NPR News: 07-20-2026 8PM EDT

Ryland Barton· Host0:00

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have announced an embargo against Saudi Arabia. It comes in retaliation for a blockade on Yemen and a recent attack on Sana'a International Airport. The embargo affects the gateway to the Red Sea, as Saudi Arabia seeks an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz on the Persian Gulf side of the country, and that raises fears of further destabilization of the world's energy market, as Suzanne Maloney of the Brookings Institution explains.

Suzanne Maloney· Soundbite0:29

If you saw a closure of the Red Sea in addition to a closure of the Strait of Hormuz, at this point in the conflict, with strategic reserves having been drawn down as significantly as they have, and without a lot of opportunity during the, the ceasefire to, in fact, restore them, we would see potentially some overreaction from, uh, both oil markets and the broader economy in terms of inflation. So I think there's going to be a real time pressure.

Ryland Barton· Host0:54

The former leader of one of Mexico's most notorious drug cartels has been sentenced in a U.S. court to life in prison. Ismael Zambada Garcia, known as El Mayo, helped found the Sinaloa Cartel, along with Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. NPR's Ryan Lucas reports.

Ryan Lucas1:09

U.S. authorities arrested El Mayo Zambada in 2024. He pleaded guilty last year in federal court in Brooklyn to running a criminal enterprise and racketeering conspiracy. Now, U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan has sentenced El Mayo to life in prison. El Mayo's Sinaloa Cartel co-founder, El Chapo, is already serving a life sentence in a U.S. lockup.