Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton.

President Trump says in addition to Israel, his administration has been speaking to militant group Hezbollah as he tries to end the conflict in Lebanon.

They called us and they said, how about stopping?

And I think you're going to see things happen over there.

That's been like a little bit of a different

world, but it's interconnected with Iran. And it would be really nice if Lebanon could have some

peace. It's unusual for the U.S. to be talking with Hezbollah as it considers the Iran-alli

group to be a terrorist organization. The Israeli campaign in Lebanon has threatened Trump's efforts to end

the Iran War and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Hezbollah rejected the latest ceasefire agreement

between Israel and the Lebanese government and demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.

The Trump administration is announcing it's providing $700 million for the nation's coal industry.

As NPR's Julius Simon reports, the president invoked the Defense Production Act to keep dozens of coal plants open and build two new coal plants.

Trump says that projects in Alaska and West Virginia will be America's first new coal plants built since 2013.

And some of the $700 million would go to new coal export infrastructure. In his remarks from the Oval Office, Trump called

coal a, quote, clean energy source, but that is inaccurate. Burning coal releases pollutants

that cause smog and respiratory ailments.

Coal production also releases planet heating carbon dioxide and methane.

Trump also repeatedly said that coal energy is affordable, but now, according to financial

services firm Lazard, large-scale solar and wind projects are cheaper than energy from coal.

Julia Simon, NPR News.

The Dow surged nearly one in three quarters of a percent today, recovering from losses in the previous session,

but technology shares did not fare so well.

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