NPR News: Posts

NPR News

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is stepping down, White House says

FILE - U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll speaks at the America 250 celebration at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, N.C., June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker, File)

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is stepping down after 18 months on the job, the White House said Monday, in the latest departure of a top military leader during the Trump administration.

(Image credit: Karl B. DeBlaker)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Nearly 200 witnesses to Charlie Kirk shooting apply for victims' benefits in Utah

Meagan Bradley walks to a memorial for Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, Friday, Sept. 12, 2025.

While the high-profile shooting at Utah Valley University had only one homicide victim, Kirk's assassination was witnessed by thousands in person and even more as video spread online.

(Image credit: Lindsey Wasson)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Trump officials cut political interference ban after unusual Census Bureau report

The Trump administration removed language banning political interference from the scientific integrity policy for the Commerce Department, the parent agency of the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which are headquartered in Suitland, Md.

After the Census Bureau issued a report tied to a Trump-aligned think tank, the bureau's parent agency cut language banning political interference from its scientific integrity policy, NPR learned.

(Image credit: Michael Zamora)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Whatever happened to the U.S. famine alert system that Trump shut down, then reopened

A child is screened for malnutrition at a health clinic in Baidoa, Somalia, where drought and other conditions have sparked concerns about famine.

The highly regarded FEWS NET network stopped posting data on Afghanistan, Somalia and Yemen -- then says it will start posting again in September. What's the reason for this back-and-forth?

(Image credit: Sally Hayden/SOPA Images/LightRocket)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Kalshi bans former congressman George Santos for life after State of the Union trades

Former Congressman George Santos has been banned from the prediction market site Kalshi for life after an investigation into accusations of insider trading on betting markets.

Kalshi says Santos did not cooperate with its investigation into bets he placed on his own attendance at the State of the Union. The company also fined the disgraced congressman more than $71,000.

(Image credit: Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

The U.S. sues Amazon again

Federal regulators sued Amazon, alleging the tech giant overcharged advertisers on its platform.

Federal regulators and 22 states allege that the tech giant made billions by manipulating how much brands and sellers paid for ads on its platform.

(Image credit: Patrick T. Fallon)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Paperwork, lines, hours on hold: There's a 'Time Tax' on Americans who need help most

Hospitality workers wait in line to apply for unemployment benefits at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.

Annie Lowrey explores the administrative burdens people face applying for government benefits. It's not just about wasted time: "When the government treats us like this, we don't trust it," she says.

(Image credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Lionel Messi says he's retiring from playing internationally for Argentina

Argentina

He said he wrote his retirement letter after the World Cup final in July, but waited to publish it because his father was facing health issues that eventually claimed his life.

(Image credit: Sergei Grits)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Nepal's hesitance to accept foreign help for flood relief under scrutiny

A drone view of the aftermath of flash flooding along the Trishuli river amidst fresh water surge warning in the Trishuli Bazaar area of Nuwakot district, Nepal, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

A group of the country's private sector power producers says Nepali authorities lost crucial time in rescuing hundreds of people trapped in hydropower tunnels

(Image credit: Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

U.S., Venezuela strike oil deal. And, the staggering hidden toll of U.S. heat deaths

President Trump waves after stepping off Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on Aug. 28, 2026.

The U.S. and Venezuela have entered into an oil deal. And, NPR spent two years tracking heat-related deaths and found that people in the U.S. are dying from heat more than the official counts show.

(Image credit: Kent Nishimura)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Russia's jet-powered drones bring empty Kyiv supermarket shelves and rattle Ukrainians

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service shows a site of a residential building damaged by a Russian guided bomb in the city center of Sloviansk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026.

Russian forces relentlessly battered Kyiv and cities in the region around the Ukrainian capital for a fifth straight day, leaving some supermarket shelves bare after repeated strikes on warehouses.

(Image credit: Ukrainian Emergency Service via)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Attacks flare between U.S., Iran after month-long pause

FILE - A small boat sails past cargo ships and other commercial vessels anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP, File)

U.S. threats erupt into attacks in the Strait of Hormuz; Iran retaliates against U.S. targets in the UAE and Jordan in the first exchange of fire since July 29

(Image credit: Amirhosein Khorgooi)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Singapore is scrambling to stabilize birthrates. Experts say there are lessons for the U.S.

Pedestrians cross a road in Singapore

Singapore has unveiled a national initiative built entirely around its collapsing birthrate. Some demographers say the plan includes policy ideas that could help American parents.

(Image credit: ROSLAN RAHMAN)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Why too many women are prescribed antibiotics for UTIs they don't have

study found that many women treated for recurrent UTIs didn't have UTIs at all. Instead, their symptoms were caused by hormonally driven inflammation and pelvic floor dysfunction.'/>

A recent study found that many women treated for recurrent UTIs didn't have UTIs at all. Instead, their symptoms were caused by hormonally driven inflammation and pelvic floor dysfunction.

(Image credit: BSIP/Universal Images Group)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

The U.S. Venezuela oil deal won't lower your gas prices. Here's what you need to know

A pedestrian walks past a mural featuring oil wells in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Aug 29, 2026, a day after President Donald Trump announced a deal giving the United States a stake in Venezuela

The Trump administration announced a deal Friday to develop a vast amount of Venezuela's oil reserves, with the U.S. taking a majority stake. Energy experts say there are many reasons to be skeptical.

