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Episode Date: August 2, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. President Trump's move to hire to rather fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics is raising concerns about political interference with how the government produces statistics to monitor the U.S. economy, as NPR's Hansi Lo Wang reports. President Trump ordered to cut short Erika McEntire for his term as commissioner of labor statistics hours after her statistical agency released numbers showing a slowdown in the job market. Many economists have feared uncertainty over Trump's push for more import taxes through his tariff policy would drive this shift.

In a statement, Friends of BLS, an advocacy group for the bureau chaired by two former commissioners, including one Trump nominated during his first term, says Trump's baseless claim of McIntarfer deliberately reporting false numbers, quote, undermines the credibility of federal economic statistics that are a cornerstone of intelligent economic decision making by businesses, families and policymakers, unquote. The group is calling for Congress to investigate what led to Macintyre first firing. Hansi Luang in Pure News, Washington. A week jobs report and President Trump's latest tariff announcement led to Wall Street's worst day since May. And although the White House remains optimistic prices

are rising, Prita Garza is a staff writer for Grist, an independent media outlet that covers climate change. She says coffee from Brazil will be subject to a 50% tariff. Prita Garza, The Tariffs on Brazil and other countries in coffee growing regions of the world are very likely to increase the price of coffee. Coffee is at a sort of historic high right now, and these tariffs are going to exacerbate that. Trump signed an order this week imposing steep tariffs on dozens of countries. They are to take effect August 7th. Rising deaths from hunger in Gaza prompted a visit to the territory by President

Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. They visited a U.S.-funded food distribution site that's overseen by Israel. It's run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, whose efforts to deliver aid have been marred by violence and controversy. As concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza continue to rise, a major U.S. Jewish organization donating funds for a group of Christians there, and Paris Jason DeRose has more. Peter Robinson The American Jewish Committee is giving $25,000 for the rehabilitation of Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza.

Holy Family is one of only two churches in the embattled enclave. The Jewish group is giving the money to the Archdiocese of New York, which will oversee the funds getting to the congregation. Scores of people, both Christians and Muslims, have been sheltering at Holy Family since the start of the war in Gaza. Multiple people have been killed there by snipers and shelling. The donation comes as a growing number of Jewish leaders in the US are expressing concerns about Israel's conduct of the war, especially the lack of food being allowed into Gaza. Jason Derose, NPR News.

Jason Derose This is NPR News. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting says it's winding down operations. The announcement follows President Trump's signature on that recession package Congress passed largely along party lines last month that takes back more than $1 billion in funding. The CPB is the conduit for federal funds to NPR, PBS, and member stations. The Scottish capital of Edinburgh's festival season is in full swing. Edinburgh's population nearly doubles for the month of August as artists and theatergoers visit for overlapping festivals including the Edinburgh International Festival, the Book Festival, Film Festival and the most popular one,

the Fringe Festival. MPR's Lauren Frayer reports from London. Fringe is where the Netflix stalker hit Baby Reindeer first originated. It's where Phoebe Waller-Bridge first performed her Fleabag show. And where the 90s percussion group Stomp got its start. It's called Fringe because it began nearly 80 years ago as unofficial alternative events on the fringe of the Edinburgh International Festival, which it's now eclipsed. There are more than 3,800 shows from more than 60 countries. Comedy, dance, avant-garde theater, even circus performers and cabaret acts. Organizers call it the world's largest performing arts festival. They typically

sell more than two and a half million tickets. Lauren Freyer, NPR News, London. Elon Musk's SpaceX has delivered four new crew members to the International Space Station. The astronauts from the U.S., Russia and Japan arrived early this morning aboard a SpaceX capsule less than 15 hours after liftoff from Florida. I'm Kyle Snyder. This is NPR News.