NPR News Now - NPR News: 07-09-2025 3PM EDT

Episode Date: July 9, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Trump's targeting more countries with new tariff rates. We're going to have a couple of more coming out today. Brazil as an example has been not good to us, not good at all. We're going to be releasing a Brazil number I think later on this afternoon or tomorrow morning. Earlier today, Trump announced tariff rates ranging from 20 to 30 percent on half a dozen nations.

The highest is being imposed on Algeria, Iraq, and Libya. The death toll in Texas continues to climb following the devastating July 4th floods. Kerr County officials say 95 people, including 36 children, are confirmed dead in that part of the state alone. More than 160 individuals are still unaccounted for. Texas Public Radio's Maria Navarro reports. Officials are working with local organizations and state agencies in the search, recovery and identification process.

Kerr County Sheriff Larry Letha continues to emphasize that the county will look at the initial response to the flooding at a later time. As with other significant events that our emergencies services encounter, this incident will be reviewed. You have my word. When or if necessary, if improvements need to be made, improvements will be made. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has said the state will provide resources to fund alert systems currently used in other Texas communities. Texas Governor

Greg Abbott said on Tuesday that flood assistance would be a priority in the upcoming special legislative session. I'm Marianne Navarro in San Antonio. Confusion remains over the state of U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine. President Trump has said it would be sending additional weapons to Ukraine after a pause by the Pentagon, but it's unclear which weapons will be sent and what might still be on hold. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Air Force says Russia launched another record number of drones at Ukraine as well as missiles targeting the far western region near Poland. Russia has been stepping up airstrikes on Ukrainian cities in the last few months. There's news today of a big transatlantic

drug deal. NPR's Scott Horsley reports it involves a maker of a big transatlantic drug deal. NPR's Scott Horsley reports it involves a maker of a new medicine for treating COPD. Pharmaceutical giant Merck says it's buying a British drug company, Verona Pharma, in a deal that Merck values at about 10 billion dollars. The acquisition gives Merck control of Verona's drug for treating pulmonary disease, which was approved by the FDA last year. Delta Airlines is set to report earnings tomorrow, and forecasters expect the company's profits will be flying a bit lower than last year. Delta, like other airlines, has trimmed its flight schedules as cautious consumers dial

back their travel plans. A federal appeals court has blocked a new FTC rule that was supposed to make it easier for people to cancel unwanted subscriptions. The so-called click-to-cancel rule was set to take effect on Monday. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. U.S. stocks are trading higher this hour. The Dow is up 183 points. From Washington, this is NPR News. A new study has identified more than 16,000 chemicals in plastic, many of which are considered chemicals of concern because of the risks to human health.

And Piers Wollstone has more on the findings. Even though plastic is pervasive in our lives, there are still major gaps in our understanding of their chemical composition. The team of scientists based in Norway and Switzerland did a comprehensive review and identified more than 4200 chemicals of concern. Bisphenols, phthalates, and PFAS or Forever chemicals are just a few examples. Those can show up everywhere from toys to food packaging to tires. The results were published in the journal Nature.

The authors report the sheer number of chemicals is far beyond what governments and manufacturers can study to ensure their safety. In fact, nearly 11,000 of the 16,000 chemicals identified lack official hazard classifications. The authors say many of these harmful chemicals can be replaced with safer alternatives. Will Stone, NPR News. A $50,000 reward still stands for tips leading to the last remaining... leading to the capture of the last remaining fugitive from May's New Orleans jailbreak. Authorities say Derek Groves was convicted last year of killing two people and faced

life in prison, according to the Associated Press. But due to administrative delays, he was kept in jail for years rather than a more secure prison facility. Veteran ad executive Linda Iaccarino is still stepping down as the CEO of Elon Musk's company X. In a message posted on the social media platform today, Iaccarino wrote, quote, the best is yet to come. This is NPR.