NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-04-2025 3PM EDT

Episode Date: September 4, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Trump's nominee to fill an open seat on the Fed's governing board tell senators, if confirmed, he will not be Trump's puppet. Here's NPR Scott Horsley. Stephen Meyer insists he will not simply follow orders from President Trump in setting interest rates, but Senate Democrats like Elizabeth Warren are skeptical. Warren accused the president of waging a month-long campaign to seize control of the central bank. And she warned that kind of political meddling has backfired in the past. It happened in the 1970s when President Nixon bullied the Fed into keeping rates too low for too long and led to years of stagflation where both unemployment and inflation stayed high.

With widespread support from Senate Republicans, however, Myron appears headed for confirmation, possibly in time, to attend the next Fed meeting in less than two weeks. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s defending policy changes at the federal health agencies he oversees, including efforts to pull back recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines. During today's hearing, he was asked why he fired the director of the CDC, Susan Menares. Kennedy said she was dishonest. In today's Wall Street Journal, the ousted official writes she was told to pre-approved

the recommendations of a vaccine advisory panel newly filled with people who have publicly expressed anti-vaccine rhetoric. She argues any recommendations should result from rigorous and scientific review. 35 countries pledging to support Ukraine against Russian aggression are meeting today in Paris. This group dubbed coalition of the willing is mostly European but includes Australia and Canada. And peers Eleanor Beardsley reports. French President Emmanuel Macron says the pillar of Ukraine's security

will be its own military. We will accept no limit on the format or capacity of the Ukrainian army, he said, and will help regenerate Ukrainian forces so they can resist attack and, dissuade new Russian aggression. Macron said Russia has lost more than a million soldiers to conquer less than 20 percent of Ukrainian territory in three years, so it has every reason to end the war. After speaking with President Trump for an hour and a half, Macron and Zelensky said U.S. proposals for a backstop to the European security guarantees will be defined in the coming

days. Eleanor Beardsley in Pierre News, Paris. Federal judge says the administration's decision to freeze billions and research funding to Harvard ostensibly over its response to allege anti-Semitism on campus was illegal. Here's NPR's Corey Turner. And ruling Judge Burroughs was kind of hard on Harvard, saying, quote, it had been plagued by anti-Semitism in recent years and could and should have done a better job of dealing with the issue. But she said Harvard was already taking steps to do just that when the Trump administration froze its funding. The administration is also targeted Northwestern University this year, cutting a lot of money research funds as well. Today, the president, Michael Schill announced he plans to resign.

It's NPR news. A federal jury in California has ordered Google to pay more than $400 million for invading the privacy of millions of users. Steve Futterman with details. Google had been accused in the class action lawsuit of accessing users' mobile data over an eight-year period. Jurors found Google liable on two of the three claims, but they did not find that Google acted with malice.

A $425 million judgment was only a fraction of the $31 billion the plaintiffs had been requesting. The lawsuit claimed that Google continued to collect data in apps, including Uber, Venmo, and Instagram, even when the setting had been turned off. For NPR News, I'm Steve Fetterman, in Los Angeles. Italian fashion designer Georgia Armani has died at the age of 91. Diana Apong reports. Georgia Armani's designs are synonymous with luxury and fashion. But Armani grew up without much money. He was born in a northern Italian city not too far from Milan. That's where he founded his luxury fashion house in 1975.

He loved early 20th century designers and architects and was fascinated with film. That's Georgia Armani speaking in a short documentary made by Martin Scorsese from 1990. By the end of his life, Armani was everywhere. Accessories, perfume, and even at the mall with Armani Exchange. But Giorgio Armani never lost his style and direction. His influence on the world of fashion feels eternal. For NPR news, I'm Diana O'Pong. Armani's family says he passed away at home from an undisclosed illness.

It's NPR.