NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-22-2025 10PM EDT

Episode Date: August 23, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Janine Hurst. Dozens of people, including children. children have been killed by Israeli drone attacks and airstrikes in Gaza overnight as Israel prepares an all-out assault on Gaza City. In peers, Jane Araf, has more. Gaza Hospital and health officials said Israeli attacks included Gaza City and Moasi, a coastal town in the south. It's part of the area that Israel has told Gaza City residents to evacuate to for their safety.

Israeli defense minister, Israel Katz, says his country could reduce Gaza City to rubble. if Hamas does not agree to Israel's conditions for ending the two-year-old war. Hamas last week agreed to the terms of a ceasefire proposed by Qatari and Egyptian mediators, which Israel has not accepted. More than 60,000 Palestinians, many of them children, have been killed since the war began two years ago, with a Hamas attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people. Jane Arraf, NPR News, Amman.

As soldiers and federal agents patrol Washington, D.C., President Trump suggested that he would send federal resources to Chicago. In Pierce Daniel Kurtzleben reports, Trump also mentioned other cities where he would consider sending personnel. With J.D. Vance at his side, Trump called Chicago a mess. And the people in Chicago, Mr. Vice President, are screaming for us to come. They're wearing red hats, just like this. But they're wearing red hats. African-American ladies, beautiful ladies, they're saying, please, President Trump, come to Chicago. He later added that he hasn't taken concrete steps for this plan.

Trump also suggested sending personnel to San Francisco and New York. Under the D.C. Home Rule Act, a president can take control of the city's police for 30 days in cases of emergency, after which Congress would be needed to extend that time frame. However, the president does not have similar powers over other cities. Danielle Kurtzleben and PR News, the White House. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled the possibility of lower interest rates in the months to come. Speaking at the Fed's annual meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming today, Powell said the balance of risks across the economy had started to shift between the Fed's goal of full employment and stable prices.

The stability of the unemployment rate and other labor market measures allows us to proceed carefully as we consider changing. to our policy stance. And that raises odds that the Fed will lower borrowing costs next month. But Powell says there are concerns. He says while the labor market is in good shape and the economy has shown resilience, President Trump's tariffs are causing the risk that inflation could rise again. This is Powell's last address to the annual Jackson Hole Conference as Fed Chair. He and his central bank colleagues have been under intense pressure from Trump to lower interest rates. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. A top Russian diplomat says there's no meeting plan between Russian President Putin and Ukrainian President Zelensky.

This after President Trump pushed for the meeting at the recent summit in Alaska that was aimed at ending Russia's more than three-year-old war in Ukraine. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov says Putin is open to discussions, but only after key issues are resolved by senior officials. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt this week said Putin, agreed to Trump's efforts for a one-on-one meeting with Zelensky, but Russia never confirmed that. European officials are warning against seeding land to Russia, calling it a trap. The White House is closing its doors to the public for now, and tours have been suspended indefinitely. And Pierce-Winzer-Johnston reports the Trump administration is moving on major construction projects, including a massive new ballroom. September tours have been canceled, and no new requests are being accepted.

The administration says renovations include a $200 million, $90,000 square foot ballroom that President Trump wants to start building within six weeks. Officials have not released architectural plans or set exactly where it will be built. In his first months back in office, Trump has already put his stamp on the building from gold accents in the Oval Office to a new patio in the Rose Garden. He says the ballroom will be funded by himself and private donors. About a half million people normally tour the White House each year. Windsor Johnston, NPR News, Washington. Wall Street, higher by the closing bell, the Dow up 846 points, NASDAQ up 396. I'm Janine Herbst, NPR News, in Washington.

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