NPR News: 09-12-2025 8AM EDT

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Live from NPR News in Washington on Corva Coleman, authorities investigating the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk are offering a $100,000 reward.

It's for information leading to the capture of the shooting suspect.

Authorities have not located the man, and that's rattled Jennifer Gomez, who lives in the Utah community of Orem.

That's when it comes really scary.

You know, it's scary to send my kids to school nowadays, and

it's just, you never know.

Authorities have also released a video and photographs of the suspect, a man dressed mostly in black.

Senate Republicans are changing the rules to make it easier to confirm President Trump's nominees, as NPR's Barbara Sprunt reports the change will enable the chamber to approve certain nominees in groups rather than by individual vote.

The vote comes after months of Republican lawmakers criticizing their Democratic counterparts for dragging out the confirmation process, one of the few elements of power the minority party has in GOP unified government.

The new rule allows the Senate to consider non-cabinet-level nominees in batches.

The Senate is expected to finalize the rules change next week, which covers sub-cabinet and ambassador nominees, not judicial nominees.

Democrats strongly oppose the change.

Senate Republicans use the rule to advance a package of 48 nominees, which will likely be confirmed next week.

Barbara Sprunt and Peer News, Washington.

The Prime Minister of Qatar is in Washington today for meetings with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The State Department says the meetings will be at the White House.

This comes after Israel conducted an airstrike on Qatar's capital Tuesday.

Israel was targeting top Hamas leaders.

Six people died, but none appear to be senior Hamas leaders.

Qatar and other Arab nations are furious.

The UN Security Council will meet today to talk about Russia's incursion into Poland this week.

More than a dozen Russian attack drones entered Polish airspace.

Polish and NATO aircraft shot down some of the drones.

Two top British figures, one government minister and one royal, have both arrived in Ukraine on separate missions.

NPR's Lauren Freyer has more from London.

The United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper, is in Kyiv on her first trip there since taking that office just one week ago.

She's unveiling a hundred new Russia-related sanctions.

They're targeting ships carrying Russian oil and companies and business people supplying electronics, chemicals, and explosives to make Russian weapons.

Meanwhile, Prince Harry has also made a surprise trip to the Ukrainian capital as part of his charity work.

Ukraine is bidding to host the Invictus Games.

That's a Paralympics-like competition for wounded veterans, which Harry founded in 2014 and still runs.

This is Harry's second trip to Ukraine so far this year.

Lauren Fryer, NPR News, London.

On Wall Street in pre-market trading, Dow futures are down by about 100 points.

This is NPR.

President Trump has filed an emergency request with a federal appeals court.

He wants to fire Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook.

Lower courts have blocked him.

Trump wants to fire Cook, the first black woman to hold the job, before Fed policymakers meet next next week to decide on interest rates.

Trump has been angry that the Fed hasn't cut rates yet.

Separately, the Senate is scheduled to vote Monday on Trump's nomination of Stephen Myron to serve as a temporary Fed governor.

If quickly confirmed, Myron would be able to vote in next week's Federal Reserve meeting about short-term interest rates.

More than 200 recent heat waves were made worse by human-caused global warming and the activity of fossil fuel producers.

NPIRE's Julia Simon reports on the findings of a major study out this week.

First, the scientists found that 213 heat waves were substantially more likely and intense because of climate change.

But that wasn't all.

The team from ETH Zurich University used a database of major fossil fuel producers and calculated how much their greenhouse gas emissions contributed to global warming.

They found dozens of heat waves would be virtually impossible without the activity of big fossil fuel companies because of how high their emissions are.

As states, cities, and countries sue oil companies for damages from climate disasters, climate researchers say studies attributing specific events to specific corporations could become important in litigation.

ExxonMobil, BP, and Chevron did not respond to NPR's request for comment.

Julia Simon, NPR News.

And I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News, in Washington.

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