Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Kristen Wright.
U.S. Central Command says it carried out a 12th straight night of strikes against Iran. And Yemen's Iran backed hoothy rebels, say they struck two oil tankers in the Red Sea. As a result, oil prices are surging, NPR's deepest shiverong reports. Gas prices are going up again. Inflation is up, and at the same time that Americans are struggling with these higher prices,
defends Secretary Pete Heggsett said this week that the Iran war so far has cost 37.5 billion dollars.
“That's what the B, which is pretty big for a price tag for a war that Trump said would end”
months ago. And not to mention American troops who have been killed and injured in action as well. President Trump blamed inflation on the Biden administration during a rally in Marietta, Georgia yesterday. House Republicans advanced a $95 billion budget blueprint, mostly for the war with Iran. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held direct talks with his Russian counterpart on the sidelines of a minister summit in the Philippines today.
NPR's Charles Mains reports their conversation focused heavily on Russia's war in Ukraine.
The meeting between Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last
just over half an hour, ahead of it Rubio said the U.S. remained open to playing a role in ending the conflict between Russian Ukraine if Rubio added the opportunity presented itself.
“Russian Foreign Ministry read-outs said Lavrov had informed Rubio of the real situation on the battlefield.”
Russian cysts, its forces, are steadily advancing that despite Western intelligence that shows minimal Russian gains coming with heavy losses. Lavrov also said Moscow remained open to a U.S. brokered settlement, pointing to inherent agreements reached between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin during their summit in Alaska last year. Charles Mains impure news. Moscow In India, young men and women have taken to the streets to demonstrate against the government.
NPR's Dia Hadid reports this comes after police crack down on protesters trying to march on to Parliament earlier this week. In New Delhi, organizers asked citizens to stop sending food parcels. They were inundated with donations. These protests began as a sit-in more than 20 days ago to demand education reforms,
“but the mood changed after a widely respected educator on a hunger strike was forcibly taken to”
hospital. Thousands tried to march on Parliament on Monday but were violently pushed back. Now protest is a chanting against the Prime Minister Marty, a man once seen as widely popular and untouchable. Dia Hadid and Pianus This is NPR news from Washington.
The European Union is finding Google, a billion dollars for breaking digital anti-trust regulations.
The EU says Google set up its search engine and Google play to favor its own services over competitors. The European Commission says it is protecting consumers. In the Western U.S., summer monsoon rains are delivering much needed moisture, but as Rachel Cohen of the Mountain West News Bureau reports, the rains also bring the risk of floods and mudslides. Rain can quickly escalate to dangerous flooding. In steep
canyon, dry washes are downstream of land recently scorched by wildfires. Says Julie Infelton, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction, Colorado. With those burned scars, the soil can become hydrophobic, meaning that a lot of that water that falls into the soil is just going to run right off of it. So debris flows are a big concern. In Utah, flood waters is past week, push mud and trees from the cotton would fire down
the state's beaver canyon forcing evacuations. Mudslides from heavy rains also disrupted travel in Colorado closing portions of inner state 70 and smaller roads. The National Weather Service warns more storms this week, mean additional flood risk throughout the region. For MPR News, I'm Rachel Cohen in Boulder, Colorado. Tropical storm, Bertha is moving west, just south of Louisiana's coast. This morning, it's about
95 miles from Lake Charles. Bertha is expected to make landfall later today, along the northeast turn Gulf Coast. The tropical storm is not expected to get much stronger. I'm Kristen Wright and this is NPR News from Washington. Support for NPR. The last time Antonio May's senior heard from his son, it was in a note, the 16 year old left in the family's garage. He told me he was going to make me cry. Antonio Junior left home to join a protest in Seattle. A week later, he was shot and killed
there. Listen to we keep us safe on the embedded podcast from NPR.
