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NPR News: 07-21-2026 5PM EDT

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EN

Live from NPR news in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton.

Iran war has cost $37.5 billion so far. Pentagon officials are facing questions and protests

this hour at a Senate hearing about the supplemental budget package to fund the military

and aid to farmers. General Dan Caine says the U.S. is facing military changes challenges the Middle East and across the world. It is an imperative that America's understand that the character of war is changing. Advances in technology are fundamentally and irreversibly changing the way we fight with which necessitates capital to properly arm America's military. In recent days, the Pentagon announced three more Americans died in the Iran war bringing

the U.S. death toll to 17, more than 100 American service members have been injured since early July. The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee has advanced President Trump's

nominee to be the next spy chief, Jay Clayton, refused to acknowledge Joe Biden's 2020

election victory during a confirmation hearing last week. He'll need a majority of the 100

members Senate to be confirmed to the position overseeing the 18 agencies in the U.S. intelligence

community. A U.S. attorney in Seattle is suing over his removal and PR's carry Johnson reports. He was appointed by federal judges this month only to be fired by President Trump the same day. Roger Rogoff is a former federal prosecutor and county judge in Washington State. The federal district court there named him the U.S. attorney in Seattle last week to fill a long standing vacancy. But less than an hour after Rogoff swearing in,

President Trump fired him. Now Rogoff is suing to get the job back, arguing Trump violated the Constitution's appointments clause and exceeded his authority under a federal vacancy statute. It's the latest flashpoint over the president's effort to install interim U.S. attorneys and do an end run around the Senate confirmation process. The Justice Department says Rogoff's firing was within the president's power and the district court did not consult with the O.J. on the

selection. Carrie Johnson and PR news. Authors are celebrating the success of a landmark class action lawsuit over the use of their work to train anthropics AI chat bots and PR's Chloe Velbin reports. Attorneys involved say it's the largest copyright infringement settlement to date. The authors of more than $480,000 books were entitled to receive about $3,000 for each infringed work used to train anthropics models. Authors, Andrea Bartz, Charles Graber, and Kurt

Wallace Johnson sued anthropic in 2024. Authors Guild Director of Policy and Advocacy Umea Carsey says he welcomes the outcome. And we are looking forward to the commencement of the distribution process so authors can start getting paid. Anthropic did not respond to a request for comment. Chloe Velbin and PR news. This is NPR. The U.S. Center for Safe Sport has begun making public announcements of people placed on its disciplinary database.

It's a move designed to increase transparency and bring more attention to what the center believes is one of its top tools in the fight against sex abuse. The center will now share weekly updates about people added to the list. The death toll from the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is nearing 1,000. As NPR's Jonathan Lambert reports much of the spread of the virus is happening outside the view of health officials. It's been more

than two months since the Ebola outbreak was declared in DRC. At least 2400 people have gotten sick

and daily case counts show no signs of slowing down. One of the key ways health officials can

rain in an outbreak is by tracing the contacts of known cases and keeping tabs on them. But according to the World Health Organization, roughly 80% of new cases aren't on health officials list of contacts. That means there are likely entire chains of transmission that health officials don't know about until it's too late. Beating up contact tracing efforts could help bring this percentage down, which is key to getting the outbreak under control. To that end,

WHO officials announced that more than 21,000 community health workers are getting trained up. Jonathan Lambert and PR News. Powerball ticket sales in the United Kingdom begin today allowing players there to compete for the same jackpot as Americans. It's the first time a lottery outside the U.S. contributes to the Powerball jackpot. The odds of winning remain one in

292.2 million. U.S. lottery officials say the expanded player base will help jackpots grow more

quickly. This is NPR. You might have heard of netbo babies, maybe even netbo parents. Now, there's netbo husbands, spouses or partners to high profile women writing on their hotels. All right, it's been a minute. We talk about the many shapes and forms they come in and the scrutiny they face. See what shaping culture this week. Watch or listen to it's been a minute

On the NPR app or YouTube.

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