NPR News: 09-04-2026 5AM EDT

0:00This message comes from Schwab. Investing with Schwab is like a hike with endless trails. Go solo with self-directed investing. Take stops along the way with trading or choose a guide with full service wealth management. Whatever trails you take, you can invest your way with Schwab. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dave Mattingley. Search teams in the Paul say they rescued two hydropower plant workers nine days after a glacier collapse triggered deadly flash flooding near the border with Tibet. NPR's Dia Hadid says the two are among hundreds of workers believed to have been trapped at around a dozen such plants. Video shared by Nipol's military showed five men in high viz, amid a moonscape of mud and debris. They heave and pull out one man from the Trishuli 3A hydropower project. The Associated Press reports that more than a hundred people are believed trapped inside that project alone.

1:00Rescuers believe hundreds of power plant workers likely sheltered in tunnels and turbine rooms during the devastating floods. But the plants were hard to locate after the floods caused the river to shift and the tunnels are packed with mud and boulders. One rescuer tells NPR that finding these men alive gives them hope that others might still be out there. Dia Hadid in P.R. News. More than 1200 people are confirmed dead in that flooding. Several thousand are still missing. Vice President Vance says it's up to Iran as to when the war with the US ends. NPR's Emily Fang says Vance also says at this point he wouldn't describe the most recent exchanges of fire as a war. Asked whether the Iran war would be over by the midterms the first week of November, the Vice President disputed whether the conflict is really a war and continued. I think the reality is I don't know the answer to that question. You would have to ask the Iranians. When will the Iranians shooting at ships stop having an effect on world energy markets

2:00and the answer is it has less effect day by day? Earlier this week, Iran's president said his country is willing to go back to a ceasefire it reached with the US in June if the Trump administration is willing to do so as well. But Vance said the US is not talking to Iran and not looking to start negotiations until Iran stops shooting up vessels. Emily Fang and Pyrrhus Dwight House. The fighting between the US and Iran is in its seventh month. Early on, President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Higgseth repeatedly said the war would last weeks, not months. Triple A says diesel prices in the US are at an all-time high. The price rose another $0.7 a gallon overnight. Diesel now averages $5.85 a gallon nationwide. Under diesel prices, raised transportation costs which hikes the cost of many consumer goods. Economists will get their latest look at employment in the US when the Labor Department releases the August hiring numbers this morning. In July, employers shed about 23,000 jobs.

3:02Economists are forecasting job growth in August to range from 25,000 to 125,000. A report from ADP on Wednesday suggested the number will be on the lower end of that range. This is NPR News. Authorities in Minnesota say the man who opened fire inside a Minneapolis high-rise apartment building on Wednesday was being evicted and had previously threatened his neighbors. Police say in June they investigated a report that Carlton Johnson had displayed a weapon. Investigators say Johnson shot and killed two people in the building and wounded five others, including two police officers. Johnson was fatally shot by responding law enforcement. The Missouri Supreme Court is blocking new congressional districts backed by President Trump from being used in the November midterm elections. In a unanimous ruling, the state's high court also ordered a statewide vote on whether to uphold the new map, as Jason Rosenbaum with St. Louis Public Radio reports.

4:03The state Supreme Court ruled that a referendum over congressional lines aimed at ousting Democrat-Ammanuel Cleaver can go forward. And that means that a different map with a district cleaver's favor to win will be in effect in November. Richard Van Glaan is executive director of People Not Politicians, the group that spearheaded the referendum effort. He says the Supreme Court is giving Missouri voters a chance to push back against the Trump-backed redistricting plan. People across the political spectrum want a democracy that is accountable to us and focuses on our needs. Missouri's Attorney General, a Republican, is appealing the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. For NPR News, I'm Jason Rosenbaum and St. Louis. Wall Street futures are mostly higher this morning, though Dow futures are down 29 points. I'm Dave Mattingly, NPR News in Washington. This week on the NPR Politics Podcast, Democratic Socialists are having a moment. What's their goal?

5:04The goal being to eventually realign the Democratic Party to perhaps someday develop an independent party, but we recognize that in the United States there just is a two-party system. How Democratic Socialists are staking out political territory. This week on the NPR Politics Podcast.