NPR News: 04-24-2026 4PM EDT
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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Libby Casey. President Trump is sending two of his top negotiators, though not the vice president, to Pakistan to meet with Iranian officials. As NPR's Franco Ordonez reports, the White House says the president wants them to hear the Iranians out.
The president's envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will travel Saturday to meet with Iranian officials, according to Press Secretary Caroline Lovett.
We hope progress will be made, and we hope that positive developments will come from this meeting, and we will see. And the president, the vice president, the secretary of state will be waiting here in the United States for updates.
According to Iranian state media, they'll meet with Iran's foreign minister. This would represent a shift in Iran's position, as leaders previously vowed that they would not attend the talks with the Americans until the U.S. blockade is lifted. Levitt said the White House will be ready to send Vice President J.D. Vance to Pakistan if necessary. Franco Ordonez, NPR News, the White House.
The Justice Department is dropping its investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The decision likely paves the way for the Senate to confirm President Trump's nominee to head the central bank, Kevin Warsh. NPR's Ryan Lucas reports.
The U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro, says in a statement on X that her office is closing its investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell over cost overruns in the renovations of the Fed's headquarters. The Bureau says instead the Federal Reserve's inspector general has been asked to examine the cost issues. The Justice Department's investigation into Powell generated major blowback for the Trump administration when the probe's existence became public earlier this year. It prompted North Carolina Republican Senator Tom Tillis to threaten to block President Trump's pick to replace Powell at the Fed, Kevin Warsh, unless the DOJ dropped its investigation. Now the decision to do exactly that appears to clear the way for the Senate to move forward
on Warsh's nomination. Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington.
Wildfires burning across parts of Georgia and Florida are being fueled by extreme drought, high winds, and dry vegetation. Georgia's governor says more than 120 homes have been destroyed in his state. Emily Jones of member station WABE in Atlanta says evacuation orders are being constantly updated. because shifting winds are forcing the fires to change direction.
Southeast Georgia is usually a really rainy and humid place. So typically when fires like this do start, they can contain them pretty quickly. But I cannot overstate how dry it is right now. We have had record low rainfall since September. And that means the trees, the underbrush, everything is just super dry. It's catching fire really quickly. And the fire officials I spoke to yesterday said it's unlikely this is going to be over anytime soon.
Emily Jones of WABE. There is not much rain forecast for Georgia's rural southwest, the area being hardest hit. This is NPR. A United Nations-backed report on food crises around the world finds that food insecurity and malnutrition remain, quote, alarmingly high, and that acute hunger has doubled over the past decade. NPR's Ruth Sherlock reports.
the first time in the 10-year history of the Global Report on Food Crisis that two famines were confirmed in the same year, one in parts of Gaza and the other in Sudan. Both of these are man-made, the result of conflicts rather than environmental causes like drought. The authors of the report, experts with UN-affiliated Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, find that globally in 2025, nearly 369 million people in 38 countries and territories are living one shock away from a food crisis. Ten countries, including Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen, account for two-thirds of people facing high levels of acute hunger. Conflict, weather extremes and forced displacement continue to be the main drivers for food insecurity and malnutrition in the world.
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