NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-21-2025 9AM EDT

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, on Corva Coleman, Israel has given final approval to build thousands of new homes in the occupied West Bank. Critics say the long-delayed settlement project will bury the chances of a Palestinian state. NPR's Jackie Northam reports from Tel Aviv. The so-called E1 settlement project has been on the drawing board for more than two decades, but pressure from the U.S. and other nations prevented it from becoming a reality. Until now, the controversial development, which involves more than 3,400 housing units, will be built on a tract of land east of Jerusalem, effectively slicing the West Bank in two. The Palestinian Authority called the development illegal and said it would destroy the chance of a two-state solution.

Israel's ultra-right finance minister Bezal Smotrich, who approved the plans, said the E1 settlements will erase any notion of a Palestinian state. The number of settlements has quickly grown over the past few years despite international condemnation. Jackie Northam, NPR News, Tel Aviv. Uganda's government says it's agreed to a deal with the Trump administration to take foreign migrants deported from the U.S. Yesterday, the East African country denied knowledge of the agreement, as NPR's Jewel Bray reports. Uganda's foreign ministry says the deal with the U.S. has been concluded and officials from both countries are now working out a plan to implement it. Officials say unaccompanied children and migrants with criminal records will not be allowed into Uganda under the agreement.

This is the third migrant deportation agreement between the U.S. and an African country, fully in deals with Rwanda and the kingdom of Eswantini. Critics have accused the Trump administration of forcing African countries to accept deportees from third countries. Last month, Niger's foreign minister said the U.S. was trying to use his country and others in Africa as a dumping ground for third country deputies. Joe Bright, NPR Newslegus. The Texas State House has passed a measure to redraw the state's congressional maps. The Republican plan seeks to flip five Democratic seats in the U.S. House

to Republican control. The move would increase the GOP's power in Congress. Now, Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis wants the Trump administration to give his state an additional congressional seat in the U.S. House. He claims Florida's census results were not accurate, and Florida is owed this seat. The Attorney General has written a letter to the Census Bureau, the Commerce Department, copying the White House saying, you know, please fix this remuneration and award Florida what we're entitled to, an extra seat in Congress. This move could add another Republican to the U.S. Congress. Meanwhile, in California, state lawmakers will take up a Democratic plan today. It seeks to redraw California's congressional districts. This is an effort to flip five Republican seats

in that state to Democratic control. You're listening to NPR. The White House has released a joint statement with the European Union on trade commitments. It's called a framework, and it's supposed to boost trade and investment relationships between them. Most of the key elements have not changed. The U.S. will continue to impose a rather 15% tariff on most goods arriving from European Union countries. That includes sensitive goods such as pharmaceuticals. President Trump has indicated he could set tariffs on imported medication at more than 200%.

Hurricane Aaron is still moving away from the east coast. It never made landfall. But forecasters say it is still triggering coastal flooding in North Carolina. There are warnings up for life-threatening rip currents up to New England. A new study finds public wolf hunts in the western U.S. have not stopped ranchers from losing their livestock. NPR's Nate Rott reports, one of the goals of wolf hunts in Montana and Idaho has been to reduce pressure on ranchers. Livestock losses are one of the more difficult challenges that have come as Western wolf populations have rebounded in a number of states. Leandra Murs is a co-author of the new study published in the journal Science Advances and an assistant professor at San Diego State University. And she says the finding show.

If our focus right now is using hunting as the primary means of reducing, that, it's not as effective as we would hope. And those ranchers still are losing cows. Other tools and strategies like the wider use of non-lethal deterrence, she says, should also be considered. Nate Roth, NPR News. And I'm Corva Coleman and BR News from Washington.