Lebanon-Israel Ceasefire, Hegseth On Blockade, Trump Nominates New CDC Director

A ten day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon is now in effect. But Israel is occupying Southern Lebanon and says it's not leaving, and Hezbollah wasn't part of the deal and says it has the right to resist. So how will the ceasefire work? I'm Leila Fauldin. That's A. Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News. Defense secretary Pete Hegseth warned Iran that The US is reloading its weapons in case they don't agree to a deal. And he compared reporters covering the war to the enemies of Jesus in the Bible. I sat there in church and I thought, our press are just like these Pharisees. And president Trump nominated doctor Erica Schwartz to lead the CDC. The agency has been struggling under budget cuts. So who's the new director and what is she walking into? Stay with us. We've got news you need to start your day. This week on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, we asked comedy legend Robert Smigel about the moment he first knew he was funny. When I was like four or five, I could draw really well. So I could draw Fred Flintstone and Snoopy. And then probably a couple years later, I started drawing them having sex. Listen to the Wait Wait Don't Tell Me podcast in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. It's the first day of a ten day ceasefire to pause the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. President Trump announced the deal Thursday afternoon on social media after he had separate phone calls with leaders of both countries. We're joined now by NPR's Kat Lonsdorf in Beirut. Kat, still up pretty early in this ceasefire. How's it going so far? Yeah. Well, it so far, it seems to be holding. The ceasefire went into effect at midnight here last night, so we're really just settling into the first full day. In the hours before, there was a barrage of attacks from both sides. Israel carried out a wave of air strikes in Lebanon South. Hezbollah fired several rockets into Northern Israel. But since then, things have been relatively quiet. In terms of how people are feeling, there is a little hope. You know, a ceasefire is always welcome in war. But people also realize this is temporary, so it's a cautious optimism. Yeah. And we just heard Leila say that, president Trump announced a ceasefire yesterday after a phone call with the leaders of both, Israel and Lebanon. But here's the thing Yeah. Hezbollah was not involved in the discussions of the ceasefire. So, I mean, how does that gonna work? Yeah. Hezbollah is the Iran backed militia that operates in Lebanon. It kicked off this latest round of fighting by firing rockets into Israel in early March. It's a legitimate part of Lebanon's government with several seats in parliament, but its military wing often operates independently of the state. Hezbollah has been very against direct talks between Israel and Lebanon, and …