NPR News: 07-17-2026 4AM EDT
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Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder. During his primetime speech to the nation Thursday evening, President Trump revived his long-running allegations about U.S. election security, focusing heavily on China. NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben.
How did President Trump frame claims about Chinese interference in U.S. elections?
Well, he said he's declassifying and releasing documents regarding the security of U.S. elections. And he talked about those documents as covering any number of theories about how he says U.S. elections have been interfered with, including by foreign actors like China. Now, to be upfront. We're being careful how we talk about this because, like you said, Trump has spread disinformation and lies about elections for years.
Trump claimed that Beijing improperly acquired data about millions of U.S. voters, saying that presents an unprecedented election security nightmare. His remarks contradict U.S. intelligence findings, and a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington said China has never and will never interfere in U.S. presidential elections. Trump's remarks about China come about two months before leader Xi Jinping is due in Washington for a summit. Trump administration has announced a new round of 26% tariffs on some products from Brazil. Catherine Osborne reports on the decision that followed a year-long trade investigation.
The Trump administration put heavy tariffs on Brazil last year, using an emergency legal authority that has since been struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. Now it's used a different pathway based on a probe of what it calls unfair trade practices. Brazil's government rejects that characterization and has been in talks with Washington to try to head off the duties. Thousands of products will have exemptions. the tariffs have become a major issue in Brazil's presidential election. A prominent right-wing Brazilian politician defended the tariffs last year. But when they arrived, its left-wing president, who's running for re-election, saw a popularity bump as he fought them. For NPR News, I'm Catherine Osborne in Rio de Janeiro.
To Ukraine, the dismissal of the country's tech-savvy defense minister has sparked protests around the country expected to continue today. NPR's Joannika Kicis reports from Kyiv the outgoing defense minister's tenure coincided with a dramatic shift in Ukraine's favor on the battlefield.
Mikhailo Fedorov, who is 35, had been in the defense job just six months. Speaking to reporters, Fedorov said he struggled to work with Ukraine's old-school military chief, Oleksandr Sirski. Fedorov said Sirski blocked attempts at innovation. Instead of figuring out how to defeat Russia asymmetrically, Fedorov said, the commander of Ukraine's forces has figured out how to divide the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy removed Fedorov from the post as part of a government reshuffle. The dismissal sparked demonstrations in Ukrainian cities. Protesters demand that Fedorov be reinstated. Joanna Kakisis, NPR News, Kyiv.
This is NPR News. A team of scientists has found a kind of sugar in the center of our galaxy.
What contradictions did NPR identify between Trump's claims and U.S. intelligence assessments?
The discovery may have implications for how life began, NPR's Ari Daniel reports.
To look for clues about where the ingredients of life came from, researchers pointed two telescopes at the space between the stars of the Milky Way. This interstellar medium is a chemical factory that produces a range of organic molecules, including, the scientists just announced, a four-carbon sugar. Astrophysicist Idaskun Jimenez-Serra at the Center for Astrobiology says the discovery was thrilling.
Your heart starts beating super fast. You get super excited.
The results suggest that sugars may have been incorporated into asteroids as they coalesced in the interstellar medium. Such a space rock could have then struck the early Earth, sweetening the stage for the emergence of life here. Ari Daniel, NPR News.
Britain's King of the North will take a step closer to becoming Prime Minister today. Andy Burnham is to become leader of the ruling Labour Party during a special party conference. Burnham is the former mayor of Greater Manchester and is the only candidate in the contest to replace Keir Starmer.
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