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Ryland Barton (0:15)
In Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has given US Embassies new instructions on how to write the annual human rights reports. It'll downplay the rights of minority groups and focus more on what the US Sees as infringements on free speech in allied countries in Europe. As NPR's Michelle Kellerman reports, Rubio's State.
Michelle Kellerman (0:36)
Department rewrote the Biden administration's Country Reports on human rights. And now embassies have been given instructions on how to keep this year's report brief and focused. A senior State Department official says the department will focus on what the administration describes as natural rights of individuals rather than on marginalized groups. The new instructions encourage embassies to write about affirmative action policies, which the Trump administration opposes, as well as abortion. Rather than focusing on trans rights, the State Department will report on what it calls the chemical or surgical mutilation of children in operations that attempt to modify their sex. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, the State Department.
Ryland Barton (1:20)
A federal judge has issued a blistering dissent after two other judges on the same panel blocked Texas redistricting map from taking effect next year. The case has major ramifications for whether Republicans retain control of the House after the midtermal elections. From Houston Public Media, Andrew Schneider reports.
Andrew Schneider (1:38)
U.S. circuit Judge Jerry E. Smith lost in the 2 to 1 ruling. In a more than 100 page dissent, Smith wrote, the big winners in the case are liberal activists and politicians. At South Texas College of Law, Houston professor Josh Blackmon says Smith argues his fellow judges displayed their own judicial activism.
Josh Blackmon (1:57)
It's unusual for a judge to talk about politics so much, but the basic claim is this is about politics and under the controlling precedent of the circuit, gerrymanor is permissible for political reasons, even if not for racial reasons.
Andrew Schneider (2:09)
The U.S. supreme Court is expected to weigh in. For NPR News, I'm Andrew Schneider in Houston.
Ryland Barton (2:15)
The Trump administration has revised a CDC website to contradict the scientific consensus that vaccines don't cause autism. The update has outraged public health and autism experts. It's part of the Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr's overhaul of U.S. vaccine policy. As NPR's Ping Huang explains, as Health.