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- [00:01]
Carvana Finance Announcer
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Lakshmi Singh
Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. British authorities have arrested former Prince Andrew, one of the most prominent known associates of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He's accused of misconduct in public office. His brother, King Charles iii, says he supports a full, fair and proper investigation. The US Military looks to be sending even more ships and top of the line warplanes to the Middle East. This coming as the US And Iran are still discussing a possible nuclear deal. Here's NPR's Greg Myhre.
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Greg Myhre
The Pentagon isn't talking about the U.S. military buildup, but flight tracking groups on social Media say the US is moving around 50 more fighter jets to countries near Iran. And President Trump has confirmed a second aircraft carrier is on the way. He says he favors a nuclear deal with Iran, which would necessitate more negotiations. Yet he's also voiced support for regime change in that country, which would likely require a major US Military operation. Iran says it's prepared to retaliate if attacked by the US Or Israel. Greg Myhre, NPR News, Washington.
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Lakshmi Singh
President Trump raised concerns about Iran's nuclear program today and we do have some
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Donald Trump
work to do with Iran. They can't have a nuclear weapon. It's very simple. They can't have you can't have peace in the Middle east if they have a nuclear weapon and they can't have a nuclear weapon. And they've been told that very strongly.
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Lakshmi Singh
Trump speaking at the first meeting of his board of peace in Washington, D.C. some U.S. allies expressed concern that Trump's board of peace would rival the United Nations. Fire crews in Oklahoma are facing down multiple wildfires. Governor Kevin Stitt tells NPR he declared emergencies in three counties.
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Kevin Stitt
Evacuate the town of Tyrone Woodward. They're about 15 to 20% contained, but we have about, I don't know, 150,000 acres so far that's burned, reports of livestock that were damaged.
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Lakshmi Singh
He says firefighters are dealing with powerful wind gusts and low humidity, further complicating containment efforts. The US Trade deficit jumped more than expected in December. NPR Scott Horsley reports. For all of last year, the trade gap barely budged despite President Trump's much
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Scott Horsley
higher tariffs widened sharply in December, topping $70 billion. Exports were down during the month while imports were up. For all of 2025, the trade deficit was just over $900 billion. That's down from the previous year, but only by about 2/10 of 1%. New applications for unemployment benefits dipped last week as 206,000 people applied for aid. The modest numbers suggest that while US Employers are not adding a lot of jobs, they're not laying a lot of people off either way. Walmart reported another strong quarter of sales and profits as even upscale shoppers go looking for discounts. The retail giant issued a cautious forecast, though, about what's ahead. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.
- [03:11]
Lakshmi Singh
From Washington, this is NPR News. All but one of the Trump appointed members of the U.S. commission of Fine Arts are signing off on construction of the White House ballroom despite heavy public opposition. A commission staff member says 99% of the the roughly 2,000 written comments sent in were negative. A new study shows the expanded federal care subsidies that expired at the end of last year led more people in the US to sign up for health insurance. Scott Mascioni with member station WYPR says that is. According to researchers at Johns Hopkins University,
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Scott Mascioni
subsidies enacted during the COVID 19 pandemic led to significant enrollment gains among children, black and Hispanic people and those who live in rural areas, according to the the data analysis. In total, researchers found the number of people enrolled in health insurance increased about 7% after the subsidies were implemented in 2021. Paul Jacobs is a health policy scientist at JHU.
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Paul Jacobs
Effectively, with these enhanced tax credits, we ran a five year natural experiment on what happens when you make insurance affordable and it shows that it works. You know, you lower the price and people will take up that coverage.
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Scott Mascioni
The expanded premium tax credits expired this year and were not renewed by Congress. The Congressional Budget Office estimates about four people will lose coverage without the subsidies. For NPR News, I'm Scott Maccione in Baltimore.
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Lakshmi Singh
U.S. stocks are trading lower this hour. The Dow is now down nearly 400 points, or more than three quarters of a percent at 49,261. The Nasdaq is down 150 points, S&P is off 42 points.
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Throughline Podcast Narrator
It's NPR on the Throughline podcast from NPR, the former slaveholder who took on the KKK and won.
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Donald Trump
He became more and more and more militant as time went on.
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Throughline Podcast Narrator
Listen to Throughline in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.