(Image credit: Pedro Mattey)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

NPR spent 2 years tracking deaths from heat. We found a staggering hidden toll

undefined

An NPR investigation found that people in the U.S. are dying from heat much more often than official counts show. We explore the reasons why — and how lives can be saved.

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Hit shows from Edinburgh's Fringe festival are coming to America. Here are our top picks

Jake Brasch and Nadja Leonard-Hopper are the duo the behind the musical Hole!, coming to New York this December.

The annual "anything goes" performing arts festival featured more than 4,200 performances this year. These are the ones we're still talking about.

(Image credit: Chewboy)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Morning news brief

Trump says U.S. struck a deal to take control of 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil, U.S. and Iran resume exchanging strikes, funding at the top of the agenda as House reconvenes.

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Arizona's taps won't run dry, but water bills will go up under federal plan for Colorado River

The Central Arizona Project canal winds through Phoenix on March 26, 2026. The 336-mile canal system pumps water from the Colorado River to the Phoenix and Tucson areas. Water supplies for the canal

New federal rules mean Arizona will be getting a lot less water from the Colorado river. City leaders say they've been planning for years and no one will run out, but keeping taps flowing is expensive.

(Image credit: Alex Hager)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

What Argentina gets right about youth soccer — and what the U.S. gets wrong

Children wait to play football in the minor leagues of Newell

Argentina has produced some of the world's greatest soccer players. Could its youth system offer lessons for the United States?

(Image credit: Eitan Abramovich)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Families of pilgrims likely caught in floods are desperate for news from Nepal

A young boy is helped by a women to put up a photograph of her missing relative on a wall alongside photographs of missing and deceased people displayed outside a government hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026.

Four days after catastrophic floods wiped out villages along the Nepal-China border, thousands are still missing. Families look for answers but hear nothing.

(Image credit: Dar Yasin)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Canada claps back at Trump's efforts to rename Lake Ontario as 'Lake America'

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, right, and Niagara West Member of Provincial Parliament Sam Oosterhoff unveil a sign for Lake Ontario at the Fifty Point Conservation Area in Grimsby, Ontario, Canada, on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026. (Keito Newman/The Canadian Press via AP)

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has unveiled a giant billboard reading: "Lake Ontario — Now and Always." But tech giant Google has said it is renaming the lake for U.S. users, as President Trump demanded.

(Image credit: Keito Newman/The Canadian Press)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Exclusive: Meet the inaugural winner of Fat Marmot Week

The first ever Fat Marmot Week ends on August 30, 2026.

Dawn was crowned fattest marmot by popular vote.

(Image credit: Eric Philips)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Politics chat: more tariffs, mail-in voting order, Kushner-Jeffries meeting

Real economic sanctions on Canada and economic threats to countries trading with Iran may work against Republicans in the midterm elections.

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Are you sure that Kimmel clip was real? Late-night AI deepfakes are spreading online

A fake video of Jimmy Kimmel.

While social media is rife with AI celebrity deepfakes, videos featuring late night TV hosts like Jimmy Kimmel and Jon Stewart are are easier to create than other kinds of deepfakes and potentially more disruptive.

(Image credit: ALAMIN_TUBE)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

WATCH LIVE: NASA's newest space telescope launches today

NASA

The tour-bus-sized telescope aims to unravel cosmic mysteries and identify more than 100,000 planets beyond our solar system.

(Image credit: Joel Kowsky)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

How a comic book store got swept into the tariff storm

Marc Bowker, owner of Alter Ego Comics in Lima, Ohio, says tariffs have created stress and uncertainty for his small business.

Tariffs continue to rile all kinds of American businesses more than a year after Trump unveiled his first set of tariffs — including a comic book store owner in Ohio.

(Image credit: Maddie McGarvey for NPR)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

From Appalachia to Africa: Why Dolly Parton was beloved across the continent

Nigerian country singer Ochiora Okogeri, popularly known as The Country Man, performs Dolly Parton songs during International Cowboy Day celebrations in Nairobi in July 2026.

Dolly Parton's songs traveled far beyond Nashville. Across Africa, musicians embraced her stories of hardship, heartbreak and humble beginnings — and made them their own.

(Image credit: Luis Tato)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Nepal warns of possible fresh flooding as communities grapple with devastation

A drone view shows rescue workers inspect the area and damaged structures following recent flash flooding along the Trishuli River in the Devighat area of Nuwakot district, Nepal, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026.

Authorities in Nepal warned of possible fresh flooding on Sunday and urged residents in flood-affected districts to remain on high alert after water levels rose in the Bhotekoshi River.

(Image credit: Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Continue Reading…

NPR News

Medicare's pilot GLP-1 discount program has a catch. Some sick patients don't qualify

In January, Jeff La Marca got a prescription for the popular weight loss drug Zepbound, but he couldn

Medicare launched a pilot program that could streamline the process to get GLP-1s, with some seniors paying just $50 a month. But many people with the most serious illnesses won't get that discount.

(Image credit: Erica S. Lee)

Continue Reading…