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Today's top stories
Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels say they plan to blockade the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait, a crucial route for Saudi Arabia's oil exports on the Red Sea. The waterway currently allows Saudi Arabia to export millions of barrels of oil per day. The Houthis' announcement comes as tensions in the region are already shaken by 10 days of fire exchanged between the U.S. and Iran as they try to assert control over the effectively closed Strait of Hormuz. A blockade of the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait could disrupt energy markets and drive up energy prices.
- 🎧 A Houthi blockade could put to the test the unity of Gulf states in their stance against the Houthis and Iran, as well as energy supply chains, NPR's Emily Feng tells Up First. Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries are actively pursuing overland pipeline projects to transport oil and reduce reliance on maritime routes, but construction could take years. Feng says there are still diplomatic efforts to revive a temporary ceasefire. This week, Iran's foreign minister said ending the war is possible "through total military victory or through negotiations."
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee today, as the White House seeks nearly $90 billion in funding, mostly for military operations in Iran. Lawmakers will have the rare opportunity to grill him about the conflict, especially since the Pentagon hasn't updated the press since May. The meeting coincides with President Trump's visit to Dover, Maryland, to recover the bodies of two soldiers who were killed in Jordan last Friday.
- 🎧 The Defense Department has been slow to share information on casualties, a U.S. military official not authorized to speak publicly confirmed to NPR. A hundred servicemembers have been injured in the last two weeks, a Pentagon spokesperson said this week. Concerns in Congress are mounting over the rapid depletion of U.S. munitions, an issue likely to be raised to Hegseth today, NPR's Quil Lawrence says. The Pentagon's inadequate communication has tarnished trust and credibility among the American public, Congress and crucial regional allies who are facing Iranian attacks, three former military officials tell Lawrence.
The source of the Cyclospora illness outbreak remains unknown, but the Food and Drug Administration continues to recommend that consumers avoid iceberg lettuce grown or processed by Taylor Farms in Mexico. This is despite its announcement that a prior test falsely identified the Cyclospora parasite in a lettuce sample from the company. The FDA announced on social media that the false-positive lab sample doesn't affect its ongoing outbreak investigation or the strong data supporting Taylor Farms' current voluntary recall. There are more than 1,600 confirmed cases of diarrhea linked to the parasite, with a growing number of suspected cases in the thousands.
Life advice
Living in a small space doesn't mean you have to sacrifice comfort and style. With some clever planning, you can transform your home while staying within your budget and without making your landlord anxious. Interior designers have shared some creative strategies with Life Kit to help you develop the illusion of space — perfect for renters and those with a small budget.
- 🛋️ Free up your floor space by finding multipurpose furniture. For example, instead of having a table, a bench and a coat rack, look for a piece that can do all three.
- 🛋️ Leave 18 to 24 inches of walking space behind your couch, side table, or armchairs to create an illusion of depth.
- 🛋️ Hang your curtains slightly higher and wider than the window frame to make your room look taller and wider.
For additional guidance on how to make your small space feel bigger, listen to this episode of NPR's Life Kit. Subscribe to the Life Kit newsletter for expert advice on love, money, relationships and more.
Behind the story
by Emmet Livingstone, freelance reporter
Ituri, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, is a remote province of forests, green hills and gold mines where weak state institutions and decades of armed conflict have displaced nearly 900,000 people.
Then Ebola struck.
The outbreak was declared on May 15 after the virus spread from the mining town of Mongbwalu, where it may have circulated for months.
Photographer Arsène Mpiana and I left Kinshasa, the Congolese capital, and traveled to Bunia, in Ituri province, with some trepidation. There's no cure for the species of Ebola circulating, and some locals have attacked health workers, suspicious of their motives.
The scale of this crisis is impossible to miss. A man vomited blood and died in the street near our hotel in Bunia, hours after we arrived. People took care not to shake hands, since Ebola is spread through touch. Hospitals there were overwhelmed, and many families lacked running water or space to isolate sick relatives.
Although many of the tensions I'd read about before arriving were muted, they were still noticeable. Mongbwalu, a gold-mining town at the center of the outbreak, sits three hours from Bunia on a road studded with checkpoints. Many people were reluctant to speak, as if the virus were taboo.
But there was no hiding the impact of the virus. The town's only hospital hummed with ambulances, burial teams and a steady stream of patients.
What struck me most is how hard it is for people to protect themselves. Many share a single room, without running water. Medical workers looked exhausted, and aid workers all agreed this was only the beginning.
3 things to know before you go
- The growing nostalgia trend, fueled by trend cycles, childhood memories and smartphone fatigue, is driving up digital camera sales.
- A federal judge has issued a 14-day temporary restraining order to halt the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger.
- Troy Jackson has appeared to secure enough support to win the Democratic nomination in Maine's closely watched U.S. Senate race against Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins. The nomination process concludes on Saturday. (via Maine Public)
This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.
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