NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-08-2025 7AM EDT

Episode Date: August 8, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. The Israeli security cabinet has held a closed-door meeting and approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to take over Gaza City. Israeli media report the approval came over objections from Israel's top military chief. He reportedly said the effort would endanger Israeli hostages and further strain the military. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports. Israelis woke up Friday morning to the news that their military will take full control of Gaza City an area crammed with hundreds of thousands of people, many living in tent camps.

It's awful. I don't know what to say. 62-year-old teacher Rebecca Hofstein says she had hoped the nearly two-year war would end in a ceasefire and hostage deal. It's unbelievable. I want to live the country. I don't want to live here. As Jews, it's the most awful decision. Tens of thousands of Israelis protested across the country leading up to the boat. Among them were former hostages who say a military offensive deeper into Gaza is a death sentence for the remaining hostages. Eleanor Beardsley in Pierre News, Tel Aviv. Today is President Trump's deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to reach a ceasefire with Ukraine or stop the war.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Trump didn't say much more about the deadline. It's going to be up to him. We're going to see what he has to say. It's going to be up to him. Very disappointed. Trump has previously said he'll increase sanctions against a budget. buyers of Russian oil if no ceasefires reached. He's already done that with India. But Trump also says there's a good prospect he'll meet with Putin and with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

Trump said he was not making a meeting with Putin contingent on Putin also meeting with the Ukrainian leader. Separately, Trump says he will welcome the leaders of the warring nations of Armenia and Azerbaijan to the White House today. He also says they are going to sign a peace agreement. The president colleges that receive federal funding to share detailed admissions data with the Trump administration. The presidential memo is intended to monitor race-blind admissions in colleges. NPR Sequoia Carrillo reports. The president is expanding the type of admissions data that colleges are required to share with the government. In recent weeks, Brown and Columbia have agreed to multi-million dollar settlements with the administration that include a similar condition. This memorandum seeks to

expand that system to all schools that receive federal funding. In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that universities could no longer take race into account as a specific reason for admission. The Trump administration says it needs more data to ensure that schools are complying. The move comes at a tricky time for the Department of Education. On August 1st, nearly 1, nearly 1,400 staffers were let go, including many data scientists. Sequoia Carrillo, NPR News. On Wall Street in pre-market trading, Dow futures are higher. This is NPR. This is the second anniversary of the start of the wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui.

More than 100 people were killed. The town of Lahaina was destroyed. The flames were driven by extreme winds. Authorities later discovered the death toll was largely the result of an evacuation effort that fell short. The Environmental Protection Agency is going to close down a $7 billion program. It helps low-income households obtain solar power. Trump administration officials say they don't have the appropriated money to keep it going. Supporters say the money was already obligated.

The nearest star that resembles our own sun appears to be orbited by a gas giant planet. NPR's N.P.R. N.Snell Greenfield-Boys explains astronomers spotted it with the 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-Boyce, NPR News. And again on Wall Street, Dow and NASDAQ futures are higher in pre-market trading. This is NPR.