NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-07-2025 4AM EDT

Episode Date: August 7, 2025

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As AI permeates every aspect of our lives, who are the people behind this huge inflection point? What keeps them up at night? I fear that what it means to be human may suddenly not be our own. We've got a special series from NPR's TED Radio Hour. It's called The Prophets of Technology. What they got right, wrong, and where these pioneers think we're headed next. Listen to the TED Radio Hour, wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shay Stevens.

President Trump's reciprocal tariffs are now in effect for goods from more than 60 countries, including the European Union. Goods from the EU, Japan and South Korea, will be taxed at 15%, while some other nations will see import taxes of 15 to 20%. Meanwhile, Trump announced additional import levies on Wednesday. We'll be putting a tariffone of approximately 100% 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. Meanwhile, Trump has placed an additional 25% tariff on India as punishment for buying oil from Russia.

That raises to 50% the amount of import taxes the U.S. consumers will pay for goods from India. For the second time in seven years, Tween Accessories retailer, Clare's, is seeking bankruptcy protection. As NPR's Elina Selyuk reports, the company is struggling under the weight of debt and new tariff costs. Clares has been piercing ears across America since the 1970s, but ever since its private equity takeover in 2007, the retailer has carried a massive amount of debt,

which was manageable while the chain was growing, but became unwieldy as many malls began losing shoppers. In 2018, Clares went through, bankruptcy and shed almost $2 billion in debt as its creditors took over the company. But now a loan of nearly half a billion dollars is coming due next year and Clares cannot afford it. The chain has blamed declining sales on inflation and choppers growing reluctance to spend on whims like fake gold bengals and Hello Kitty socks. It says its nearly 3,000 stores will remain open during the bankruptcy.

Alina Selyu, NPR News. Millions of women in the United States could lose access to contraception. That includes some rollbacks to a Nixon error program that guaranteed free contraception for low-income people. That story from NPR's Katie Riddle. It's only been five decades since birth control became widely available in the U.S. Now, there are a number of ways the administration is limiting access, cutting Medicaid, which provides contraception for low-income women, as well as withholding funds from Planned Parenthood and the program called Title 10 created under President Nixon.

Kimmy Chernaby is with the National Women's Law Center. We think of Title X as the only federal funding program that is exclusively meant for family planning, and it's a huge source of contraception for people across this country. The Trump administration did not respond to request for comment. Katie Reddle, NPR News. United Airlines is resuming flights after ground stops at all of its main domestic hubs. Because of a technical issue, the carrier says the problem did not affect planes that were in the air. This is NPR.

Multiple wildfires are burning across California as rising heat poses new challenges for fire crews having to navigate steep terrain. The largest of the blazes, the Gifford Fire in Santa Maria, has scorched over 91,000 acres. The blaze is burning on the northern edge of Los Padres National Forest, threatening nearly 900 homes and other structures. The suspect in the killing of two Israeli embassy staffers

in Washington, D.C., is now facing murder and hate crimes charges. Elias Rodriguez faces nine counts in all. He's accused of killing Yaron Lashinsky and Sarah Milgram outside a Jewish museum. Police say Rodriguez confessed to officers who arrested him at the crime scene. Scientists have figured out a mysterious disease that has been harming West Coast marine life. NPR's Lawrence Summer reports that the ailment has been causing C-Stars to die off. Sea Star Wasting Syndrome is a pretty grisly way to go. It basically dissolves sea stars, turning them to goo. For more of a decade, it's spread along the West Coast, causing a cascade of impacts. Without sea stars,

sea urchins have boomed. They eat kelp, which is causing Pacific kelp forest to disappear. Now scientists have identified the bacteria that causes the disease, which they published in Magdronal Nature, Ecology, and Evolution. That could help researchers breed resistant sea stars and release them to the wild. Lauren Summer, NPR. News. U.S. futures are flat in after-hours trading on Wall Street, and on Asia-Pacific markets, shares are mixed. This is NPR News. These days, there's so much news. It can be hard to keep up with what it all means for you, your family, and your community. The Consider this podcast from NPR features our award-winning journalism. Six days a week, we bring you a deep dive on a news story and provide the context and analysis that helps you make sense of the news. We get behind,

the headlines. We get to the truth. Listen to the Consider This Podcast from NPR.