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Trump's broad tariffs go into effect, just as economic pain is surfacing

A customer shops a grain isle at New India Bazar, where most merchandise is imported from India and Canada, on Aug. 6, 2025, in Fremont, Calif.

The White House said that starting just after midnight that goods from more than 60 countries and the European Union would face tariff rates of 10% or higher.

(Image credit: Noah Berger)

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MLB's first female umpire to debut. Here are other women broke officiating barriers

Home plate umpire Jen Pawol takes her position during the first inning of a spring training baseball game between the Houston Astros and Miami Marlins Sunday, March 10, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Jen Pawol will make history by becoming the first woman to umpire a Major League Baseball game. Here's a look at other female officials who were the first on the floor, court or the field in prominent men's leagues.

(Image credit: Jeff Roberson)

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Eddie Palmieri, a trailblazer in Latin music, has died at age 88

Eddie Palmieri, seen here performing in 2009 at the Theatre de la Mer in southeastern France.

The bandleader and pianist was one of the leading Latin musicians of his generation. He won multiple Grammys and was recognized as an NEA Jazz Master.

(Image credit: Frans Schellekens/Redferns)

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United Airlines flights grounded nationwide because of computer problems

United Airlines is having major operational difficulties with a computer system that helps determine the weight and balance of a departing aircraft. The airline is preventing all of its departures from taking off. Flights already in the air are not affected by the computer problems.

Hundreds of United Airlines flights were disrupted on Wednesday evening as the carrier grappled with a major computer system outage. The airline requested ground stops at its major hubs in the U.S.

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After an ex-DOGE staffer's assault, Trump threatens to federalize D.C. Can he?

President Donald Trump is pictured walking to Marine One to depart the White House in May, with the Washington Monument in the background.

Trump told reporters on Wednesday evening that he is considering taking over the D.C. police force and sending in the National Guard after a former DOGE staffer was hurt in an attempted carjacking.

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A zoo in Denmark asked patrons to donate their pets. Not as attractions, but for food

Gara, a Siberian tiger, cares for her newborn cubs at the Aalborg Zoo in Denmark in 2008.

The Aalborg Zoo in Denmark said it would take certain surplus pets such as chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs to be "gently euthanized" and fed to its captive predators.

(Image credit: Henning Bagger)

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Nigeria’s Chronic Electricity Problems

A broken transformer in Badagry, Nigeria that hasn

In Africa’s most populous country more than a third of residents have no access to electricity. Even those connected to the nation’s crumbling power grid cannot rely on it. And the situation isn’t improving. We go to Nigeria to see how people cope with the lack of access to power.

(Image credit: Emmanuel Akinwotu)

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Hurricane Katrina helped change New Orleans' public defender system

Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams (left) at his office in New Orleans, Meghan Garvey, the only full-time public defense attorney in New Orleans who was there in the days just after Hurricane Katrina and Danny Engelberg, head of the Orleans Public Defenders.

In 2006, Ari Shapiro reported on how Hurricane Katrina made an already broken public defender system in New Orleans worse. The court system collapsed in the aftermath of the storm.

Katrina caused horrific destruction in New Orleans. It threw incarcerated people into a sort of purgatory - some were lost in prisons for more than a year.

But the storm also cleared the way for changes that the city's public defender system had needed for decades.

Two decades later, Shapiro returns to New Orleans and finds a system vastly improved.

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Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

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A Texas Republican state lawmaker on the fight for redistricting

Chairs belonging to House Democrats remain empty during a session convocation in the State Capitol, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Austin, Texas.

Texas Republican Tom Oliverson about what's next in the redistricting fight that is going down in the Lone Star state.

(Image credit: Rodolfo Gonzalez)

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Public health experts dismayed by RFK Jr.'s defunding of mRNA vaccine research

A researcher works at the Moderna headquarters in Cambridge, Mass. In May the Trump administration pulled over $700 million committed to Moderna for developing future flu vaccines and this week it cancelled another $500 million in grants to various institutions researching mRNA vaccines.

The Trump administration cancelled about $500 million for research into mRNA vaccines. The move slows progress in using the technology to prevent a future pandemic or treat disease, experts say.

(Image credit: Adam Glanzman/Bloomberg)

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5 soldiers shot at Georgia's Fort Stewart. Suspect is apprehended

This image from video provided by the U.S. Army via DVIDS shows the entrance to Fort Stewart in Georgia on Nov. 18, 2021.

The Army says that law enforcement was dispatched to the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team area at 10:56 a.m. local time and that the "shooter was apprehended at 11:35 a.m."

(Image credit: Staff Sgt. Daniel Guerrero/AP)

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Journalist says greed, nihilism and transnationalism are fueling Sudan's conflict

Fourteen million people in Sudan have been displaced by war and famine. The Atlantic's Anne Applebaum writes about the scale of destruction in her article, "The Most Nihilistic Conflict on Earth."

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The quest to create gene-edited babies gets a reboot

Advances in gene-editing are leading to renewed interest in modifying DNA in human embryos.

There's a fresh push to edit the genes of human embryos to prevent diseases and enhance characteristics that parents value. Bioethicists say just because it's possible doesn't mean it should be done.

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Claire's, the ear-piercing tween mall staple, is bankrupt -- again

An American mall staple, Claire

The chain's bankruptcy filing is the second in seven years. Its troubles include unwieldy debt, shoppers' changing habits and new tariff costs.

