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Episode Date: July 2, 2026

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korova Coleman. People are pouring over President Trump's financial disclosure form released only this week. It's nearly a thousand pages long. It says Trump and his family took in more than $1 billion last year, and about half of that came from his family's interests in cryptocurrency. Trump says he doesn't personally handle his own investments and says that means he doesn't have any conflicts of interest. But NPR's Linda Kenyon says Trump's critics disagreed. Congressman Jason Crowe called the president's crypto earnings another example of what he termed grift and corruption. The Colorado Democrat also pointed out that Trump on Wednesday was taking his first flight on a brand new Air Force won a gift from a foreign government. Carter valued it
Starting point is 00:00:46 more than $400 million and will stay in the Trump realm when he leaves office. The White House says the aircraft will be a donation to Trump's presidential library. NPR's Linda Kenyon reporting. Nearly 143 million people are under extreme heat warnings today. The cautions reach from eastern Kansas to New England and farther south from Arkansas to Alabama. Steve Kastenbaum reports from New York on the effects there of the high heat. The high heat is already causing a strain on the power grid in the northeast. In New York, the utility company reduced voltage in some neighborhoods. Mayor Zeran Mamdani.
Starting point is 00:01:22 We are talking about a level of heat that this city has not seen in more than a decade. The heat wave coincides with major events that are expected to draw out millions of people over the next few days, including two parades of tall ships and naval vessels. We will also host the Macy's Fourth of July fireworks on the evening of Saturday, July 4th. To cap off the weekend, the Brazil versus Norway FIFA World Cup match will take place on the afternoon of Sunday, July 5th. Hundreds of cooling centers and drinking water stations have been open to the public. For NPR news, I'm Steve Kastenbaum in New York. The Trump administration has lifted export restrictions on two of Anthropic's newest artificial intelligence models. Anthropic has agreed to give the government early access to new cutting-edge AI models.
Starting point is 00:02:09 And NPR's John Rewich tells us it will also hand over intelligence on threats. Anthropic took Mythos 5 and Fable 5 offline earlier this month after the administration imposed export controls on them on national security grounds that would have effectively banned foreigners from using them. Now, after weeks of negotiations, Anthropics says the Commerce Department has lifted the export ban. In a statement, Anthropics says it addressed the initial cybersecurity concern that sparked the export controls. It says, going forward, it will give the government pre-release access to frontier models that advance capabilities relevant to national security.
Starting point is 00:02:48 It will also share threat intelligence and scale up work with the government on AI security. John Rewich, NPR News. And you're listening to NPR News from Washington. Officials in Qatar say they hosted separate meetings with envoys from the U.S. and Iran. The U.S. and Iranian envoys did not hold direct talks. Qatar says there was positive progress in the discussions and says the next meeting will come quickly. Iran first wants to hold a funeral for former Supreme Leader Ayatoll Ali Hamenei. Israel assassinated him on the first day of the war.
Starting point is 00:03:23 Russia is firing at Ukraine and at its capital, Kiev. Ukrainian officials say that overnight, hundreds of Russian drones and dozens of missiles have killed at least 13 people and wounded scores of others. Ukrainians have been sheltering in subway stations and in bomb shelters. Meanwhile, a majority of Russians are feeling pessimistic about their country's economic future. That's the finding from a new poll, as NPR's Charles Maines reports from Moscow. The findings come from a Gallup public opinion survey done in April and May of this year. It found a solid majority of Russians, 60 percent, don't feel optimistic about the economy
Starting point is 00:04:03 compared to just over a quarter who thought life was getting better. That marks the highest decline in Russian's economic confidence in 20 years, says Gallup. The findings come as Russia's economy has shown signs of slowing down as the conflict in Ukraine grinds through its fifth year. Meanwhile, some argue Russian dissatisfaction is underrepresented in Gallup, and other surveys. Critics of polling in Russia have long argued that laws criminalizing criticism of the government or the war skewed the number of responses in favor of state policies. Charles Mainz, NPR News, Moscow. And I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News in Washington.

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