NPR News: 07-16-2025 7AM EDT

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NPR News Now 4 min 4 speakers 5 chapters transcribed 22 days ago

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Why is President Trump downplaying the shipment of long‑range weapons to Ukraine?

Kristen Wright 0:01

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Christian Wright. President Trump is downplaying the possibility of sending long range weapons to Ukraine. They would allow Ukraine to strike deeper into Russian territory to fight off attacks. Trump announced a plan Monday to deliver US made Patriot Air Defense missile systems to Kyiv. Speaking to reporters last night when returning to Washington, Trump said those arms are on the way.

Unknown 0:23

They're already being shipped. From what countries? They're coming in from Germany and then replaced by Germany and in all cases the United States gets paid back in full.

Kristen Wright 0:33

Russia has launched massive strikes against Ukraine since Trump announced the weapon sale, including in Ukrainian President Zelensky's hometown.

What happened at the Gaza food distribution site and why is it controversial?

Kristen Wright 0:41

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation confirms at least twenty people were killed at a few food distribution site in Gaza today. They say nearly all of them were trampled. The site is run by a US and Israel backed group. Immigration authorities are defending a new tactic to locate people living in the country illegally. The Associated Press says landlords are receiving subpoenas from the Trump administration for information about their tenants, but question if they're legally required to comply, MPR's Tovia Smith reports.

Tovia Smith 1:10

Landlords are getting written demands to share leases, tenants forwarding addresses and ID cards from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services Anti Fraud Unit, according to the AP, but the subpoenas are not signed by a judge or Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Trisha McLaughlin declined to comment on whether or how many subpoenas are being sent to landlords, saying in a statement to NPR that DHS would not comment on its tactics, but she added subpoenas don't need to be signed by a judge to be binding. Failure to comply with an ICE issued administrative subpoena, she said, may result in serious legal penalties. Tovia Smith, NPR News.

How are landlords being targeted by ICE subpoenas and what are the legal risks?

Kristen Wright 1:50

The massive tax and spending bill that President Trump signed july fourth will end tax incentives for wind and solar projects. A nonpartisan think tank expects that to drive up electricity bills, NPR's Michael Copley reports.

Michael Copley 2:03

Without tax incentives, the cost of wind and solar projects will go up, and the country will likely use more natural gas to generate electricity, pushing up power prices nationwide by at least 9% over the next decade, according to Energy Innovation, a nonpartisan think tank. The increase could be much higher in Republican-led states that don't encourage renewable energy projects, which are often cheaper to run than gas plants. Energy Innovation says power bills will likely increase. increase by between sixty and three hundred and fifty percent in Oklahoma by twenty thirty five. A White House spokesperson, Taylor Rogers, said in a statement to NPR that President Trump is taking steps to boost U.S.

Michael Copley 2:39

energy production. Michael Copley, NPR News.

What impact will ending tax incentives for wind and solar have on U.S. electricity prices?

Kristen Wright 2:42

The Senate has advanced President Trump's request to take back more than a billion dollars previously allocated to the corporation for public broadcasting, along with almost eight billion earmarked for international efforts to combat famine and disease. This is NPR News. China is launching a new digital identification system for Internet users. Authorities say it's optional and will protect people's privacy. NPR's Emily Fang reports, however, the new system has raised concerns of more state

Emily Fang 3:12

surveillance. The national ID system will be a ten digit code assigned to each person through a system being mostly administered by the country's powerful public security ministry. Every person could then use that ID to register accounts on social media or e-commerce sites, protecting their personal information from being recorded and saved by individual platforms. But the ID system also means China's police will be able to more easily identify every person's online activity. In practice, that already can happen.

What are the concerns around China’s new digital national ID system for internet users?

Emily Fang 3:43

In the last decade, China has built up a formidable set of overlapping online censorship and surveillance systems, which authorities use to suppress dissent.