wing throughout his Hot Ones interview.

Hot Ones/Screenshot by NPR

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Hot Ones/Screenshot by NPR

Conan O’Brien eats a hen wing throughout his Hot Ones interview.

Hot Ones/Screenshot by NPR

1. Is Conan O’Brien the most effective Hot Ones visitor ever? NPR’s Glen Weldon breaks down O’Brien’s viral appearance on the favored YouTube sequence, which options celebrities interviewed whereas they eat more and more spicy hen wings.
2. After Twitch streamer Kitboga realized folks have been profiting from his grandma, he determined to battle again by scamming the scammers. 
3. Kirsty Paterson’s portrayal of a sad-looking Oompa Loompa at Scotland’s disastrous Willy Wonka Experience took the web by storm. Now, she’s in LA utilizing her viral second to raise money for a psychological well being charity.

This e-newsletter was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi. Anandita Bhalerao contributed.