NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-03-2025 6AM EDT

Episode Date: August 3, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jaiil Snyder. President Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, was in Israel this weekend where he met with family members of hostages still being held by Hamas. Following the meeting, Ruby Chen, the father of one of the hostages, said he believes Witkoff is on their side. We feel that Mr. Witkoff is very much with the families. He feels us, he understands us, and he said that he's going back to Washington, where he will share these stories with the president himself. A statement from hostage families quotes Wittkopf as saying an end to the war between Israel

and Hamas is very close. However, Hamas has repeatedly said it will not lay down its weapons, and the group said this weekend that it would not relinquish them until a Palestinian state is established. Those wildfires burning in Canada leading to air quality concerns in the U.S. parts of the Midwest as well as upstate New York and northern New England remain under air quality alerts for smoke. Danny Van Cleave is the National Weather Service meteorologist in Milwaukee. Based on the latest forecast models there's really not going to be anything to push this smoke out of here over the next day or two. So we would probably expect it to hang on through at least the early part of the week. Last week, a busy week for economic news, ending with that weaker than expected jobs

report, showing the country added just 73,000 jobs last month and that job creation was weaker in May and June than previously reported. The jobs reports and President Trump's latest terror fraud outlet, Wall Street, to fall the most since May. Here's in Pierce Maria Aspen. For the typical worker, slow hiring is obviously not good. And for consumers, we're looking at higher prices. We already saw consumer prices rising last month, according to government for consumers, we're looking at higher prices. We already saw consumer

prices rising last month, according to government data, and we're seeing more big companies warning that tariffs are eating into their financial results. That will eventually trickle down to the prices they charge us for their products. We just don't know how much and when. Major portions of the European Union's new legislation governing artificial intelligence have now come into force. And here's Terri Schulz reporting. A year after the EU's AI Act went into effect, the next stage in implementing the landmark

legislation began Saturday. The act is aimed at making sure artificial intelligence is used safely and responsibly and regulates AI systems based on their perceived level of potential risk to users. Some of the latest obligations affect providers of general purpose AI, or GP-AI models, which include Exa's Grok and OpenAI's ChatGPT. The rules require more transparency on how AI models are trained and better enforcement of copyright protections. The EU has created a code of practice with the help of experts to give providers guidance on complying with the new requirements. Signing

up to the code is voluntary. Meta is the only major provider that has refused to do so. For NPR News, I'm Terri Schulz. And you're listening to NPR News. Anti-corruption agencies in Ukraine say they've uncovered a major bribery scheme in the buying of drones and electronic warfare systems used by the military. Four suspects have been arrested two days after the agency's independence was restored following major protests. The Smithsonian denying that the White House had anything to do with the removal of references

to President Trump's impeachments from an exhibit. The museum issued a statement this weekend and previously said his impeachments will be included in an updated presentation. It's not clear when that new exhibit will be ready. Rock Hill, South Carolina, almost 5,000 players competing in this weekend's World Championship of Cornhole. From member station WFAE, Nick Delacanel has more. All right, everybody,acanel has more.

Cheers fill the Rockhill Arena where players toss beanbags at slanted boards in the high stakes tournament. Players from 50 states and 10 countries are competing. Katrina Belac of Croatia says her parents still don't get it. They ask me why are you throwing that bag so much. But says EJ Von Dren from Germany. Then they see it on TV and they see us and I think they know it's real. The American Cornhole League launched the event in 2016. This year there's $200,000 in prize money. The finals air Sunday on ESPN. For NPR News, I'm Nick Delacanel in Rock Hill, South Carolina.