NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-07-2025 12PM EDT

Episode Date: August 7, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. President Trump is expected to sign an executive order today that could open the door for 401k retirement plans to include alternative investments like real estate and even digital assets. NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben reports Trump and his family have a growing business interest in cryptocurrency. The executive order instructs cabinet officials and financial regulators, to determine the next steps to change regulations. The new types of assets, including private equity and cryptocurrency, are considered riskier than traditional 401K investments than stocks and bonds.

Trump's family has a growing financial interest in cryptocurrency in particular. They started a digital assets business, World Liberty Financial, last year, and Trump's social media company also announced earlier this year they were raising billions to purchase Bitcoin. The price of Bitcoin jumped after news of the executive order broke. Danielle Kurtzleben and PR News. While the Trump administration looks to reshape retirement savings, it's also taking a tougher stance on trade. A new round of tariffs kicked in today on major U.S. trading partners.

NPR Scott Horsley reports that could mean higher prices on everyday items, including coffee. For the last four months, the U.S. has been charging a 10% tax on most of what we import. As of today, that's going to 15% on goods from Europe, Japan, South, Korea. Even higher tax rates are taking effect on goods from countries like the Philippines, Switzerland, and South Africa. The tax on many Canadian goods jumped to 35% last week, and the President just imposed a 50% tax on goods from Brazil, which is the world's number one coffee producer. That's NPR, Scott Horsley, reporting. The Israeli Cabinet is expected to vote tonight on whether to expand the war in Gaza into a full re-occupation. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports

that would mean sending ground troops into a small section of Gaza not under direct Israeli military control and where 2 million people have sought refuge. Michael Milstein is head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at Tel Aviv University. He's also a former intelligence officer for the Israeli military. He says reoccupying Gaza is a terrible idea. First of all, many more civilians and soldiers would die, but Israel would also be responsible for civilian life.

Israel will have to invest dozens of billions in order to establish a new life in Gaza. I mean, apartments and hospitals and schools and water pipes and everything. Neither the West nor Arab nations would contribute, he says, because that's a red line for them. And it would also ruin any prospect for diplomatic ties with countries like Saudi Arabia and could even threaten Israel's 1979 peace deal with Egypt, a bedrock of its security in the region. Eleanor Beardsley and Pierre News, Tel Aviv. This is NPR News in Washington. Americans, on average, still consume more than half of their calories from ultra-processed foods.

These are products, dense, energy, and low in nutrition. NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports that's according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Young people between age 1 and 18 get nearly 62 percent of their calories from ultra-processed foods. Sandwiches, including hamburgers, snacks, and sweet drinks account for much of it. The study by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics shows consumption of these foods decreases with age. Still, for those 19 or older, ultra-processed foods accounted for 53% of their calories. Reliance on these unhealthy foods is on a downward trend, however. The study looked at a two-year span between 2021 and 2023.

Since 2018, consumption among youth especially has decreased. Yuki Naguchi, NPR News. A new online safety tool is being rolled out to spot possible predators in one of the Internet's most popular playgrounds for kids. The company behind Roblox says it's using artificial intelligence to detect predatory language in chat rooms. It's called Sentinel, and it's designed to flag early signs of grooming and other threats. The move comes as Roblox faces criticism and lawsuits over whether it's doing enough to protect young users.

On Wall Street, the Dow is down 331 points. This is NPR News.