NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-10-2025 2AM EDT

Episode Date: August 10, 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 Dale Wilman. President Trump is meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. Trump has expressed anger recently at Putin for increasing attacks on Ukraine rather than moving toward peace as Trump has demanded.

But Nina Khrushcheva, the new school in New York, says Putin will be very clear with Trump on what he wants from negotiations. He wants to end the war on his terms, and so far, meeting with Trump is part of his terms. So potentially next Friday, if the meeting does happen, we don't know. then it could get closer to ending the war. Of course, there is another side, which is Vladimir Zelensky, and it's unclear whether he couldn't agree to any terms Trump and Putin can make. Trump will be meeting with Putin on U.S. soil, meanwhile, despite an arrest warrant for Putin from an international court.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has asked the Texas Supreme Court to vacate the seats of 13 state House Democrats. They left the state to deny the body a quorum during a special session. As Texas Public Radio's Jerry Clayton reports the Democrats broke quorum to block Republican efforts to create new district maps that could give the GOP five new congressional seats. A 1 p.m. Friday deadline set by the Texas House Speaker passed without the return of the Democratic lawmakers who are now in several different states. The move by Paxton follows a similar suit by Texas Governor Greg Abbott who sought to remove House Democratic Caucus chair Gene Wu. An attorney for the Democrats called the move a dangerous assault on the separation of powers. Paxton has also launched an investigation into former El Paso Congressman Beto O'Rourke's political group,

asserting the group is funding Democrats' quorum break. I'm Jerry Clayton in San Antonio. Thailand says three soldiers patrolling its disputed border with Cambodia have been injured by a landmine. Michael Sullivan has our report from Chang Rai. The Thai Army says one of the three lost. his foot after stepping on the mine, while two more soldiers were lightly wounded while on patrol in Sisiqat province. The Thai foreign ministry said the incident confirmed that new landmines are being laid in blatant violation of international law. In response, the Cambodian

mine action and victim assistance authority denied Thailand's accusation Cambodia had laid any new mines. The incident came just days after the two countries reaffirmed their commitment to a ceasefire that ended five days of armed conflict that broke out last month, killing more than 40 people on both sides, and displacing at least 260,000 more. For NPR news, I'm Michael Sullivan in Shanghai. After five months in orbit on board the International Space Station, four astronauts splashed down in the Pacific off the southern coast, a California coast on Saturday. The crew included two Americans, one person from Japan, and one from Russia.

It was the first splashdown for a NASA crew. in 50 years. This is NPR News. Police in London say they arrested more than 365 people Saturday. They say they're supporters of a recently banned Palestinian group. In July, the country's parliament passed the law banning the group Palestinian action. The ban makes it a crime to publicly support that organization. A Texas real estate magnate has been killed by a Cape Buffalo during a hunting expedition in South Africa. The safari company that organized the hunt described the incident as sudden and unprovoked.

And Pierre Zelano-Wise reports. Asher Watkins have been tracking the buffalo for a kill when the large horned animals staged an attack first. The safari company, CVS, said Watkins have been accompanied by one of their trackers and professional hunters. CVS did not say whether the buffalo was later killed. But they described the Dallas native and his family as, quote, long-standing friends and part of the CVS family.

Kate Buffalo are considered one of the big five of African games. game. By the Safari company's own description, no species on the planet has a more fearsome reputation than a Cape Buffalo. According to his company biography, Watkins was a lifelong outdoorsman who enjoyed fishing and hunting. Alana Wise and PR News. The animal rights group PETA meanwhile responded to that news, saying on social media that trophy hunting must end. Jen Powell has become the first female umpire to work a regular season major league baseball game. She worked as the first base hump for Saturday's game between the Atlanta Braves and the Miami Marlins. She will be behind the plate on Sunday for game three of that weekend series.

I'm Dale Wilman, NPR News. It's that time of gear again. Planet Money Summer School is back. This semester with help from professors, policy experts, and yes, even a Nobel laureate, we're diving into how government and the economy mix and asking the big questions like, What role should government play in our economy? Does government intervention help or hurt and how big should the government be? That's on Planet Money Summer School from NPR, wherever you get your podcasts.