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Pemco Mutual Insurance
This message comes from Pemco Mutual Insurance Company. Their mission is to help customers worry less and live more. So they're sharing prevention tips that empower you to prevent some of life's pitfalls before they happen. Visit pemco.com prevention live from NPR News in Washington.
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Korva Coleman
On Korva Coleman, stocks opened lower this morning as the Commerce Department reported higher than expected inflation last month. NPR Scott Horsley reports. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped about 290 points in early trading.
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Scott Horsley
Consumer prices in February were up two and a half percent from a year ago, according to the Commerce Department's inflation yardstick, which is closely watched by the Federal Reserve. Stripping out volatile food and energy prices, core inflation was 2.8%. That's a slightly larger annual increase than forecasters had expected, and that's before most of President Trump's threatened tariffs take effect. Consumer spending bounced back in February after a lackluster January. Personal spending rose 0.4% last month. Spending on durable goods was especially strong, while spending on services grew only slightly. Personal income was also up last month, and cautious consumers socked away a little bit more of that money. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.
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Korva Coleman
A major earthquake has hit central Myanmar and Thailand. The U.S. geological Survey says its magnitude was 7.7. Information is limited from Myanmar because it's run by a military junta, but images on social media show wide destruction in neighboring Thailand. Buildings have collapsed. The Thai government says at least three people have been killed in the city of Bangkok. Thai resident Paisan Lee Kit Pritchakul says he was in his apartment when the quake struck.
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Paisan Lee Kit Pritchakul
Suddenly I felt like dizzy, so I thought maybe something happening to my body. And then I came actually out into the hall, and then I saw the light that was swaying in a big way. And then I realized that it was an earthquake. So I sat down. And then it was shaking for something like a minute, which was quite scary because I have never experienced this in Bangkok before.
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Korva Coleman
He spoke to the BBC. The Israeli military says it launched airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Lebanon's health ministry says at least three people have been killed. The attacks included at least one strike in the southern suburbs of Lebanon's capital, Beirut. This is the first time it's happened there since a ceasefire took effect late last year. And NPR's Lauren Frayer has more from nearby Damascus.
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Lauren Frayer
Plumes of black smoke rose from Beirut's southern suburbs. The Israeli military says its target there was a drone depot used by Hezbollah. Umm Abbas was visiting her father in a hospital nearby when Israel warned people to evacuate the area. People are screaming left and right. People are crying, she told npr. Israel said it was retaliating for rocket fire toward northern Israel. Hezbollah denied firing that, saying it' committed to a ceasefire, which took effect in November. French President Emmanuel Macron said today's strikes violate that he was speaking alongside Lebanon's president who was visiting Paris. Lauren Frayer, NPR News, Damascus.
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Korva Coleman
On Wall street, the Dow is now down 260 points. You're listening to NPR. President Trump has signed an executive order calling for an end to, quote, divisive race centered ideology at Smithsonian museums, educational and research centers and the National Zoo. This blocks actions that do not divide Americans based on race. It is not clear how this action by President Trump will affect the Smithsonian Museums of African American History and Culture, the American Indian Museum and two museums that feature Asian art. Could a lightning strike have created life on Earth? NPR's Regina Barber reports on how Stanford University researchers are giving this old question some new energy.
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Regina Barber
In 1953, scientists Stanley Miller and Harold Urey filled a glass bulb with methane, water vapor, ammonia and other atmospheric gases and then zapped those gases with an electric spark. This reaction created amino acids, the chemical building blocks of life. That experiment made some scientists wonder if a bigger spark, like lightning could have started life on Earth. But lightning is rare, which is why other researchers favor different starting points, like hydrothermal vents or an asteroid enriched with organic material. But now a study in the journal Science Advances may have found a more common source of electricity called microlightning. These tiny sparks are produced when water droplets separate and get oppositely charged. Microlightning may occur all over nature, giving an old hypothesis new life. Regina Barber, NPR News.
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Korva Coleman
The National Weather Service says it has issued flash flood warnings for the tip of southern Texas. Forecasters say up to 10 inches of rain may have fallen. I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News.
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NPR News
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