NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-25-2025 8AM EDT

Episode Date: August 25, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Gora Coleman. The migrant who was illegally deported to a prison in El Salvador earlier this year is now talking with federal immigration officials in Maryland. Kilmar-Abrego-Garcia was returned to the U.S. He spoke to a crowd this morning before he went into the building in Baltimore, and he was joined by Maryland Democratic Congressman Glenn Ivy. Today, we keep the fight going, right? We don't give up, right?

We're here to make sure justice is done, right? So when he goes in that building, we'll be supporting him. We'll continue to fight. No matter what happens in there today, we've got his back, right? The people, united, will never be defeated. Abrigo Garcia is rejecting federal allegations of human smuggling, but federal immigration officials say they now want to deport him to Uganda. 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 will also try to flesh out a trade deal agreed upon 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, Seoul. The hundreds of National Guard troops deployed in Washington, D.C. are now armed. President Trump says he's addressing. crime, but federal data show violent crime in the city is at a 30-year low. SpaceX will try again this evening to launch its massive Starship rocket on its 10th test flight from the company's Starbase in Texas. NPR's now Greenfield-Boy's reports. Last

night's launch attempt was scrubbed. Starship is a two-stage space vehicle that stands nearly 400 feet tall. It's a key part of NASA's effort to return astronauts to the surface of the moon, as well as Elon Musk's effort to colonize Mars. But so far this year, Starship rockets have suffered a string of failures in flights. One even blew up on the launch pad during a test. All of that is why this 10th flight has been highly anticipated, and SpaceX did start loading propellant into the rocket at its Texas launch facility. But soon after, on social media, SpaceX said it was standing down to allow time to troubleshoot what it called an issue with ground systems. NPR's NPR's NPR's NPR.

A federal judge has ruled in favor of religious colleges in Minnesota. The judge says if the religious colleges require high school students to sign a statement of faith, the colleges cannot be shut out of a Minnesota educational program. The program lets high school students take college courses for credit. The judge says blocking the religious colleges from requiring the statement of faith from high school students violates religious freedom. Chinese property developer Ever Grant

has been delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today. As Cherise Fom reports, it is a grim end to a company once seen as an example of China's economic boom. At its peak, China Evergrand Group was worth more than $50 billion. The company was riding China's economic rise, pre-selling apartments to the middle and upper class. But it all came crashing down. down in 2021. It was massively in debt and unable to complete some existing projects. Last year,

a Hong Kong court ordered the liquidation of the Evergrand Group after the company was unable to figure out how to repay $300 billion it owed to investors. Evergrand's share price plunged more than 20% after the court order and were suspended from trading. The shares were officially delisted after Evergrand failed to resume trading after more than six months. For NPR News, I'm Sheree's Fam in Hong Kong. Officials with the Powerball lottery say the jackpot has now reached $750 million. Officials say this is their 10th largest jackpot ever. Tickets are at least $2 a piece. The next Powerball drawing will be tonight.

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