NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-25-2025 11AM EDT

Episode Date: August 25, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Korova Coleman. The migrant who was illegally deported to El Salvador and then returned to the U.S. is back in federal immigration custody. Kilma-Abrego-Garcia surrendered to officials this morning in Baltimore, Maryland. Now, Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Christy Noam, says he is being processed for deportation to the East African nation of Uganda. His lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Motionberg, says no one will say where Abrago Garcia is now. The ICE officer stated that he'll be taken to a detention center. We asked the ICE officer which detention center.

The ICE officer said that they weren't able to say. We asked the ICE officer for a copy of any paperwork that's being served on him today. The ICE officer wouldn't commit to even giving us that paperwork. The lawyers are suing to block the deportation plans, saying the Trump administration is being vindictive. The presidents of the U.S. and South Korea will meet at the White House today. They'll discuss the future of their country's 71-year-old alliance. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Seoul they'll also try to flesh out a trade deal agreed to last month.

One of the U.S.'s top priorities is modernizing the U.S. South Korea alliance. That includes refocusing the alliance to deter not just North Korea but also China. Speaking to reporters en route to Washington, President E.J. Myeong said that, quote, this is not an issue we can easily agree with, unquote. The two sides are in agreement about denuclearizing North Korea. To lower U.S. tariffs from 25% to 15%, South Korea agreed last month to invest $350 billion in the U.S. Much of that will go to trying to revive U.S. industries such as shipbuilding. But the two allies disagree what exactly will be included in the $350 billion and who will get the profits.

Anthony Kuhn in PR News sold. Scores of staffers at the Federal Emergency Management Agency have written an open letter to Congress. warned the inexperience of the current FEMA leaders and agency cuts are a terrible risk to Americans. Their letter is called the FEMA Katrina Declaration, and it comes close to the 20th anniversary of the deadly storm's landfall in New Orleans. They warned that without action, Americans could be abandoned in another terrible disaster. One of the most powerful typhoons in decades has made landfall on Vietnam's coast. Flooding has destroyed homes and downed trees. Reporter Yan comments in Brumby has more.

Airports and schools are closed as Vietnam prepares to face the brunt of what the government has described as a, quote, extremely dangerous fast-moving storm. Over the weekend, some thousands were evacuated across China's southern island of Hainan, as the typhoon whipped up winds and lashed the island normally filled with tourists with heavy rainfall. China has since downgraded its emergency response alerts, but strong rains continue to hit southern Hainan. For NPR News, I'm Jan Kramminton Brumby in Taipei. On Wall Street, the Dow was down 230 points. This is NPR.

Medics and reporters in Gaza say Israeli attacks on a hospital complex have killed four Palestinian journalists among 21 who were dead. They were working for international news organizations, including the Associated Press and Reuters. The French government has summoned U.S. Ambassador Charles Kushner, who wrote a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron. Kushner is the father of President Trump's son-in-law, Jared. Charles Kushner told the French leader France is failing to stop anti-Semitism.

France says the U.S. Ambassador's allegations are unacceptable. Summining an ambassador is a government's formal and public notice of displeasure. In the U.S., wildlife managers in Montana decided to increase this year's wolf hunting and trapping quota by more than 100 animals. Montana Public Radio's Ellis Julin has more. Montana's Fish and Wildlife Commission authorized a statewide quota of 452 wolves. That's 118 more than last year. They say that increase is necessary to try to reduce the overall wolf population,

a directive given to them by the state's Republican majority legislature. Included in that number is a regional limit for the number of wolves that can be killed in areas bordering Yellowstone National Park. That area has seen declines in wolf populations in recent years. Opponents of these changes say killing this many wolves could warrant federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. A federal court recently ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reassess threats facing wolves. For NPR News, I'm Ellis Jew Lynn in Helena, Montana.

The private company SpaceX scrubbed yesterday's launch of its massive starship-siding a ground system's problem. SpaceX could try to launch again tonight. You're listening to NPR News.