A New Phase of the War in Iran, and the Latest on the LaGuardia Plane Crash

0:00This podcast is supported by Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Here's a story that's not getting nearly enough attention. Defunding Planned Parenthood has already caused chaos and harm, and access to essential reproductive care is plummeting. Right now, the Trump administration's backers in Congress want to permanently defund Planned Parenthood, forcing even more health centers to close, and millions at risk of losing access to care. It takes less than a minute to help. Go to plannedparenthood.org slash defend and make a gift of any size. From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford.

0:37Today's Tuesday, March 24th. Here's what we're covering.

0:45In the Middle East. Now the missile attacks here reportedly caused extensive damage at oil facilities throughout the region. A recent wave of attacks on energy infrastructure has marked a new phase in the war. After Israel struck the South Pass gas field. Iran vowing to retaliate. And economists are raising the alarm that the damage to the global economy could be long term. Until now, much of the attention has been on the Strait of Hormuz, whether oil tankers and other ships can get in or out. The idea is if that's resolved, things will get flowing again. Fuel prices will come back down. But with targets like refineries and gas fields coming under fire, the effects could be felt for years.

1:28Let me explain to you how challenging the situation is. Yesterday, the head of the International Energy Agency said the war is the biggest threat to global energy security in history. At least 40, 40, energy assets in the region are severely or very severely damaged. One site that's been hit, for example, is a vast Qatari complex that produces roughly a fifth of the world's liquefied natural gas. That's used to heat homes, cook food and power factories across Asia and Europe. An official said it could take up to five years to repair. All the disruptions like that could continue to drive up global energy prices, and high energy prices tend to slow economic growth, increase unemployment, and speed up inflation.

2:15One energy consulting firm is now warning that oil, which was about$73 a barrel before the war and has now crossed$100, could climb to as high as$200 a barrel by the end of the year. If that happens, one expert told The Times, I couldn't fathom we would not start seeing economies fall into a recession. Meanwhile, there's been a slew of conflicting signals on how long the war could last and whether any more energy infrastructure could come under fire. President Trump declared yesterday that the U.S. and Iran had had what he called productive conversations. An Iranian parliamentary leader dismissed that as fake news.

2:56The Times has learned that while some messages have been going back and forth, U.S. officials say the negotiations have not been substantive, despite Trump's claims.

3:14Now, a few more quick updates on the Trump administration, from the Homeland Security shutdown to an extraordinary transfer of taxpayer dollars. First. It would have worked. We could have had TSA paid by the end of the week, but the president said no deal. There was almost a bipartisan agreement in the Senate over the DHS shutdown, but President Trump has nixed it. GOP Senator John Kennedy told Fox News that he and other Republicans were prepared to accept a deal from Democrats that would have funded all of DHS except ICE for now. But when the president was looped in, he quashed it. And I'm suggesting strongly to the Republican Party, don't make any deal on anything.

4:00The most important thing we can have is what's called the Save America Act. Don't make any deal on anything unless you include voter ID. Yesterday, Trump made clear he wants to leverage the funding standoff as a way to push his voter ID bill. Without a deal on DHS, TSA agents will continue to go unpaid, which has already caused widespread disruption to air travel in the U.S., as some passengers wait in hours-long security lines. On this vote. Also in the Senate. The ayes are 54, the nays are 45. The nomination of Mark Wayne Mullen of Oklahoma to be Secretary of Homeland Security is confirmed. Mark Wayne Mullen was confirmed as the next leader of DHS, taking over from Kristi Noem, who Trump fired after a string of controversies and national outrage over the killings of two U.S.

4:51citizens by federal immigration agents. All of that, combined with the ongoing shutdown, make it a tenuous time for Mullen to step into the role. In his confirmation hearing, he struck a less combative and more cooperative tone than his predecessor, but he's made clear he's committed to fulfilling Trump's promise to crack down on illegal immigration. And last update on the administration. The White House has struck an unusual deal with a French energy company. The U.S. is going to pay nearly$1 billion to Total Energies to abandon its plans to build wind farms off the East Coast. The company paid for leases under the Biden administration to build off New York and North Carolina.

5:32The U.S. will now reimburse it for that. In exchange, Total Energies is supposed to invest that money in oil and gas projects in the U.S. The deal is a remarkable transfer of taxpayer dollars to a foreign company for the purposes of boosting the production of fossil fuels while throttling a renewable energy source. Trump has railed against wind power for years, calling the projects ugly and claiming without evidence that they are, quote, driving whales crazy.

6:05In New York, a person briefed on the federal investigation into the deadly crash at LaGuardia on Sunday tells The Times that officials are looking into whether an air traffic controller there was distracted moments before the accident.

6:26Recordings from the control tower show that just before the crash, one of the controllers on duty was directing a fire truck to help with an issue on a separate flight. The controller gave the fire truck the go-ahead to cross the runway, just as an Air Canada flight was landing.

6:46One passenger on the flight told the Times she heard a loud grinding sound, which she thought was the pilot trying to brake before the crash. Then she was thrown forward and people started screaming. The force of the collision ejected one flight attendant, who was tossed from the plane and landed on the runway, still strapped to her seat. She was one of dozens of people who were injured. The two pilots on the plane both died in the crash. While the airport partially reopened yesterday, officials with the National Transportation Safety Board say it will still take time to finish sorting through the wreckage and fully clear it.

7:19The head of the NTSB says its investigation got off to a bit of a slow start yesterday, in part because some of its specialists, who were trying to fly in from around the country, were among those caught in long security lines.

7:38And finally. In Argentina, the Times has been reporting on how the country's national dance, tango, is being put to use as therapy. Specifically for patients with Parkinson's, the incurable disease that affects the central nervous system. Tango is known for its passion, its heart, and its precise movements. It's those specific steps that doctors at one hospital in Buenos Aires have found are extremely helpful for their patients dealing with balance and coordination issues. Tango involves a lot of going backwards, shifting weight from one foot to another. As one researcher who helped start the hospital's program put it, quote, tango uses the same kind of movements that people with Parkinson's disease tend to lose.

8:29The class encourages patients to use the tango moves they've learned to then help with everyday activities. For instance, opening the fridge is basically doing a sidestep. There's also a lot of torso rotation in tango, a key movement for something like washing the dishes. Dance therapy is used to treat other conditions as well in Argentina and beyond, like Alzheimer's or multiple sclerosis. In Buenos Aires, the program has been so transformative for some patient's sense of confidence that some people who walked in with canes ended up walking out of tango class without them. Those are the headlines.

9:08Today on The Daily, a look at how China made itself tariff-proof. You can listen to that in the New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.

9:26This podcast is supported by Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Here's a story that's not getting nearly enough attention. Defunding Planned Parenthood has already caused chaos and harm, and access to essential reproductive care is plummeting. Right now, the Trump administration's backers in Congress want to permanently defund Planned Parenthood, forcing even more health centers to close and millions at risk of losing access to care. It takes less than a minute to help. Go to plannedparenthood.org slash defend and make a gift of any size.