NPR News: 04-13-2026 5PM EDT

**Rylan Barton** (0:00)
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. President Trump says the US has begun a blockade of Iranian ports. He's trying to get Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz and accept a deal to end the war.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:12)
We can't let a country blackmail or extort the world, because that's what they're doing. They're really blackmailing the world. We're not going to let that happen.

**Rylan Barton** (0:22)
Iran responded with threats on US allied ports in the region that poses serious risks for the global economy and the nearly week-long ceasefire. The Lebanese Red Cross is accusing Israel of directly targeting one of its ambulance teams in an attack yesterday that killed one paramedic and wounded another. Lebanon's government says at least 87 health workers have been killed in Israeli attacks during this current invasion. Israel has accused Hezbollah of transporting weapons in ambulances. NPR's Lauren Frayer reports.

**Lauren Frayer** (0:51)
The Lebanese Red Cross says its paramedic Hassan Badawi suffered a direct strike by an Israeli drone while carrying out his humanitarian duty during an emergency response mission in Bint Jibail near the Israeli border. The area has been under invasion by Israel, which calls it a Hezbollah stronghold. The Red Cross notifies the Israeli military via United Nations peacekeepers whenever it sends out an ambulance team. Lebanon's health ministry called Badawi's killing a violation of international humanitarian law. Human rights groups call Israel's repeated killing of medics here a war crime. Israel says it abides by the law, but sometimes revokes legal protections for health workers if they misuse their role. Lauren Freyer, NPR News, Beirut.

**Rylan Barton** (1:34)
A federal judge has dismissed President Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal. Trump sued over an article about a bawdy birthday greeting two decades ago to the late and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. NPR's David Folkenflick reports.

**David Folkenflick** (1:49)
The journal reported the greeting was part of a celebratory book put together in 2003 for Epstein's 50th birthday by his girlfriend, Shilane Maxwell. Trump said it was fake and sued as a private citizen, though the Murdochs are his political allies. US. District Court Judge Darren Gales wrote that Trump had failed to allege sufficiently that the journal had acted with what's called actual malice, either knowledge of story is or failure to seek the truth. Gales found the journal had made numerous efforts to verify its reporting and included Trump's denial. The judge left the door open to Trump refiling the suit, however, and a spokesperson for his legal team tells NPR, it will do just that. David Folkenflick, NPR News.

**Rylan Barton** (2:26)
It was announced today that for that very article, the White House Correspondence Association has awarded the Wall Street Journal this year's Catherine Graham Award for Courage and Accountability. More than a thousand movie stars, writers, and directors declared their unequivocal opposition to the proposed Paramount merger with Warner Brothers Discovery In an open letter, a large swath of the industry came out against the $111 billion deal that would consolidate the two legacy studios, arguing it would reduce jobs in an already downsized Hollywood. This is NPR News.
Hungarian election winner Petr Magyar says he would talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin, but won't initiate contact. He defeated Putin ally Viktor Orban yesterday. Magyar says he will ask Putin to end the killing in Ukraine and plans to review Hungary's Russian energy contracts. The housing market remained sluggish in March. Existing home sales fell 1% compared to a year ago. According to the National Association of Realtors, NPR's Stephen Basaha reports the association is expecting the housing slump to continue.

**Stephen Basaha** (3:33)
The NAR is revising its housing forecast down for the year. That's because the war with Iran has raised the cost of borrowing, and that sent mortgage rates up. The association went from rejecting a double-digit increase in existing home sales to just 4%. New home sales are projected to be flat. The NAR says lower consumer confidence and softer job growth are also keeping buyers out of the market. Home prices also hit a record high for March. The median existing home sale was a bit less than $410,000.
But the NAR says housing is actually getting more affordable since wages are growing faster than prices. Stephen Basaha, NPR News.

**Rylan Barton** (4:15)
The faith-based AI market is expanding with tools for various religions. There's an AI Jesus that, for $1.99 a minute, will offer words of prayer and encouragement. Many people are reckoning with how these technologies shape their relationships to faith and spiritual guidance. Some worry about AI's potential to exploit religious users while others see it as a tool for spiritual exploration. This is NPR News.