NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-07-2025 1AM EDT

Episode Date: August 7, 2025

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This message comes from the Kresge Foundation. Established 100 years ago, the Kresge Foundation works to expand equity and opportunity in cities across America. A century of impact, a future of opportunity. More at Kresge.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shay Stevens. On the eve of his new reciprocal tariffs, President Trump announced additional import levies. We'll be putting a tariffone of approximately 100 percent. on chips and semiconductors. But if you're building in the United States of America, there's no

charge, even though you're building and you're not producing yet in terms of the big numbers of jobs. Trump says it is a significant step towards his goal of having iPhones sold in the U.S. also made here. He says Apple is promising to boost spending on its domestic supply chain. Trump has also placed an additional 25 percent tariff on India as punishment. for continuing to buy Russian oil. That raises to 50% the amount of import taxes that U.S. consumers will pay for goods from India. Special U.S. envoy, Steve Whitkoff,

has paid another visit to Russia amid a threat of new sanctions over the war in Ukraine. From Moscow, NPR's Charles Mainz, has more. Despite some three hours of talks, it's not yet clear how much the two sides were able to bridge stark differences. President Putin continues to maintain Russia has the momentum on the battlefield

and will reach its goals in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Trump says he means that when he says new secondary sanctions and tariffs will hit Russian energy exports starting Friday if the fighting continues. Yet Kremlin officials put a largely positive spin on what amounted to Wittkoff's fifth sit-down with Putin this year. Kremlin advisor Yuri Ushakov called the talks constructive and useful, and Wittkoff's Russian counterpart, Kremlin envoy Kareil Dmitrov, said the meetings showed dialogue between the U.S. and Russia would prevail.

Charles Mainz, NPR News, Moscow. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has asked the state Supreme Court to remove the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus amid a dispute over a Republican redistricting plan. From the Texas newsroom, Lauren McGahey, reports that an answer is expected within days. Attorney General Ken Paxton had already indicated he planned to ask for Chairman Gene Wu's removal if Wu and other Democrats who fled the state to block redistricting efforts had not returned by Friday. But Abbott jumped ahead of Paxton. Tuesday afternoon and filed a petition with the court asking for Wu's immediate removal.

The move kicked off a bit of a back and forth between the two Republicans, with Paxton insisting he's the only one with the authority to do this. Abbott rejected Paxton's interpretation, saying the matter has to be settled now. The Texas Supreme Court says it will respond to Abbott's request by Friday. Wu called Abbott's request to remove him a desperate attempt to silence his dissent. I'm Lauren McGahey in Austin. The suspect in the killing of two Israeli the embassy staffers in Washington, D.C., is facing murder and hate crimes charges. Elias Rodriguez faces nine counts in all. He's accused of killing Yaron Lyshinsky and Sarah Milgram outside a Jewish museum. Police say he confessed to officers who arrested him at the scene. This is NPR.

Multiple wildfires are burning across California as rising heat poses new challenges for firefighters having to navigate steep terrain. The largest of the fires, the Gifford blaze in Santa Maria, has scorched over 91,000 acres. It's only 9% contained. The fire, burning on the northern edge of Los Padres National Forest, is threatening nearly 900 homes and other structures. Peabody Award-winning broadcaster Leonard Lopate died on Tuesday at his Brooklyn home of ALS. He was 84 years old. Lopate was a talk show host on member station WNYC for over 32 years. He was fired in 2017 for inappropriate behavior towards female members of his staff.

Jeff London reports. The Brooklyn-born Lopate, who studied art as a young man, interviewed thousands of artists, authors, actors, scientists, and politicians with an omnivorous interest. He developed his live radio chops at a community station, WBAI, but he became a New York fixture at WNYC, where he spoke with a vast assortment of people from Nobel laureates to mob informants. WNYC dismissed him in 2017 early in the Me Too movement. Lopate denied accusations by several women of inappropriate conduct.

For NPR News, I'm Jeff London in New York. U.S. futures are higher in after-hours training on Wall Street on Asia-Pacific markets. shares are mixed. This is NPR News. Support for NPR and the following message come from the Limelson Foundation, working to harness the power of invention and innovation to accelerate climate action and improve lives around the world. Learn more at Limelson.org.