NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-22-2025 8AM EDT

Episode Date: August 22, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Corva Coleman. The world's leading experts on food insecurity have confirmed that famine now exists in northern Gaza. The expert panel says more than half a million Palestinians are at risk of dying from starvation. Hundreds of thousands more Palestinians face catastrophic food shortages. Israel significantly restricted aid supplies into Gaza last March, including relief aid from the UN. Tom Fletcher is the Undersecretary General, the UN's office on humanitarian affairs and emergency relief. Be in no doubt that this is irrefutable testimony.

It is a famine, the Gaza famine. It is a famine that we could have prevented if we had been allowed. Yet food stacks up at borders because of systematic obstruction by Israel. Israel says there is no famine. Israeli officials say the expert report uses unreliable sources and only helps Hamas's fake campaign. A Republican-led House panel will receive the first wave of Jeffrey Epstein files today from the Justice Department. NPS Claudio Gorsales reports the DOJ is responding to a series of congressional subpoenas issued earlier this month.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said victims' names will be redacted from the Epstein records before releasing the files to the public. We're going to be transparent. We're doing what we said. would do. We're getting the documents and I believe the White House will work with us. The committee is playing the largest role so far investigating the case with about a dozen subpoenas issued so far, including demands for testimony from former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It marks a major step for Republicans who have faced months of demands from their base who say the party broke a campaign promise by not releasing

the record sooner. Claud Recellus, NPR News. Wall Street will be watching today's speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. He'll be addressing economists at central bankers at a meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. As NPR Scott Horsley reports, this will be Powell's final address to the annual gathering as the Fed leader. Howell's speech comes as the Federal Reserve is under mounting pressure from the White House to lower interest rates. Investors will be listening for any clues the Fed Chairman may offer about what he and his colleagues might do at their next rate. setting meeting in September. With inflation still elevated and signs of weakness in the job market,

though, Powell may simply say they're keeping their options open. Powell will also discuss the Fed's longer-range balancing act as it tries to promote both stable prices and maximum employment. It's been five years since the Fed's last big strategy review. Since then, policymakers have gotten a painful reminder of how scarring it can be when inflation gets out of control. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. You're listening to NPR News. President Trump visited a U.S. Park police site in Washington, D.C. yesterday. He spoke to several hundred National Guard troops who have been deployed in the city, some from other states.

Trump says he is taking care of what he says is a crime problem in the city, but U.S. Justice Department data show violent crime in Washington, D.C. is at a 30-year low. A Texas nonprofit is stepping up to help families recover from the deadly July 4th floods in that state. These killed more than 130 people. From the Texas newsroom, Lucio Vasquez, reports. $40 million will be used to address housing recovery in the Texas Hill Country. The money will cover temporary lodging, repairs, and replacement of RVs lost in floodwaters. In addition to the money, Governor Greg Abbott says state lawmakers are advancing flood relief bills

that fully respond to all the needs of the Currville, but also the other areas affected by all of these devastating. flooding floods. These bills aim to improve safety at youth camps and set assigned $240 million for disaster funding. Early estimates say the Texas Hill Country suffered up to $22 billion in damage. For NPR News, I'm Lucille Vosquez in Houston. Federal officials say they're recalling more packages of frozen shrimp. That's because they have potentially been affected by radioactive contamination. Walmart recalled batches of shrimp earlier this week for the same reason. Now, South Wind Foods of California is calling back the seafood. The shrimp appears to be from a single supplier in Indonesia. This is NPR.