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It's been over 50 days since the Ebola outbreak was declared in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Clinicians on the ground are working to save dying patients, but they lack crucial tools to fight the kind of Ebola that's spreading.

Two people with ties to a fraught history gathered last week in the nation's capital. What binds them is a Supreme Court case from 1857, when a man named Dred Scott sued for his freedom. Lynne Jackson is Scott's great-great-granddaughter. Charlie Taney is the great-great-grandnephew of former Chief Justice Roger Taney, the man who wrote the infamousDred Scott opinion that helped provoke the Civil War.

I regret to inform you I'll need to keep this introduction brief. Not because there's any lack of things to say about July's crop of notable new releases; it features award-winning journalists and several different flavors of anxiety about our bleak ecological future and data-dominated present, as well as the welcome returns of several beloved novelists. No, these books certainly deserve some love, dear readers. It's just that I'm finding it a bit tough to type while bearhugging a box fan.

Two people with ties to a fraught history gathered last week in the nation's capital. What binds them is a Supreme Court case from 1857, when a man named Dred Scott sued for his freedom. Lynne Jackson is Scott's great-great-granddaughter. Charlie Taney is the great-great-grandnephew of former Chief Justice Roger Taney, the man who wrote the infamousDred Scott opinion that helped provoke the Civil War.

NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks with Democratic strategist Joel Payne about high-profile Democratic calls for Graham Platner to withdraw from the Maine Senate race.

Graham Platner is facing growing pressure to end his campaign for U.S. Senate in Maine after Politico reported an allegation of sexual assault. Platner has denied the claim.

Imagine no more annoying robocalls. No more spam texts. No more hidden fees. No more jumping through hoops to cancel subscriptions or file an insurance claim. A group of Democratic policy veterans believes that daily annoyances like these have become a real economic problem. They even have a name for it: "the annoyance economy." Taking it on is one plank in a broader governing agenda they're assembling for a future Democratic president. They're calling it "Project 2029." Sound familiar?

PHILADELPHIA — Stephanie Santiago's 8-year-old daughter, Kaylanni Brooks, laughed and yelled as she chased a soccer ball on a recent day in a dusty field in Kensington, scrimmaging against boys and girls twice her size. Kensington is one of this city's most hardscrabble neighborhoods, infamous for a street-drug market considered one of the most dangerous in the United States. Santiago, who has lived here her whole life, knows how people see her community.

Updated July 7, 2026 at 6:00 AM EDT DAMASCUS, Syria — Explosions rocked Damascus on Tuesday as France's president met with his Syrian counterpart in a landmark visit, wounding at least 18 people, Syria's Interior Ministry said. Emmanuel Macron had entered the presidential palace to meet Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa when the explosions happened near the Four Seasons Hotel, where Syrian media report that the French president is staying.

A new lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C. alleges the Trump administration is divulging details of Iranian asylum seekers to the government of Iran. Lawyers with the left-leaning Public Citizen Litigation Group argue the administration began sharing information about the applications with Iran in March 2025. Since then, U.S. government officials have "periodically mailed or hand delivered immigration files of Iranians" in immigration custody to the Iranian government, according to the complaint.