Up First from NPR

Two hundred and fifty years ago, the Declaration of Independence was signed, marking the birth of a new nation. But if you read the Declaration closely, it’s not just about creating something new;  it’s about ridding itself of something unwanted. It’s a break-up text, announcing secession from the British Crown. Today, that same spirit is fueling a modern-day movement in Illinois. A growing number...

President Trump’s speech at Mount Rushmore turns dark. Despite the heat, Americans are finding ways to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary. Two former Trump allies want to start a new political party. And after four months, Iranians officially mourn Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, killed in Israeli/U.S. airstrikes. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of per...

The United States turns 250 tomorrow, but a brutal heat wave is already forcing cities to cancel parades and fireworks, and Washington D.C. will decide this morning whether the public can even attend its July Fourth events. Russia hit Kyiv with one of the deadliest strikes of the war overnight, firing nearly 600 missiles and drones that killed at least 27 people, Moscow says it's payback for Ukrai...

President Trump and his family brought in more than a billion dollars last year, much of it from cryptocurrency ventures that have dwarfed his real estate business and raised questions about potential conflicts of interest. Democratic socialists scored another big win in Colorado as Melat Kiros upset longtime Congresswoman Diana DeGette in the Democratic primary, the latest in a string of progress...

The Supreme Court closed out its term with a major loss for President Trump, upholding birthright citizenship, though the justices handed him plenty of power elsewhere over the course of the year. Democratic socialist Melat Kiros pulled off a stunning upset in Colorado's primary, unseating a 15-term congresswoman in the third such win for the left in a week, while an anti-Washington mood also cost...

The U.S. Supreme Court wrapped up its term with three consequential decisions, upholding birthright citizenship guarantees, striking down campaign finance limits and allowing trans athlete bans. Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter. This bonus episode of Up First was produced by Ana Perez, Lilly Quiroz, and...

The U.S. and Iran are set to meet in Qatar today after a weekend of trading fire that strained their fragile ceasefire, though the two sides can't even agree on whether the meeting is happening, while in Lebanon a deal meant to end the fighting is drawing fierce backlash from people who say their government sold them out. It's the last day of the Supreme Court's term, with a long-awaited ruling on...

The ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is barely holding after a weekend of strikes, with the U.S. hitting Iran and Iran firing back at American bases in Bahrain and Kuwait, though talks are still set to resume and Israel and Lebanon have reached a deal of their own. Search and rescue efforts continue across Venezuela five days after two powerful earthquakes, with the death toll approaching 1,500...

What happens to famous works of art when they are stolen from museums and private art collections? In the Netherlands, museums and collectors reach out to Arthur Brand, a self-styled art detective who works to track down art that has gone missing and fallen into the criminal underworld.   This week on The Sunday Story , when a famous Van Gogh painting is stolen from a museum, Brand teams up with a...

Three days after twin earthquakes hit Venezuela, rescue teams race against time, President Trump's interest in overhauling elections is not shared by all of his Republican colleagues on Capitol Hill, and New Mexico tries to provide free childcare for all residents. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorsh...

Rescuers in Venezuela are racing to reach thousands still missing after two powerful earthquakes struck seconds apart, with at least 235 people confirmed dead, hundreds still trapped, and U.S. search teams now heading to help. The Supreme Court handed President Trump two big immigration wins, clearing the way for his administration to strip legal status from hundreds of thousands of immigrants and...

Venezuela got hit by two of the most powerful earthquakes in its history, striking seconds apart near the capital and collapsing buildings as the government braces for a high death toll and the U.S. rushes in aid. President Trump blew up a popular bipartisan housing bill both parties wanted, refusing to sign it until the Senate passes his own elections bill that doesn't have the votes, it's the la...

President Trump is having lunch on Capitol Hill today with Senate Republicans, after four GOP senators broke with him to advance a resolution pushing to end the war with Iran and Trump's clashes with Majority Leader John Thune over the filibuster, voter ID, and the president's handling of the war with Iran. Congress passed the largest housing bill in decades last night with strong bipartisan suppo...

The U.S. has lifted oil sanctions on Iran for the first time in decades, letting Tehran sell its oil openly at higher prices meant to push Iran to comply on its nuclear program, even as the two sides are already split over whether Iran agreed to let inspectors back in. President Trump heads to Pennsylvania today to talk up the economy and his promise that gas and grocery prices will fall now that...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has resigned after months of pressure and a collapse of support within his own party, with popular Manchester mayor Andy Burnham his likely successor and on track to become Britain's seventh prime minister in just ten years.  The first round of U.S.-Iran talks wrapped in Switzerland with mediators announcing encouraging progress and a 60-day roadmap toward a fin...

Who are the workers behind the global scam industry?  In Cambodia, more than 200,000 scam workers have been released from fortified compounds, where many of them had been trafficked, held against their will, and forced to work for little pay. The Cambodian government’s recent crackdown has enabled reporters to get a closer look at an industry responsible for defrauding Americans of at least 20 bil...

PART 2: With the Cambodian government’s ongoing crackdown on the scam industry, tens of thousands of former scammers are stranded on the streets of Phnom Penh. Are they being treated as criminals or as victims themselves of a global industry designed to extract their labor? In part 2 of our series on The Sunday Story , investigative reporter Shibani Mahtani continues the story of one Ugandan scam...

Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah renew their ceasefire while Iran and the U.S. try to push ahead with negotiating a broader deal. We'll also look at how the preliminary agreement is being viewed domestically, and at President Trump's G7 appearance. Plus, we'll have the latest on the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where aid is starting to arrive. See pcm.adswizz.com for informati...

The deal to end the war with Iran is already looking shaky, with Vice President Vance delaying his trip to Switzerland to start negotiations and Israel still bombing Lebanon even though the deal says that has to stop. Vance is supposed to lead difficult negotiations with Iran, but he has limited diplomatic experience with a 60 days goal of going through a long list of tough issues still left to se...

President Trump and Iran’s president have signed an initial agreement to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but Israel was left out of the negotiations and Trump is openly criticizing its continued attacks in Lebanon. President Trump is once again putting Senate Republicans in a tough spot, he's holding back his pick for Director of National Intelligence until his demands are met, leavin...

The U.S. and Iran have a deal to end the war but the text remains secret with Israel denied a look and Congress asking to see it, as big questions linger over billions in frozen Iranian funds and the fighting in Lebanon.  President Trump wraps up the G7 summit in France today, saying Iran is now in the rearview mirror as he criticizes Israel over Lebanon and turns his attention to ending the war i...

The U.S.-Iran deal is set to be signed Friday, but Israel finds itself completely sidelined from the agreement and future talks, with none of its core goals on Iran's nuclear program met. President Trump is holding a flurry of meetings on the first full day of the G7 summit in France, huddling with Gulf leaders over the Iran deal and with G7 leaders on how to ramp up pressure on Russia over the wa...

President Trump says a deal has been reached to end the war with Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but the agreement is set to be signed Friday in Switzerland and leaves out Israel, whose opposition is calling it one of the country's worst failures. Just hours after announcing the deal, President Trump hosted a UFC fight on the White House lawn on his 80th birthday for the nation's 250th. And...

In the summer of 2020, sixteen-year-old Antonio Mays Jr. traveled a thousand miles to be part of the racial justice movement. He arrived in Seattle during the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest, known as CHOP. Less than a week later, he was shot and killed there. The case remains unsolved. Today on The Sunday Story, we bring you the first episode of a new series from NPR’s Embedded podcast that investi...

The stalemate in Iran continues to vex the president, the merger of Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery gets an all-clear from Washington, and the Knicks and Spurs fight for the NBA title. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy