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The job market is showing signs of weakness as Trump's tariffs take effect

The U.S. labor market was substantially weaker in the spring and early summer, according to a report Friday from the Labor Department. Employers added far fewer jobs than initially reported.

U.S. employers added just 73,000 jobs in July, according to a report from the Labor Department Friday, as the unemployment rate inched up to 4.2%. Job gains for May and June were also revised sharply lower.

(Image credit: Mario Tama)

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To speak or not to speak: Why many aid groups are silent about the Trump cuts

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Charities usually like to talk to the public about their good works. In the wake of the Trump aid cuts, there's a new approach: "anticipatory silence." It's controversial.

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Trump sets new tariff rates and deadlines. And, rabbis speak out on starvation in Gaza

A COSCO container ship is berthed at the port in Qingdao, in China

Trump signed executive orders setting updated tariff rates on more than 65 countries. And, more than 1,000 rabbis and Jewish leaders signed a public letter decrying starvation in Gaza.

(Image credit: AFP)

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An FDA panel spread misinformation about SSRI use in pregnancy, alarming doctors

Doctors are criticizing a recent expert panel organized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that questioned the safety of taking antidepressants during pregnancy.

A panel organized by the FDA cast doubts on the safety of antidepressants during pregnancy — drawing ire from doctors who say SSRIs are a crucial treatment option for women with perinatal depression.

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Songs of Love writes personalized music for kids — but can AI carry the tune?

Songs of Love Foundation founder and president John Beltzer uses tools from the AI music platform Suno to create a personalized track for an older adult with dementia.

For nearly 30 years, the nonprofit Songs of Love Foundation has created custom songs for kids with terminal illnesses. Now it has harnessed AI to expand its services to older adults with memory loss.

(Image credit: Songs of Love Foundation)

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What is the U.S. destroying $9.7 million worth of? Find out in the quiz

One of these blondes is a correct answer. Do you know which one?

This week was full of mysteries. If you're a super sleuth who followed the news, you'll be well on your way to a perfect score.

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France, U.K., others plan to recognize a Palestinian state. What does that change?

A flag with a watermelon, a symbol of Palestinian identity, is waved during the Red Line for Gaza protest in Paris on July 8.

The recent push by several countries to recognize a state of Palestine is largely symbolic, but it carries diplomatic and potentially legal weight.

(Image credit: Henrique Campos)

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Alaska ignored budget crisis signs. Now, it doesn't have money to fix schools.

<!-- raw HTML omitted -->Kids play on old playground equipment during recess in Sleetmute, Alaska. The Legislature has largely ignored rural school districts'/>

Alaska has long ignored warning signs of a budget crisis. Now, it has no money to fix something that is posing serious health and safety risks to students and staff: crumbling rural schools.

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Morning news brief

The White House sets a swath of new tariff rates for dozens of countries, President Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff visits an aid site in Gaza, Jewish leaders from the U.S. sign a letter urging Israel to allow more aid into Gaza.

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Trump's 'Golden Share' in U.S. Steel

The iconic American company, U.S. Steel was sold to Nippon Steel in Japan earlier this summer. The sale was years in the making and, on the campaign trail last year, President Trump opposed it. But now, he's approved the sale. And the deal also gives the president himself an outsized say in the future of U.S. Steel. Erika Beras from Planet Money explains what the president calls: a golden share.

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Ukraine approves law restoring independence of anti-graft watchdogs following backlash

Demonstrators protest against the bill proposed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, July 24, 2025.

After mass protests, Ukraine's government enacts a law restoring independence to anti-corruption watchdogs, quelling what threatened to turn into a domestic political crisis for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

(Image credit: Efrem Lukatsky)

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Love at first punch at Dubrows Cafeteria

Van Harris and his wife, Shirley, grew up a block away from each other in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. In this 2012 conversation they remember how they first met in the 1930s.

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Virginia Giuffre's family expresses shock over Trump saying Epstein 'stole' her

Virginia Giuffre, center, holds a news conference outside a Manhattan court in New York, Aug. 27, 2019.

Her family's statement is the latest development involving Epstein, who took his own life in a New York jail in 2019 while facing federal sex trafficking charges, and the Republican president.

(Image credit: Bebeto Matthews)

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Scientists in South Africa are making rhino horns radioactive to fight poaching

A sedated rhino is being prepared before a hole is drilled into its horn and isotopes carefully inserted, at a rhino orphanage in Mokopane, South Africa, Thursday, July 31, 2025.

A South African university launched an anti-poaching campaign Thursday to inject the horns of rhinos with radioactive isotopes that it says are harmless for the animals but can be detected by customs agents.

(Image credit: Alfonso Nqunjana)

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El Salvador approves indefinite presidential reelection, extends presidential terms

El Salvador

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele's party approved constitutional changes in the country's National Assembly that allow indefinite presidential reelection and extend presidential terms to six years.

