NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-11-2025 8AM EDT

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

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As AI permeates every aspect of our lives, who are the people behind this huge inflection point? What keeps them up at night? I fear that what it means to be human may suddenly not be our own. We've got a special series from NPR's TED Radio Hour. It's called The Prophets of Technology. What they got right, wrong, and where these pioneers think we're headed next. Listen to the TED Radio Hour, wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Kristen Wright.

President Trump says he'll lay out. his plan this morning for the federal government to curb violence in the nation's capital. Nearly 450 FBI agents were activated across Washington this weekend after the president said he was cracking down on crime and homelessness in the city. D.C. has seen falling crime rates in recent years. According to the Justice Department, violent crime hit a 30-year low in the district last year. President Trump is set to meet with Russian President Putin in Alaska on Friday. Ahead of the peace talks, Vice President Vance says the U.S. is sick of funding the Russia-Ukraine war and wants peace. NPR's Luke Garrett reports.

Vance tells Fox News the goal of the Alaska talks is simple. If you take where the current line of contact between Russia and Ukraine is, we're going to try to find some negotiated settlement that the Ukrainians and the Russians can live with. The vice president says Ukraine and Russia won't be happy with the proposed lines and it will be up to them to end this war. U.S. ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, tells CNN that both Ukraine and Russia are engaged in settlement discussions. No big chunks or sections are going to be just given that haven't been fought for or earned on the battlefield. Whitaker says it remains possible Ukrainian President Vlomir Zelenskyy attends the Friday meeting and that Trump will ultimately decide. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel has no choice but to, quote,

finish the job and complete the defeat of Hamas. Speaking to journalists, Netanyahu reaffirmed his plan yesterday to take over Gaza City and central areas of the enclave. Look, maybe some choose to forget October 7th. We will not forget what happened. And we will do whatever it takes to defend our country and defend our people, defend our future. We will win the war, with or without the support of others.

Netanyahu said civilians will be moved to safe zones but gave no details on how that would happen or where those safe zones would be. Employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta say they feel targeted. They were on campus when shots were fired from across the street last Friday killing a police officer. Sophie Grottis from Georgia Public Broadcasting has more. Clustered at an Atlanta park on Sunday, Abbey Tye, and other former and current CDC staff denounced the violence and called for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to resign. He, along with others in this administration, have sown distrable.

trust among the American people, dehumanizing CDCers and pointing to us as villains. Tai says her child was also on lockdown during the shooting at a nearby daycare. In a statement emailed to CDC employees, RFK Jr. called the shooting, quote, unsettling. Many CDC employees will start the week working from home with plans for an all-staff meeting this week. For NPR news, I'm Sophie Grades in Atlanta. This is NPR. Shipping holiday gifts later this year may cost. more than usual. As NPR's Hansi Lo Wong reports, the U.S. Postal Service is proposing a temporary

increase to some of its shipping prices to help stabilize its finances. The proposed price hikes of close to 6% for certain shipping services would last from early October to mid-January, if approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission. The U.S. Postal Service, which is a financial support of NPR, says these temporary increases are part of its reorganization plan to become more financially sustainable. While U.S.PS is a federal government agency, it generally receives no tax dollars to keep delivering six days a week to every address in the country. With fewer people and businesses using the mail service compared to decades ago, another way USPS is trying to sustain itself is by increasing stamp prices.

Last month, a first class forever stamp went up to 78 cents, a 7% increase. The Postal Regulatory Commission has proposed limiting future stamp price hikes to once a year. On Zil Wang, NPR News, Washington. AOL is ending its dial-up internet service. If you didn't know, it is still out there in use. This marks the end of an era of sorts, as many think of AOL's dial-up and all those memorable tones with the early days of the Internet. The dial-up service launched in 1991.

In 2019, the census estimated that 265,000 people in the U.S. were still using dial-up. The service is shutting down at the end of September. Ahead of a potential strike, flight attendants for Air Canada are planning to pick it today at four airports across Canada. The flight attendants want better pay and pay for all working hours. A strike could start at the end of the week. This is NPR News.

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.