NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-26-2025 7PM EDT

Episode Date: August 26, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Jail Snyder. During a more than three-hour cabinet meeting today, President Trump highlighted his crime-fighting efforts in the nation's capital, and again threatened to send National Guard troops to Democratic-led cities, including Chicago and Baltimore. But Georgetown University law professor Steve Lattick says that could prove to be problematic. With regard to the D.C. National Guard, so the folks who are here in D.C. all year, the president is always the command. and chief of the D.C. National Guard. He can use them at any time. He doesn't need anyone's permission. But he's also relied upon out-of-state National Guard troops that have been sent by a bunch of red state governors under a really obscure and not well-tested authority that was enacted by Congress in 2006. It's really that authority that's a much bigger deal if President Trump really does

try to take the show on the road. Democratic leaders are pushing back saying Trump's use of guard troops is a political move meant to intimidate opponents. Transportation Department threatening to withhold millions of dollars in federal funding from three Western states. In Pierce Joel Rose reports the Trump administration aims to punish those states for failing to enforce English language requirements for truckers. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says California, Washington, and New Mexico could lose tens of millions of dollars in federal funding unless they adopt and enforce English language proficiency requirements for commercial drivers. DOT accuses those states of failing to disqualify drivers if they can't demonstrate English proficiency.

The move comes after a deadly crash in Florida earlier this month, involving a driver who made an illegal U-turn on a highway. Federal officials say the driver who was born in India was in the U.S. illegally, though California officials say he had a work permit. Duffy says California, Washington, and New Mexico have 30 days to comply. Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington. The Press Freedom Group, Reporters Without Borders, has called for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting after the Israeli Army killed five more journalists in Gaza. NPR Zellinir Beardsley reports a Paris-based organization accuses Israel of trying to eliminate information coming from Gaza. Reporters Without Borders, Director General Thibautin, says the Israeli Army is flouting international humanitarian. law and a UN resolution which protects journalists in times of conflict. How far will the Israeli

armed forces go in their gradual effort to eliminate information coming from Gaza, he asked. Five Palestinian journalists were killed Monday in a direct hit by Israeli tank fire. Bhutan says more than 200 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza over the past two years and that concrete measures must be taken to end the impunity for crimes against journalists to protect Palestinian journalists and to open access to the Gaza Strip to all reporters. This is NPR News. Australia is cutting off diplomatic relations with Iran. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Australian intelligence has gathered incredible evidence that Iran was behind at least two anti-Semitic arson attacks in Melbourne and Sydney. Australia today gave

Iran's ambassador seven days to leave the country. It's Australia's first diplomatic. diplomatic expulsion since World War II. SpaceX, preparing to try again to send up its huge starship rocket for another test flight. It's 10th. The countdown clock has started for a potential launch from South Texas. In about a half hour, the launch has been delayed twice. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey are planning to get married. The pop superstar has announced her engagement to the Kansas City Chief Star player, as NPR's Isabella Gomez-Sermiento reports. Taylor Swift is entering a new era. She's a fiancé.

The singer-songwriter announced the news on Instagram with a caption that read, Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married. Swift and Kelsey started dating in 2023 after he saw her perform during the Eros Tour, which lasted more than a year and broke records as the highest grossing tour of all time. Earlier this month, Swift appeared on Kelsey's podcast, New Heights, to discuss their relationship and announce her upcoming album, The Life of a Showgirl. She said the project will be based on her inner life during the heiress tour and will have an upbeat, infectious sound.

Hinting its sonic inspiration comes from her experience, falling in love. Isabella Gomez-Armiento and PR News. I'm Jail Snyder.