NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-01-2025 10AM EDT

Episode Date: September 1, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. The death toll has risen to at least 800 after a powerful earthquake struck Afghanistan last night. The Taliban government said tremors swept across four provinces in the country's east and injured more than 2,500 people. Omkar Kandekar reports. Entire villages were flattened and people buried in their mud and stone houses as parts of eastern Afghanistan experienced the dead. earliest earthquake since 2023. Videos reviewed by NPR showed survivors trekking down mountains, carrying wounded people on wooden cots.

Local say landslides have covered roads and made several villages inaccessible. In some places, rescue personnel used helicopters to evacuate victims from remote mountain villages. One resident told NPR that local markets have run out of white cloth to bury the dead. He said many were still digging through the rubble. search of bodies. Oumkar-Kandekar, NPR News, Mumbai. European leaders are drafting plans to send a coalition of troops to Ukraine as part of a

possible post-war security guarantee. Terry Schultz reports the Europeans are working to come up with ways to help secure Ukraine if and when a peace deal is reached. Ukraine has agreed to the talks. So European leaders are calling on Trump to put a price on Putin simply continuing to fight. and the European Union's own diplomatic mission in Kiev was severely damaged in a Russian air strike last week. So they're focused on what they can do, pushing through a 19th package

of sanctions on Moscow and threatening to give some 200 billion euros worth of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine instead of just using the interest on those accounts, as is the case now, to pay for reconstruction. But it's really the White House that has the stick here. And European partners would very much like to see President Trump use it. That's Terry Schultz, reporting from Brussels. State officials have released the ballot language for California special election this November. NPR's Ashley Lopez reports voters will consider a measure that would allow Democrats to redraw the state's congressional map. The proposed language for the measure asked voters to, quote, authorize temporary changes to congressional district maps in response to Texas's

partisan redistricting. Texas Governor Greg Abbott recently signed a bill at the explicit request of President Trump that creates five more favorable House seats in the state for the Republican Party. In response, California leaders are asking voters to approve a plan to create five more favorable seats for Democrats. This closely watched special election in the state could play a key role in deciding which party wins control of the House next year. The public has until September 4th to inspect the ballot label, title, and summary. Ashley Lopez, NPR News. Wall Street is closed for the Labor Day holiday. Stocks resume trading on the exchange tomorrow. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. Students across the country are

heading back to class, but in many states, one thing is missing. Their cell phones. NPR's Sequoia Corillo reports on a record number of states are banning the devices. This school year is the first one where every student in Texas, public and charter schools will be without their phones during the school day. But Bridget Whaley, an associate professor of education at West Texas A&M University, has a hunch how things will go. She spent last year following one Texas school's cell phone ban. The results were promising. Teachers saw improved engagement and more conversation between students. In Delaware, the state's pilot program for a statewide ban garnered 83% of teachers' support after its first year. These findings align with those from many of the states and districts heading back to school without phones.

Students learn better in a phone-free environment. But there is one group not on board. In Delaware's survey, student support came in at only 11%. Sequoicrillo, NPR News. Those tiny fish-shaped soy sauce bottles are a staple in takeout sushi, but not anymore in South Australia. Starting this week, restaurants there will be banned from handing them out as part of a broader push to reduce plastic waste. The state was the first in Australia to ban the bottles and has steadily expanded its list of prohibited plastics, making it the strictest in the country. The sauce containers were invented in Japan in the 1950s and were originally made of glass or ceramics.

I'm Windsor Johnston, NPR News, in Washington.