NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-01-2025 7AM EDT

Episode Date: September 1, 2025

NPR News: 09-01-2025 7AM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

On the plus side, you get sponsor-free listening to over 25 NPR podcasts. On the minus side, you get fewer chances to tap fast-forward on your podcast player. On the plus side, you get to support something you care about. On the minus side, you like challenges and think this makes it too easy. So why don't you join us on the plus side of things with NPR Plus? Learn more and sign up at plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. Hundreds of news outlets around the world have signed on to an appeal calling for the protection of Palestinian journalists in Gaza and for foreign press to be granted independent access to the territory.

NPR's Aibetrawe reports more than 200 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israeli forces since the war broke out. Many of the media outlets signed on are blacking out their front pages or, like NPR, are taking part by reporting on the appeal and the risks Palestinian journalists face. in Gaza. A similar petition signed in June by the editors and chiefs of major news organizations noted that Israel's ban on independent access to Gaza is without precedent in modern warfare. Moreover, the Committee to Protect Journalists says August was the deadliest month ever recorded for journalists globally. That's due to what Palestinians say is 15 journalists killed in Gaza in August alone. Last week, Israeli attacks killed five journalists at a hospital, including photographers for Reuters and the AP. Two more journalists were killed since.

then in other attacks. A. Abatrawi, NPR News, Dubai. Israel's foreign ministry says the appeal shows the media's quote, bias against Israel. China is hosting more than two dozen world leaders at two major defense-related events this week. The summit underscores how President Trump's tariffs are driving a strategic shift toward regional alliances and away from U.S.-led economic influence. NPR's Dia Hadid reports. The context appears to be Trump's remains. of foreign policy, which has felt pretty unpredictable for much of the world, like tariffs on friends, the European Union in India, initial hostility to Ukraine, now peace talks.

So since 2001, China sought to align Asian nations and former Soviet countries, in part through this grouping called the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. It's happened in fits and starts, though, but this summit appears to be the most important. It's certainly the largest. That's NPR's Diyahed reporting. Labor unions are protesting the Trump administration's stop work. order on a major wind farm project. NPR's Andrew Heshoe reports the project off the coast or Rhode Island is nearly complete. The Trump administration abruptly halted work on the

Revolution Wind Project on August 22nd. Brett Booker, General President of the Labor's International Union of North America, says two million hours of work have already been completed. Not only does that affect the individuals who are working on that, but an entire industry now is, you know, what's going to happen? Who's going to invest right now in renewable energy? And that just takes away future jobs. Interior Secretary Doug Bergam told CNN there are concerns of undersea drone attacks and that the project did not receive a full review under former President Biden. Andrea Shue, NPR News. Wall Street is closed for the Labor Day holiday. Trading resumes on the exchange tomorrow. Stocks across Asia closed mixed today. This is NPR News in Washington.

Hollywood's summer box office numbers will end up roughly even with last year. NPR's Bob Mandela reports for film studios that counts as both a relief and a letdown. $3.6 billion is what the film industry expects this summer's movies to have taken in by the end of the holiday weekend. Nothing to sneeze at, certainly, but given ever-increasing ticket prices, not really something to cheer. We have a blue dog to catch. Lilo and Stitch, Superman, Jurassic World Rebirth, and eight other films this summer qualified as blockbusters, meaning they've each taken in more than $100 million. The largest dinosaurs in the planet.

But there's less strength with smaller movies as audiences wait to stream films without superheroes, aliens, or dinosaurs. Back before the pandemic, the summer of 2019 had the same number of blockbusters, but that summer's lesser films were stronger. So the industry took in about a half a billion dollars more overall. Bob Mandello, NPR News. tiny fish-shaped soy sauce bottles are a staple in take-out 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 Powerball jackpot has skyrocketed to an estimated $1.1 billion, after their was no winner in Saturday's drawing. Tonight's drawing will be the fifth largest prize in the game's history. I'm Windsor Johnston, NPR News, in Washington.