NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-07-2025 8PM EDT

Episode Date: August 8, 2025

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I'm Rachel Martin, host of Wildcard from NPR. I've spent years interviewing all kinds of people, and I've realized there are ideas that we all think about, but don't talk about very much. So I made a shortcut, a deck of cards with questions that anyone can answer, questions that go deep into the experiences that shape us. Listen to the Wild Card podcast only from NPR. Live from NPR News, I'm Janine Herbst. President Trump says he's now open to a one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. If here's Franco Ordonez reports, the White House appears to be backing off expectations that Ukraine's president be part of the discussions. President Trump told reporters at the White House that he's not making a meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin contingent on Putin, also meeting with Ukrainian president, Vladimir Zelensky.

Does Putin have to meet with Zelensky? in order and before you and Putin have to meet? No, no. Trump was asked the question again. No, he doesn't. No, no. So when do you think that meeting? They would like to meet with me, and I'll do whatever I can to stop the killing.

Trump also appeared to leave some wiggle room on Friday's deadline for new tariffs. Trump had previously said he would step up sanctions against buyers of Russian oil if Russia failed to agree to a ceasefire by the end of the week. Franco, Ordoñez, NPR News, the White House. Transgender people serving in the U.S. Air Force have been denied requests for early retirement after the Trump administration ordered them to leave the service. And Pierce Quill Lawrence reports. About a dozen trans service members with 15 to 18 years in were permitted to apply for early retirement with full benefits after the executive order that banned trans troops from serving openly. But according to an Air Force spokesperson, all of those applications have been denied.

Despite their many years of service, they now have the same options as thousands of other trans troops either quit or be kicked out without the significant financial benefits they'd have earned with retirement at 20 years. And may the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration's ban on trans people in the military to go forward, though the Pentagon has offered no evidence that their service hurt readiness or good order and discipline. Quill Lawrence NPR News. President Trump is calling for an unprecedented change to who's counted in the U.S. Senate, A census, rather, NPR's Hansi Lo Wong, reports. Preparations for the 2030 census are already underway, but in a social media post,

President Trump says he has instructed his administration to immediately begin work on a new census that excludes people living in the states without legal status. The 14th Amendment requires the, quote, whole number of persons in each state to be counted in the 2030 census numbers set to be used to determine each state's share of congressional seats, and the Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the final authority over the census. Decades ago, Congress passed a federal law allowing a mid-decade census in 2025, but the results cannot be used for redistributing house seats. Last month, Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia introduced a bill that tries to change that and calls for a new census and congressional redistricting before next year's midterm election.

On Zilowong, NPR News, Washington. And Trump says he'll host the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia at the White House tomorrow for a peace summit where he says they'll agree to end a long-running conflict and sign exonerated. Agreements with the U.S. You're listening to NPR News. President Trump says he's nominating Stephen Myron, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, to serve on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, replacing Adriana Coogler, a Biden appointee, who resigned Friday. If confirmed, he'd serve out Coogler's term, which expires January 31st, 2026. On social media, Trump says they'll continue to search for a permanent replacement. Iran agrees with Trump that tariffs are a tool to reduce trade deficits.

The nearest star that resembles our own sun appears to be orbited by a gas giant planet. And peers Nell Greenfield-Boyce reports, astronomers spotted it with a James Webb Space Telescope. One of the brightest objects in the night sky is the Alpha Centauri system. It's made up of three stars, and scientists now say that one of them, Alpha Centauri A, seems to be orbited by a planet the size of Jupiter or Saturn. What's more, the planet's distance from the star means that temperatures there might be mild enough for life. This raises the possibility that this gas giant planet might have a habitable moon, which just happens to be the exact scenario depicted in the Avatar series of sci-fi movies. The new findings are described in a pair

of reports accepted by the astrophysical journal letters, and this candidate planet still needs to be confirmed with follow-up observations. Nell Greenfield-Boyse, NPR News. Wall Street ended the day in mixed territory. The Dow down 224 points. The NASDAQ up 73. S&P 500, down five U.S. futures contracts are trading higher. I'm Janine Herbst, NPR News in Washington. This message comes from Wise, the app for doing things and other currencies. With Wise, you can send, spend, or receive money across borders, all at a fair exchange rate, no markups or hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit wise.com. T's and Cs apply.