NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-08-2025 2PM EDT

Episode Date: August 8, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Seng. Moment of truth in the Texas State House this afternoon. The State House Speaker gave Democratic lawmakers until today to return to the chamber and allow a GOP-back redistricting vote to proceed. State Attorney General Ken Paxton said if they didn't, he'd seek a court ruling that declares the elected officials abandon their offices and can lawfully be replaced. Democrats left the state Sunday in an attempt to block Republic.

from redrawing Texas's congressional map in their party's favor head of next year's midterm elections. NPR's Ashley Lopez reports a Texas standoff has ignited tit-for-tat threats across the country. Democratic leaders in general say they are willing to upend past practices in order to fight back. A great example of this is New York Governor Kathy Hockel. She said in a press conference recently that like she's tired of fighting with one hand tied behind her back on this. And I think in general, you are seeing Democrats back off from. defending good government measures in the face, I mean, what they see is Republicans breaking the rules for their benefit. NPR's Ashley Lopez, it disputes raising concerns about the impact to

GOP lawmakers in blue states. Congressman Kevin Kiley tells NPR's here and now, the redistricting battles are, quote, nuts. The California Republican says when the House is back from recess, Speaker Mike Johnson should bring legislation to the floor to bar mid-decade redistricting. The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a federal. Grand Jury investigation into New York, Attorney General Letitia James, according to two sources familiar with the investigation. We were not authorized to speak publicly. James won a civil fraud case against President Trump and his companies, finding the millions of dollars in penalties linked to fraud allegations. President Trump has singled out, James, for public criticism in the past. Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Turkey are condemning Israel's plan to take over Gaza City.

Here's NPR's Jaina Raft. one of the most powerful Arab countries condemned any move to take control of Gaza, and what it called Israeli ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. It said the failure of the UN Security Council to stop Israeli attacks threatens regional and global security. In Jordan, which borders Israel and Israeli occupied territories, King Abdullah reaffirmed the kingdom's total rejection of the plan. And Turkey, a key regional player, said it would send its foreign ministry to Egypt, Saturday. date to discuss the crisis. Egypt, in a statement, emphasized that it rejects displacement of Palestinians. Egypt, the only other Arab country apart from Jordan that has a peace treaty with

Israel, this week, signed a $35 billion deal to import Israeli gas. Jane Arraf, NPR News, Amman. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 258 points at 44,227. This is NPR News. While unable to secure a U.S. mediated ceasefire in Gaza, the White House is touting a mediation win between Azerbaijan and Armenia. President Trump resides over a peace signing ceremony today that would also lock in economic and energy deals for the U.S. in the South Caucasus region. Earlier today, we aired a report from Brian Mann on identifying the remains of more 9-11 victims. It was erroneously reported that scientists have now identified remains from roughly 40 percent of those killed. day in Manhattan. In fact, NYC's chief medical examiner, Dr. Jason Graham, says roughly 40% of the people who died on 9-11 in New York City have not yet been linked to human remains. A new study

suggests that our ability to communicate using words and gestures may go back further than we thought. Here's Ari Daniel. A record of human communication doesn't show up in the fossil record, so researchers look to other species like chimpanzees. The idea is the traits we share with chimps today could go back to at least when our ancestors diverged. University of Wren biologist Joseph Mine looked at the vocal and non-vocal behaviors of mature chimps in Uganda. The result? If your mother tends to gesticulate a lot while vocalizing, then you're also likely to do so. But not so with the father. A chimp grows up mostly with its mom, not its dad. So these verbal, nonverbal combos are likely learned, not inherited,

suggesting the ability to acquire parts of our communication socially may be an ancient trait dating back at least six to eight million years. That's sorry, Daniel. It's NPR. Listen to this podcast sponsor-free on Amazon Music with a prime membership or any podcast app by subscribing to NPR NewsNowplus at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.