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Episode Date: July 27, 2026

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Libby Casey. There has been a pause in attacks between the U.S. and Iran over the weekend. The U.S. says the halt is giving space for potential negotiations. NPR's Jane Arraf has more. The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Mike Walts, told NBC the pause is meant to give, quote, talks, some space. Iran was a bit more reticent. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Bahrahi said mediators were exchanging messages. But there were no negotiations with the U.S. going on, and Iran had not requested a return to talks.

And while Iran has paused attacks in Jordan and the Gulf, most of them aimed at U.S. bases, its Yemeni allies have not. Yemen's Houthi rebels said they struck Saudi oil assets over the weekend to reinforce their control over a second shipping lane. Babam-Mendeb. Jane Arraf, NPR News, Amman. have nominated Troy Jackson as their candidate for U.S. Senate. Jackson is a longtime state lawmaker who served as president of the Maine Senate and a former logger. He was picked in a Democratic convention process this weekend to replace Graham Platner, who dropped out of the Senate race

after facing rape allegations, which he denies. Maine Public's Steve Missler says Jackson was able to consolidate support because his politics mirror Platiners. He's a progressive Democrat who embraces the tax the rich Medicare for all platform of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. In fact, Sanders endorsed both Platner and Jackson and the three of them campaign together. And their message really seemed to energize the Democratic base here and even pulled a lot of independence. Jackson will face incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins, who's running for her sixth term. The Senate is in town for one more week before a long August recess, and the Republican majority has a lot on the agenda. Much of it needs Democratic.

Democratic support to pass. NPR's congressional reporter Eric McDaniel has details. Funding to keep the federal government open past the November elections after two record-setting shutdowns since Trump took office, $1 trillion $100 billion in Pentagon cash. The chamber's de facto 60 vote threshold to pass most legislation means that the 53 Republican senators will need a hand from at least some Democrats to get the bills across the finish line. Democrats aren't eager, either to grant more money for Trump's immigration enforcement agenda or his unpopular war in Iran, one that's never been approved by Congress as the Constitution requires. And Trump's pick for Director of National Intelligence, Jay Clayton, came into the confirmation process with a tailwind. He expected bipartisan support, but his equivocation

on Trump's 2020 election conspiracy theories are Democrats. Republicans can confirm him on a party-line vote, though. Eric McDaniel, NPR News, Washington. Shares of Chinese chipmaker CXMT soared in their Shanghai trading debut, making in the most valuable China-listed company. Its chips are used in AI servers and consumer electronics, such as smartphones. This This is NPR News live in Washington. A recent study in JAMA pediatrics finds that one in five teens and young adults are turning to AI chatbots for mental health advice,

up by 40% since the past year. But mental health care experts say that these chatbots can pose risks to vulnerable individuals, especially those in suicidal crisis. NPR's Ritu Chatterjee reports. General use chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini one design for mental health support, but people are turning to them anyway, even in the midst of serious mental health crises. There have been several cases where vulnerable individuals have died

by suicide after prolonged interactions with chatbots. While chatbots are a convenient source of support, connection to other humans is what protects people from suicide, says psychologist Ursula Whiteside. She runs a suicide prevention non-profit called Now Matters Now. If I'm with other people, I'm less likely to kill myself. If I'm building a relationship. I'm less likely to kill myself. Beath U.S.R. News. The Pentagon has changed how it's reporting American Iran war deaths, making it more difficult to account for the war's toll. The four troops killed during recent renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran are no longer listed as part of the Iran war death toll on the Pentagon website.

Instead, they've been replaced, and they've been placed, rather, in a new separate category called overseas operations. That means tallying war casualties requires looking at separate lists. France's president Emmanuel Macron has called a crisis meeting as uncontrolled wildfires rage in his country. More than 250,000 people have been forced to flee their homes. I'm Libby Casey. This is NPR News in Washington.