NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-31-2025 2PM EDT

Episode Date: August 31, 2025

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There's a lot of news happening. You want to understand it better, but let's be honest, you don't want it to be your entire life either. Well, that's sort of like our show, here and now anytime. Every weekday on our podcast, we talk to people all over the country about everything from political analysis to climate resilience, video games. We even talk about dumpster diving on this show. Check out Here and Now Anytime, a daily podcast from NPR and WBUR.

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rom. Israeli troops have recovered. the bodies of two Israeli hostages held in Gaza. NPR's Daniel Estrin reports from Tel Aviv. The Israeli military says it's recovered the bodies of two Israelis killed in the Hamas attack on southern Israel, October 7, 2023. Israel says the two were killed trying to protect others during the attack, and their bodies were taken to Gaza. Now 48 hostages remain in Gaza, including 20, believed to still be alive. Two weeks ago, Hamas agreed to a proposal by Egypt and Qatar to free half of the remaining hostages. Israel previously agreed to those terms, but Israel has

not responded to the proposal. Israel says it wants all, not half of the hostages. On Saturday, the Israeli military targeted the top spokesman of Hamas in Gaza. Israel says he was killed in the strike. Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Tel Aviv. Pope Leo devoted part of his Sunday blessing today to last week's attack on a Catholic church in Minneapolis that killed two children. in English he called for an end to what he called the pandemic of arms. The labor movement is preparing for mass Labor Day protests across the country. NPR's Andrea Shoe reports. The theme of many of these events is workers over billionaires. AFLCIO president, Lou Schuller, says workers have stood up to billionaires before, but... What we've never seen is those same CEOs and billionaires

being handed full control of our government, our democracy, our lives. She highlighted four members. of President Trump's cabinet who fit that category. Schuller says Trump is reversing progress on union jobs, including by stripping most federal workers of their collective bargaining rights and putting immigrant workers and their families in a state of fear. Meanwhile, in a proclamation, Trump called the American worker the beating heart of the economy and said his administration is restoring the dignity of labor. Andrea Shue and PR News.

Multiple heat records have fallen this summer in the U.S. U.S., NPR's Rebecca Herscher has more on the story. Virginia and West Virginia had their hottest julys ever going back to 1895 when records began. That's according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. And the rest of the eastern U.S. also saw abnormally hot weather. Twenty states, including every state on the Atlantic coastline, had average July temperatures that ranked in the top ten warmest on record. And there was little relief after sundown.

NOAA estimates that one in six people in the U.S. experienced record-breaking overnight temperatures in July. That's particularly dangerous because the human body relies on cooler nights to recover from the stress of very hot days. Climate change is causing temperatures to rise worldwide. Rebecca Herscher, NPR News. This is NPR News in Washington. The Self-Realization Fellowship's historic Lake Shrine in Los Angeles has reopened. After closing in January due to the Palisades fire, Kevin Tidmarsh of Member Station, L.A.S. reports. The Interfaith Shrine's historic assets include century-old Hollywood sets and some of Mahatma Gandhi's ashes.

Its grounds survived the fire, for the most part, using water pumped from the lake on site. After months of remediation, the fellowship is welcoming visitors back. Brother Satinanda is Lake Shrine's minister in charge. Some of our neighbors have said, oh, wow, it doesn't seem like any disaster ever. happened here. He hopes the reopening brings peace to the fire-scarred palisades. For NPR News, I'm Kevin Tidmarsh in Los Angeles. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting China where he met with President Xi Jinping today. They discussed the need to expand trade at a time when the U.S. has imposed tariffs on most of its trading partners. The two leaders also pledged

to resolve their border differences. This is Modi's first visit to China since Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed along their border in 2020. The president of Indonesia announced today that political parties have agreed to roll back a number of perks and privileges for legislators in an effort to calm anti-government protests. Demonstrations began Monday after reports that lawmakers had given themselves a monthly housing allowance more than 10 times what a minimum wage worker can make in a month. Later, protesters looted the homes of lawmakers and set fires to government buildings. Officials say that at least five people have died in the violence. I'm Nora Rahm. NPR News in Washington.

It's that time of gear again. Planet Money Summer School is back. This semester with help from professors, policy experts, and yes, even a Nobel laureate, we're diving into how government and the economy mix and asking the big questions like, what role should government play in our economy? Does government intervention help or hurt and how big should the government be? That's on Planet Money Summer School from NPR, wherever you get your podcasts.