Lebanon-Israel Ceasefire, Hegseth On Blockade, Trump Nominates New CDC Director
Up First from NPR
NPR
4.6 • 59K Ratings
🗓️ 17 April 2026
⏱️ 12 minutes
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Summary
The U.S. naval blockade on Iran is firmly in place as Defense Secretary Hegseth compared reporters covering the war to the enemies of Jesus in the Bible, part of a pattern of religious language from the Pentagon that is raising eyebrows.
And President Trump has nominated Dr. Erica Schwartz to lead the CDC after nearly a year without a confirmed director, as the agency has been struggling under budget cuts and a loss of public trust.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Ruth Sherlock, Andrew Sussman, Kris Husted, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Lindsay Totty.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia Dumas.
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(0:00) Introduction
(01:54) Lebanon-Israel Ceasefire
(05:34) Hegseth On Blockade
(09:46) Trump Nominates New CDC Director
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | A 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon is now in effect. |
| 0:06.3 | But Israel is occupying southern Lebanon and says it's not leaving. |
| 0:09.6 | And Hezbollah wasn't part of the deal and says it has the right to resist. |
| 0:13.4 | So how will the ceasefire work? |
| 0:14.8 | I'm Leila Falded. |
| 0:15.7 | That's A. Martinez. |
| 0:16.6 | And this is up first from NPR News. |
| 0:20.9 | Defense Secretary Pete Hegsef warned Iran that the U.S. is reloading its weapons in |
| 0:25.6 | case they don't agree to a deal. And he compared reporters covering the war to the enemies of |
| 0:30.5 | Jesus in the Bible. |
| 0:31.5 | I sat there in church and I thought, our press are just like these Pharisees. |
| 0:37.1 | And President Trump nominated a Dr. Erica Schwartz to lead the CDC. |
| 0:40.9 | The agency has been struggling under budget cuts. |
| 0:43.4 | So who's the new director? |
| 0:44.5 | And what is she walking into? |
| 0:46.3 | Stay with us. |
| 0:46.9 | We've got news you need to start your day. |
| 0:53.9 | It's the first day of a 10-day ceasefire to pause the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. |
| 1:00.0 | President Trump announced the deal Thursday afternoon on social media after he had separate phone calls with leaders of both countries. |
| 1:07.4 | We're joined now by NPR's Kat Lonsdorf in Beirut. |
| 1:10.8 | Kat's still up pretty early in this ceasefire. |
| 1:13.5 | How's it going so far? Yeah, well, so far it seems to be holding. The ceasefire went into |
... |
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