(Image credit: Seth Wenig)

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White House envoy Witkoff meets with Putin as deadline looms for Russia to end war

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff shake hands during their meeting in Moscow, Wednesday.

White House envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in a last-ditch effort to convince him to make peace in Ukraine or face punishing new economic penalties by Friday.

(Image credit: Gavriil Grigorov)

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Greetings from Gujarat, India, where a banyan tree is a place for rest, prayers and play

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Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR's international correspondents share snapshots of moments from their lives and work around the world.

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Hiroshima survivors fear rising nuclear threat on the 80th anniversary of atomic bombing

A visitor lights incense sticks at the Peace Memorial Park ahead of the memorial service to mark the 80th anniversary of the WWII U.S. atomic bombing in Hiroshima, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025, in Japan.

With the number of survivors rapidly declining and their average age now exceeding 86, this year's anniversary is considered the last milestone event for many of them.

(Image credit: Louise Delmotte)

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Witkoff in Moscow for peace talks. And, the Voting Rights Act faces new threats

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff is in Russia to discuss the war in Ukraine ahead of a deadline for peace. And, today marks the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, which is facing new threats.

(Image credit: Gavril Grigorov/Pool)

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With $1K in cash aid, he built a life-changing barbershop. Now cash aid is under fire

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This man in Mozambique is one of many who've received a cash sum with no strings attached. The Trump administration has criticized and curtailed the practice. Advocates are pushing back with evidence.

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It's 2025, the year we decided we need a widespread slur for robots

A pair of 1X androids are displayed at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) at ExCel on May 30, 2023 in London, England.

People all over TikTok and Instagram are using the word "clanker" as a catch-all for robots and AI. Here's a deep dive into the origins of the pejorative and an explanation of why it's spreading.

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60 years later, Voting Rights Act protections for minority voters face new threats

President Lyndon B. Johnson moves to shake hands with Martin Luther King Jr. while others look on after Johnson signed the federal Voting Rights Act into law at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 6, 1965.

Sixty years after the Voting Rights Act became a landmark law against racial discrimination, legal challenges heading to the Supreme Court could curtail its remaining protections for minority voters.

(Image credit: Yoichi Okamoto)

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Voice of America director says Trump officials are illegally ousting him

Kari Lake, who is overseeing the U.S. Agency for Global Media, holds up a photo of the Voice of America newsroom as she testifies during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the future of the agency on June 25, 2025.

A judge is demanding answers about the international broadcaster's future from Trump official Kari Lake.

(Image credit: Saul Loeb)

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Nihilistic online networks groom minors to commit harm. Her son was one of them

Dana is mom to a son who, when he was 14, experienced a rapid decline in his mental well-being. A few months later, she came to understand that he had become deeply influenced by predatory online networks that encourage vulnerable people, especially minors, to harm themselves and others. NPR is not using Dana

When Dana's son was hospitalized last year, it led her to a path of discovery about predatory online networks that groom children into harming themselves and others. Their reach is global and growing.

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AI companies are targeting students. Here's how that's changing studying

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Students are increasingly using AI tools to help with — and do — their homework. Here's how older online study services, students and professors are adapting.

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How Pam Bondi has redefined the attorney general role

Attorney General Pam Bondi has redefined the role in President Trump's second presidency, carrying out his campaign trail promised "retribution" using the Justice Department.

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Mexican ranchers struggle to adapt as a parasite ravages cattle exports to the U.S.

A calf is evaluated by a veterinary during a veterinary inspection in Hermosillo, Sonora State, Mexico.

U.S. agriculture officials halted live cattle crossing the border in July due to concerns about the flesh-eating maggot which has been found in southern Mexico and is creeping north.

(Image credit: Fernando Llano)

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NFL and ESPN reach nonbinding agreement for sale of NFL Network and other media assets

ESPN Monday Night Football TV camera is seen during the second half of an NFL football game between the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings on Dec. 20, 2021, in Chicago.

Under the terms, ESPN will acquire NFL Network, NFL Fantasy and the rights to distribute the RedZone channel to cable and satellite operators and the league will get a 10% equity stake in ESPN.

(Image credit: Kamil Krzaczynski)

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RFK Jr. pulls $500 million in funding for mRNA vaccine contracts

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks as President Donald Trump listens at an event to promote his proposal to improve Americans

The Department of Health and Human Services will cancel contracts and pull funding for some vaccines that are being developed to fight respiratory viruses like COVID-19 and the flu.

(Image credit: Mark Schiefelbein)

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Coast Guard says Titan submersible deaths were preventable and faults company's CEO

A still photo from a video recording shows the OceanGate Titan submersible on the ocean floor following an implosion in 2023. Five people died in the accident.

Two years after passengers hoping for a glimpse of the Titanic wreckage died in the Titan submersible implosion, the Coast Guard issued a scathing report, saying the tragedy shouldn't have happened.

(Image credit: Image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard)

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House Oversight Committee subpoenas the Justice Department for Epstein files

The Department of Justice building is seen on July 20, 2025 in Washington, D.C. The House Oversight Committee has issued a subpoena to the DOJ for files related to its investigation of Jeffrey Epstein.

The committee asked the DOJ for files related to its investigation of Jeffrey Epstein. It is also looking to question Bill and Hillary Clinton, among several other former government officials.

(Image credit: Eric Lee)

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