Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst.
President Trump says the U.S. will launch economic warfare against Iran, threatening severe
“financial penalties on any company a country that helps Tehran evade sanctions.”
This is oil struggles to move through the Strait of Hormuz as the U.S. is really worn Iran is now in its sixth month. And here's Ayah Betrayo, he has more. We've seen maximum economic pressure before by President Trump, but this is a step beyond Trump because now there is that naval blockade in place.
And it is blocking Iran from being able to export its oil. And this pivot from bombings to blockade comes as AAA says gas prices in the U.S. are up 30% on average from a year ago, so in many states, people are paying $1 or more per gallon than they were. Now that is because of Iran's chokehold on the state of Hormuz since the beginning of
the war. And here's Ayah Betrayo reporting. And PR has learned an unusual census bureau report, the President Trump says shows widespread illegal voting by non-U.S. citizens has ties to a Trump aligned think tank. And here's Hansel O'Wang reports data and election experts say the reports conclusions
are questionable.
“In a social media post, President Trump claimed the Census Bureau's initial analysis”
of more than 128 million voter records from 2020, "proves that over 24,000 non-citizens
voted illegally." On quote, Trump said the final number will quote, "explode after the bureau checks more records." Many past studies and audits, however, show illegal voting by non-U.S. citizens is incredibly rare.
The Census Bureau's report lists no authors and gives little explanation about how it analyzed records. And PR has learned that analysis was not done by career civil servants, and the team behind it included individuals affiliated with America First Policy Institute, a think tank started by officials from Trump's first administration.
It's a going to a bureau employee who MVR agreed not to name because they fear retaliation at work. People for the bureau and the think tank did not respond to a request for comment. On Zilawang, NPR News
Two Texas-based oil companies, SLB and Hunt Oil are among the first to enter agreements
“with Venezuela, according to the country's oil minister on state-owned media this week.”
Natalie Weber from Houston Public Media has more. The Trump administration has spent months trying to convince skeptical U.S. companies to invest in Venezuela's oil resources. After the capture of President Nicolas Madorra, Francisco Manoldi is the director of Race Universities Latin America Energy Program.
He says these agreements are a significant milestone. These could open up a new wave of investment. Still, we have to wait and see if companies actually deploy their resources. Venezuela and Energy leaders addressed oil and gas executives at a conference in Houston this week.
We are urging further investment in the South American country. Many top U.S. energy executives have remained hesitant to get involved in Venezuela, facing uncertainty about the country's political stability. Natalie Weber reporting, you're listening to NPR News from Washington. According to China, has sent us the founder of Evergrande Group once one of China's biggest
property developers to life in prison. If you're a Jennifer Pack reports from Beijing that his company's downfall once triggered worries of a Lehman Brothers style crew. At the industry's peak, Evergrande and the rest of the real estate sector drove about a quarter of China's economic growth.
Evergrande's founders, Xi Jinping, also known by his Cantonese name, Huikaiyan, spent lavishly on land, on a soccer team, on ferry land, theme parks, to rival Disneyland. Evergrande borrowed money, cheaply, to grow. Evergrande's property firms did the same. Evergrande was just more brazen.
By 2021, Evergrande had racked up more than $300 billion in debt.
Xi pleaded guilty to eight charges, including taking public deposits, and will have all his property confiscated. But the downfall of Evergrande and other property firms continue to be a drag on China's economic growth. Jennifer Pack and BR News Beijing.
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan are moving back to the UK for an extended stay, but won't be resuming their roles as working members of the Royal Family. A source familiar with their plans tells NPR the couple's two children, Prince Archie who's seven and five-year-old Princess Little bit have been enrolled in a British school starting in September.
Last month, they came to the UK on vacation, visiting Harry's father King Charles, who was notified of the couple's plans last weekend. Charles has said he "welcome" the news. He was featured contract, so trading in mixed territory this morning. I'm Chineen Herbst and PR News in Washington.
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