NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-11-2025 4AM EDT

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

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Do you ever look at political headlines and go, huh? Well, that's exactly why the NPR Politics Podcast exists. We're experts, not just on politics, but in making politics make sense. Every episode, we decode everything that happened in Washington and help you figure out what it all means. Give politics a chance with the NPR Politics Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman.

European Union foreign ministers will meet by teleconference on Monday to try to firm up the 27 countries' positions ahead of Friday's U.S.-Russia meeting. As Terry Schultz reports, the EU's top diplomat is speaking out against President Trump's suggestion that Ukraine must give up territory to Russia for a peace deal. Saying Europe's core interests are at stake, EU foreign policy chief Kayakhalis has convened the extraordinary meeting of foreign ministers to discuss the summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The U.S. has the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously on ending its war in Ukraine, Kala said in a statement, but she goes on, any deal between the U.S. and Russia must have Ukraine and the EU included, for it's a matter of Ukraine's and the whole of Europe's security. Aggression cannot be rewarded, she added, saying international law is clear, all temporarily occupied territories belong to Ukraine. The situation in Gaza will also be discussed.

For NPR News, I'm Terry Schultz. UN Security Council held an emergency meeting Sunday regarding Israel's plan to expand military control in Gaza to fight Hamas. The plan was widely criticized by council members. As Linda Fasullo reports, the U.S. described the meeting as counterproductive and called on the council to demand that Hamas immediately release all hostages, lay down their weapons, and end the conflict. Most UN Security Council members, including Russia, China and Pakistan, and the five European members, including Britain and France, voiced their opposition to Israel's plan for its forces to take control of Gaza City. Meanwhile, acting U.S. Representative Ambassador Dorothy Shea said the Security

Council meeting undermined efforts to hold Hamas to account for prolonging the war. And she said, quote, this war could end today if Hamas let the hostages and all of Gaza go free. Israel's deputy representative reiterated that his country has no plan to permanently occupy Gaza. The Palestinian envoy accused Israel of prolonging the war not to disarm Hamas, but to prevent Palestinian statehood. For NPR News, Linda Fasulow in New York. President Trump has ordered some 450 federal law enforcement officers from a number of agencies to patrol the streets of the nation's capital. Trump says he wants to reduce crime in Washington, D.C.,

and will release more information about his plans later today. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser says she's okay with the extra help. To the extent that officers know our laws, that officers work in community and work with prosecutors to build good cases and establish a presence and work with local officials who are, you know, the expert is in policing and making arrests. That's what we, that's what we're waiting to see. Violent crime in the district, meanwhile, has already dropped as much as 26. percent this year. You're listening to NPR News. The National Weather Service has issued floodwatches and warnings for much of the nation's Midwest overnight.

They're predicting repeated rounds of heavy rain along with hail, damaging winds, and isolated tornadoes. The area has already been pounded with rain. The Milwaukee area has had as much as 14 inches of rain over the past few days, and flash flooding canceled the final day of the Wisconsin State Fair on Sunday. Images from space are helping researchers on Earth better understand river temperatures, and this will be important as the climate changes. From Northwest Public Broadcasting, Courtney Flatt has more. For more than 40 years, several NASA satellites have collected temperature data.

Now, University of Washington graduate student, George Daqwa, has developed an AI tool to sort through it all and learn more about river temperatures over time. Daqwa says the information could be used for entire rivers all over the world, World. Based on that's knowledge, we can modify how we operate water in the future. He also wants to use the AI tool to track things like harmful algal blooms and water temperature changes near data centers. For NPR News, I'm Courtney Flatt in Kennewick, Washington. Baseballer Justin Verlander made the record books on Sunday. He became only the 10th Major League

Baseball pitcher to reach 3,500 career strikeouts. He struck out the side in the first inning of the game between the San Francisco Giants and the Washington Nationals. That's how he managed to reach that milestone. But he began struggling in the second inning, giving up four runs. The nationals beat the Giants eight to nothing. 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

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