NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-18-2025 10AM EDT

Episode Date: August 18, 2025

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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. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. President Trump is scheduled to meet, Ukrainian president Volodymy Zolensky at the White House today. They'll have a small meeting, but that will be quickly followed by a larger event. Zelensky will be joined by several European

leaders at the White House. Today's meetings come after Trump held a summit last Friday in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin. NPR Franco Ordonia says last week, Trump announced he had specific plans to help stop Russia's war in Ukraine. Trump has shifted his positions after meeting with Putin before Trump insisted that the next step needed to be a ceasefire. He didn't get that. And now he's actually saying that the best way to end the conflict is to go directly to a peace agreement, which is Putin's preferred position. So the European leaders want to prevent Trump from forcing more of Putin's positions on Ukraine. And Pierre Svryker Erdogan's reporting. Israeli staged one of their biggest protests yesterday in nearly two years of war. Organizers say hundreds of thousands of people rallied to

end the Gaza War and reach a hostage deal with Hamas. And Pierre's Daniel Estrin reports from Tel Aviv. The protest organizers released aerial footage of masses, filling downtown Tel Aviv at the end of Sunday's day of demonstrations. They said hundreds of thousands of people rallied, shutting down roads across Israel, and protesting outside the homes of government ministers. Many businesses closed, too. It was one of the largest street protests to take place during the Gaza War.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said calls to end the war now before Hamas is defeated, only strengthened Hamas. Negotiations for a ceasefire broke down weeks ago. Now Qatar and Egypt are working on a new proposal. Israel is demanding the release of all of the hostages Hamas is holding. The previous proposal spoke of releasing only half the hostages for a temporary ceasefire. Daniel Estrin NPR News, Tel Aviv. Stocks open lower this morning as investors were. wait to hear from big retailers this week. NPR Scott Horsley reports the Dow Jones Industrial

average slipped about 70 points in early trading. Walmart, Home Depot, and Target stores all report their quarterly earnings this week. Investors will be listening for clues about how shoppers are spending money and possible price hikes. Wholesale prices jumped more than expected last month. Retail sales rose by half a percent. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks on Friday at the annual Jackson Hull Conference of Economists and Central bankers. The Fed's nearly finished with its long-range policy review, which it does once every five years. Back in 2020, the central bank said it would not raise interest rates preemptively, just because of a tight job market. But after several years of inflation, that's above target, the Fed's strategy

could shift to underscore the importance of stable prices. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. On Wall Street, the Dow is now down 68 points. The NASDAQ is down about 7. This is NPR. President Trump says he wants to entirely end the use of mail-in ballots and certain voting machines. Writing today online, Trump falsely claim they're involved in voter fraud. There is no evidence of any significant voting fraud with these methods. Trump also falsely claimed that in matters of voting, all states have to do what the federal government, through the president of the United States, tells them to do. In fact, state and local jurisdictions are responsible for running elections.

Rats are nuisances. They carry disease and they wreck property. Now, city officials near Boston are trying a different approach to bring down the numbers of these pests. Ari Daniel reports they're trying a method of birth control. Rats outwit are traps and attempts at poisoning can backfire. So the cities of Somerville and Cambridge are introducing bait that contains an anti-fertile. chemical that targets female rats. So it basically stops the pregnancy before it starts. Sam Lipson is the Senior Director of Environmental Health in Cambridge,

and he's overseeing a field trial of the chemical. The birth control doesn't lead to permanent infertility. The goal is not total eradication. Danine Williams is a community volunteer with the trial. I have no illusion that we can actually outsmart the rats, but if we could just reduce them, that would be good. If it works, the cities will like. likely adopt the approach as part of their broader rat control strategy. For NPR news,

I'm Ari Daniel. Again on Wall Street, the Dow, is now down about 40 points. I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News.