(Image credit: Salvador Melendez)

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Federal judge delays expiration of TPS for Hondurans, Nicaraguans, and Nepalese

An activist marches during a 2023 rally in Washington, D.C. for temporary protected status for Central American migrants to allow them to stay in the United States.

The Trump administration has said the conditions in the three countries have improved, therefore the immigrants can return back to their homelands. But federal Judge Trina Thompson suggested Trump's motives are discriminatory.

(Image credit: Kevin Dietsch)

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The White House sets a swath of new tariff rates -- and a new date -- for dozens of countries

A general view shows shipping containers at the port in Keelung on Aug. 1

An executive order says most of the tariffs will not take effect for at least a week, despite an earlier assertion that new rates would take effect on Friday. Some goods from Canada would get a new 35% tariff rate beginning Aug. 1, though.

(Image credit: I-Hwa Cheng)

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In an emotional hearing, Texas lawmakers hear from flood survivors, local officials

Attendees look at a marked-up map of the Guadalupe River during a public hearing in Kerrville, Texas.

The Texas Legislature is in a special session and discussing proposals to improve disaster preparedness after floods killed more than 130 people early this month.

(Image credit: Eric Gay)

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Glenn Kessler reflects on 14 years as the Washington Post's Fact Checker

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Glenn Kessler, outgoing writer of the Washington Post's Fact Checker, about recent buyouts at the paper, and the current state of fact-checking.

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White House updates tariff rates for many countries and moves effective date

Mexico has won a temporary reprieve from higher US tariffs but other imports from other countries will face higher taxes, starting tomorrow. Meanwhile, a federal appeals court is weighing whether President Trump's tariffs are even legal.

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How effective are wearable cooling devices

This summer, you might notice more people using a gadget to fight the heat: a horseshoe-shaped fan that sits on your neck and blows air. But can a neck cooling fan really help you?

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Trump's dream of building a ballroom at the White House is becoming a reality

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt holds up photos of the planned new White House ballroom during a press briefing at the White House on July 31. According to the White House, the new White House ballroom will be approximately 90,000 square feet and cost about $200 million.

After at least 15 years of talking about it, President Trump is building a ballroom at the White House. Work will begin this September, with a price tag of $200 million, the White House says.

(Image credit: Mark Schiefelbein)

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An MMA fighter Trump hosted at the White House loses appeal in his rape case

Former UFC fighter Conor McGregor speaks in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 17.

Mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor used to be the face of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. President Trump, a UFC fan, hosted him at the White House for St. Patrick's Day this year.

(Image credit: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA)

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In reversal, Defense Department will continue providing crucial satellite weather data

A satellite image of Hurricane Flossie on July 1, 2025. Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration use data provided by the Department of Defense to track storms as they form.

About a month after announcing that it would stop sharing data that hurricane forecasters and scientists rely on, the Navy now says it will continue distributing it.

(Image credit: AP)

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Trump announces 90-day extension of prior trade deal with Mexico

A man works in a steel distribution factory in Monterrey in northern Mexico in May 2018. Mexico announced sweeping retaliatory tariffs on a host of U.S. goods Thursday after the United States slapped steep tariffs on steel and aluminum from Mexico, Canada and the European Union.

President Trump, who has insisted Aug. 1 is a firm deadline for countries around the world, said that "the complexities of a Deal with Mexico are somewhat different from other Nations."

(Image credit: Julio Cesar Aguilar)

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In the Golan Heights, Druze are loyal to Syria. But that loyalty is now severely tested

Druze wait near the border fence in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights village of Majdal Shams, as Syrian Druze who

Sectarian violence in recent weeks in Syria's Sweida region has left more than 1,000 people dead. Druze in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights say they feel betrayed by Syria's interim government.

(Image credit: JALAA MAREY)

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High Noon is recalling some vodka seltzers mislabeled as Celsius energy drinks

High Noon is recalling some 12-packs of its hard seltzers that it says contain cocktail cans mislabeled as Celsius energy drinks, due to an issue with their shared packaging supplier.

Some beach variety packs of High Noon hard seltzers included canned cocktails mislabeled as blue raspberry Celsius energy drinks. The affected lots were sent to retailers in six states last week.

(Image credit: Kevin Carter)

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What will rescission do to foreign aid? Details are murky. Here's what we found out

A girl sits behind humanitarian aid boxes delivered by UNICEF at a temporary camp in the town of Tabqa, Syria, on August 4, 2017. The rescission bill cut U.S. funds for this U.N. agency that works with children.

Congress approved the clawing back of $7.9 billion in foreign aid pledges. Who ends up losing out?

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What Trump's threat to tariff Russia's trade partners means for India

Oil tanker trucks sit outside an oil refinery operated by Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd., in Mumbai, India.

President Trump said India would pay the price for buying Russian oil and military equipment. Here is a look at how India, with one of Asia's largest economies, is responding.

(Image credit: Dhiraj Singh)

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Father James Martin has taken heat for his LGBTQ acceptance

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Father James Martin has become one of the most well-known Catholic priests in the U.S. But his journey to the priesthood took him by surprise after a chance encounter with a documentary.

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