Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Levy 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 Ordonia's reports, the White House says the president wants them to hear the Iranians out. "The president's envoy Steve Whitkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner will travel Saturday to meet with Iranian officials, according to Press Secretary Caroline Levitt." "We hope progress will be made, and we hope that positive developments will
come from this meeting, and we will see. And 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 the Iran's foreign minister.
This would represent a shift in Iran's positions, 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 Chady Vance to Pakistan, if necessary.
“Franco Ordonia's 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 Worsh, and PR's Ryan Lucas reports. The U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C. Jeanine Piero, says in a statement on X, "That our office is closing its investigation into Fed chair Jerome Powell over cost overruns
in the renovations of the Fed's headquarters." Piero says instead, the federal reserves and 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 Worsh, and list the DOJ dropped its investigation.
“Now the decision to do exactly that appears to clear the way for the Senate to move forward”
on Worsh's nomination, Ryan Lucas and PR 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. Many zones of member-station WABE in Atlanta says evacuation orders are being constantly
updated because shifting winds are forcing the fires to change direction. South East 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's 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, and PR's Ruth Sherlock reports. This is 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. Ruth Sherlock, MPI News Canada is seeing a surge in applications for citizenship from Americans,
after Canadian law changed in December loosening the requirements. It opens citizenship to anyone who can prove they have a Canadian ancestor, not just a parent. Under the new law, descendants of Canadians are now considered citizens, but they must provide proof to obtain a certificate of citizenship. Immigration lawyers in the U.S. and Canada say they've been overwhelmed by clients.
It's NPR News.
