Hegseth Says War Will Go On ‘Until We Decide,’ and a Tariff Refund Update

0:00This podcast is supported by USA for UNHCR, a dire new report from the UN Refugee agency. As the numbers of people fleeing war escalate, funding shortages have left them without the basics to survive. The impact is devastating. Families who've lost everything now struggle in overcrowded camps without food, water or shelter. Your gift can rush clean water, hygiene kits and shelter materials within 72 hours of an emergency. Donate at unrefugees.org slash headlines. From The New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Thursday, March 5th. Here's what we're covering.

0:44Less than a week into the war with Iran. New polling shows most Americans disapprove of the attacks. In the Senate, Republicans have blocked an effort to limit President Trump's war powers. And the conflict is spreading beyond the Middle East. To start, a CNN poll conducted immediately after the strikes shows about 60 percent of Americans opposed the military action. The Washington Post and Reuters Ipsos found similar results. Breaking it down by party, all three polls showed that Democrats were nearly universally opposed, while Republicans were generally supportive. In the Senate. We are at war.

1:26We are at war having had no national debate over whether we should enter into war. Democrats pushed for a measure that would have limited Trump's ability to continue attacking Iran without congressional authorization. But. President Trump decided to attack Iran. That decision was profound, deliberate and correct. Republicans blocked it. The yeas are 47. The nays are 53. The motion to discharge is not approved. The House is expected to vote on a similar measure today. It is also expected to fail. Meanwhile, more and more countries are finding themselves entangled in the conflict. Yesterday, an American submarine struck an Iranian Navy ship off the coast of Sri Lanka, more than 2 ,000 miles from Tehran.

2:15It was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said it was the first time the U.S. had sunk an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II. And he vowed that the U.S. and Israel would not let up in their attacks. Every minute of every day until we decide it's over. At the same time, NATO air defenses shot down an Iranian missile yesterday heading toward Turkish airspace. Iran has denied it. But an attack on Turkey, which is a member of NATO, could activate NATO's mutual defense clause, potentially drawing all of the alliance's 32 member countries into the war. Britain and France have already announced they're deploying their navies and air forces to help repel Iranian attacks.

3:02And in the Gulf, multiple countries have reported new strikes. Over the last few days, we've seen, you know, five-star hotels catch fire in Dubai. You know, we've seen major global airports shut down because they've been targeted by Iranian missiles and drones. We've seen people fleeing through the land borders of countries that have long been safe, like the UAE and Qatar, trying to find any escape route. Vivian Neerheim is the Times Gulf Bureau chief. Iranian officials say that the reason they've been shooting these, you know, hundreds of missiles and drones at the Gulf countries is because they host these American military bases, right?

3:39And they claim that they're only targeting American military installations, American embassies, American soldiers. Of course, on the ground, what we're seeing is a bit wider. And it's hard to speculate about what the motivation is. But it's undeniable that by spraying missiles and drones all over the Gulf, which is this incredibly important node in the global economy, the Iranian government is raising the cost of the war for President Trump. And while they have really kind of robust air defense systems supplied by the United States and European countries, no one's air defense systems are perfect in dealing with drones.

4:13One thing to note, in a drone-heavy conflict like this one, the math is not necessarily on America's side. Iran is using thousands of low-cost drones for precision attacks. Some of them can travel as much as 1 ,200 miles before crashing into a target and detonating. They're built with off-the-shelf commercial electronics at a price of about$20 ,000 to$50 ,000, according to one defense analyst. But the air defense systems trying to stop them can cost billions. For example, the gold standard, the Patriot Air Defense System, uses interceptors that can cost more than$3 million per shot. And so, as attack drones become more common in war, the cost of defending against them could become unsustainable over time.

5:10Now, three more updates on the Trump administration. Together, we are taking decisive action to confront narco-terrorists who have long inflicted terror, violence and corruption on citizens throughout the hemisphere. The U.S. announced this week that it's launched joint military operations with Ecuador. According to a U.S. official, U.S. special forces are providing intelligence and logistics support to the Ecuadorian military so it can carry out raids against suspected drug traffickers. In the last decade, violent gangs have thrived in Ecuador, turning it into the world's largest exporter of cocaine.

5:46As much as 70 percent of the global supply of the drug flows through the country. Ecuador's joint operation with the U.S. marks the extension of Trump's campaign against alleged drug traffickers at sea. Since September, the U.S. has blown up dozens of boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific. Also, the House Oversight Committee has voted to compel Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify about how she has handled the Epstein investigation. A handful of Republicans crossed party lines to join Democrats in pushing to subpoena her. a rare congressional rebuke of a Trump administration official. Lawmakers of both parties have accused Bondi of slow-walking the release of files related to the convicted sex offender and illegally withholding materials after Congress passed a law requiring their release.

6:37She'll likely also face questions about whether her department compromised or exposed victims when it posted dozens of unredacted images of nude women from the files, some of whom may have been teenagers. And last update, a federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to take the first steps toward issuing more than a billion dollars in tariff refunds. It follows the Supreme Court's ruling that struck down many of Trump's tariffs. The justices left it to lower courts to figure out how refunds should be handled. The Trump administration, however, has argued that refunding businesses would create a fiscal crisis for the U.S.

7:16and is likely to appeal this order. Trump has also been looking to put many tariffs back in place using different legal authorities.

7:27A new study out this week shows that nearly half of all colorectal cancer cases now occur in adults under 65. It's a major shift in the demographics of the disease, which had been thought of, as one scientist said, as grandpa's disease. The data was published by the American Cancer Society. Researchers have also observed how the risk is going up with each generation. People born in 1990 are twice as likely to develop colon cancer than those born in 1950, and four times as likely to develop rectal cancer. The findings suggest that there may be unique drivers of the disease in younger generations.

8:08For example, scientists think environmental exposures that started around the 1950s may be partially responsible. There's a lot of ongoing research about how ultra-processed foods, microplastics, and antibiotics may have changed people's gut biome. In a bright spot, for people who are 65 and older, colorectal cancer rates have been steadily declining for decades, thanks in part to widespread screening that can catch precancerous polyps. Doctors recommend routine screening starting at age 45 for people who are at average risk.

8:45And finally, people are actively trying to outsource all kinds of things to AI, writing their cover letters, planning their vacations. But whatever you do, don't use it to file your taxes. The Times tested four AI chatbots, Gemini from Google, ChatGPT, Claude from Anthropic, and Grok from Elon Musk's AI company. My colleagues gave them eight fictional tax situations pulled from training materials for a tax filing service. And they struggled. They miscalculated the refund or the amount owed by an average of more than$2 ,000. Even when they were given all the necessary materials, the chatbots just whiffed on some calculations.

9:30The problem comes down to how chatbots are designed. They're not good at remembering a lot of interconnected information, like all the details of your W-2 plus your mortgage plus whether you have kids. Errors sneak into their calculations along the way. And on taxes, a few errors can really add up. Now, to give the bots a break, the American tax code is incredibly complicated and can be very confusing. Humans also make mistakes. The safest thing, experts say, if you want to use AI is to use it like a tool. Ask it simple questions. Remember what you're dealing with. It is not built for precision, which is kind of important for taxes.

10:18Those are the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow with the latest and the Friday News Quiz.

10:29Thank you.