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This message comes from Capital One with the Venture X card. Earn unlimited double miles, a $300 annual capital one travel credit and access to airport lounges. Capital One what's IN your wallet? Terms apply. Details@capitalone.com Live from NPR News. In Washington, I'm Korva Coleman. U.S. attorney General Pam Bondi is out of her job. NPR's Ryan Lucas says President Trump announced the news yesterday.
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In a post online, Trump called Bondi a great American patriot and loyal friend who oversaw what he called a massive crackdown on crime. But Bondi had come under bipartisan criticism for a handling of the files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. She's also been pressed by Trump to aggressively go after the president's perceived political enemies. And under Bondi's leadership, the Justice Department has investigated and even prosecuted some of Trump's critics. But those cases have foundered in court or before grand juries. Now Bondi is out, and Trump says Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, a former personal lawyer for Trump, will take over leading the department for now on an acting basis. Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington.
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Iran continues to fire at neighboring countries, and it's damaged a desalination plant today in Kuwait. But Iran's state media have confirmed one of its own desalination plants is still fully out of service. Iran says it was hit by an airstrike. NPR's Julia Simon reports. Experts say attacks on plants that create fresh water are increasingly becoming a weapon of war.
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Desalination is the process of using electricity to separate seawater into a salty solution on one side and fresh water on the other. Across the Middle east, countries rely heavily on the process. Qatar and Bahrain get more than 90% of their drinking water from it. As climate change increases the severity of droughts, experts see desalination plants as a key adaptation tool. Since the recent war began, strikes have hit plants in Iran as well as Kuwait and Bahrain. Earlier this week, President Trump wrote on social media that the U.S. may strike more Iranian desalination plants. Civilian infrastructure sites, like water plants, are banned as targets by international law. Julia Simon, NPR News.
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The Pentagon and other defendants are appealing a federal judges ruling that temporarily blocks a federal Blacklist of the AI company Anthropic. NPR's John Ruich reports. There's a dispute over how the U.S. military can use AI.
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Anthropic says it does not want its AI used for autonomous weapons or mass surveillance of Americans. The Pentagon says it's up to the military to decide how to use the technology, not the company. It labeled Anthropic a supply chain risk. And President Trump ordered federal agencies to stop using its products. A federal judge in San Francisco last week ordered a preliminary injunction against the moves. She said the measures do not appear directed at the government's stated national security interests and instead looked like punishment. The Pentagon and other defendants argued in court that Anthropic's actions rendered it untrustworthy. John Ruich, NPR News.
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Wall street is closed today. This is for the Christian observance of Good Friday. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. The Labor Department says 178,000 new jobs were created in March. That's a lot larger than the 60,000 jobs that economists had predicted. President Trump Says Vice President J.D. vance is the new fraud czar. Writing online this morning, Trump says Vance will focus on taxpayer fraud in Democratic states. Trump is claiming if his effort is successful, he'll be able to balance the federal government budget. Trump also says raids have started in LA but didn't explain what he meant. Nearly all childhood cancer deaths occur in low and middle income countries, according to new research. NPR's Gabriela Emanuel reports. Sub Saharan Africa has some of the worst mortality rates and they're rising.
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Pediatric cancers are generally not preventable, but with good medical care, they are treatable. Still, in 2023, there were nearly 150,000 pediatric cancer deaths worldwide out of nearly 400,000 cases. Nikhil Bakhta of St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital co authored the study published in the Lancet. He says in the US the vast majority of children with cancer survive, but not in parts of Africa and asia.
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Less than 20% of children will survive that disparity. That gap is one of the largest in all of global health.
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That's because treating childhood cancer requires a well functioning medical system. He says this research demonstrates where health systems need bolstering. Gabriela Emanuel, NPR News.
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Again, Wall street is closed today in observance of Good Friday. I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News.
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