--:-- Lakshmi Singh: You care about what's happening in the world. Stay informed with NPR's State of the World podcast. In just a few minutes, we take you to stories around the globe. You might hear the latest developments in world conflicts or about what global events mean for the price of your coffee. Listen to the State of the World podcast from NPR.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The longest government shutdown in U.S. history is a step closer to coming to an end. The U.S. House of Representatives holds a final vote on a spending measure tonight to reopen agencies.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: NPR's Clora Grisales reports Republican leaders are confident they have the votes to approve a bill that many Democrats still oppose. They secured a promise for a vote in December on health care and a commitment to negotiate a plan to address those subsidies.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: Those who broke with the party in the Senate said they got the best deal possible, And that includes those full-year appropriations plans, which were negotiated between the parties over several months.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: Meanwhile, other Senate Democrats who voted no argued they weren't making good to reopen the government in exchange for addressing these expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: NPR Claudia Grisales reporting.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: President Trump is accusing U House Democrats of bringing up the Jeffrey Epstein controversy again to try and hurt him. NPR Franco Ordonez reports on how Trump is defending himself against accusations that he spent hours with one of the late financiers alleged sex trafficking victims.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: President Trump accuses Democrats of bringing up the, quote, Epstein hoax to try to deflect negative attention from the shutdown fight.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: At the White House, Press Secretary Caroline Levitt said the only thing the emails prove is that Trump did nothing wrong. And what President Trump has always said is that he was from Palm Beach and so was Jeffrey Epstein.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: Jeffrey Epstein was a member at Mar-a-Lago until President Trump kicked him out because Jeffrey Epstein was a pedophile and he was a creep.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: Levitt says the unnamed victim in the emails is the late Virginia Guffrey. An Epstein victim who Leavitt noted had repeatedly said President Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: The identity of the unnamed victim has not been independently verified.
--:-- Franco Ordonez: Franco, Ordonez, NPR News, the White House.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: NPR confirms the United Kingdom is denying certain intelligence-sharing requests the U.S. made in light of concern about the U.S. military's action in the Caribbean.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: The International Energy Agency release its closely watched World Energy Outlook a data look at the planet future energy use Here NPR Camilla Domenoski
--:-- Camilla Domenoski: The World Energy Outlook is not a forecast. It lays out several scenarios. But Director Fatih Birol says one thing is clear. We can comfortably say that the age of electricity has arrived.
--:-- Camilla Domenoski: Electricity demand booms in all scenarios, thanks to electric vehicles, AI, and air conditioning.
--:-- Camilla Domenoski: Natural gas grows while oil either grows or levels off, based mostly on how quickly electric vehicles take off.
--:-- Camilla Domenoski: The varying scenarios see different degrees of global warming, but in all of them, the world exceeds the globally agreed target of keeping warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
--:-- Camilla Domenoski: That's Camilla Domenoski.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: It's NPR. The U.S. bids a formal farewell to the penny today. At President Trump's order, the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia produced the very last one-cent coin because its value is much less than the cost to make it.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: But there are still billions of pennies still in circulation and changing hands.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: The northern lights were seen over much of the country last night, extending as far south as Texas. NPR's Nell Greenfield Voice reports more colorful light shows are expected this evening as some dramatic space weather continues.
--:-- Nell Greenfield Voice: The sun at about the maximum phase of its 11 activity cycle belching out bursts of plasma and magnetic fields that can affect the Earth.
--:-- Nell Greenfield Voice: And while strong geomagnetic storms can be a potential problem for say satellites or the electrical grid, for skygazers, it's an opportunity to see the northern lights in places that usually go bereft.
--:-- Nell Greenfield Voice: Space weather forecasters are expecting more strong activity, though exactly how strong and how far south the northern lights will be seen is hard to predict.
--:-- Nell Greenfield Voice: The best bet is finding a spot with dark skies and consider taking photos with a camera, which can register subtle colors as more vivid compared to the naked eye.
--:-- Nell Greenfield Voice: Nell Greenfield, Boyce, NPR News.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: U.S. stocks have ended the day mix. The Dow Jones Industrial Average up 326 points or more than half a percent to settle at 48,254.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: The S&P gained four points, and the Nasdaq closed down 61.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: Making time for the news is important, but when you need a break, we've got you covered on All Songs Considered, NPR's music podcast.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: Think of it like a music discovery show, a well-deserved escape with friends, and, yeah, some serious music insight.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: I'm going to keep it real. I have no idea what this story is about.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: Hear new episodes of All Songs Considered every Tuesday, wherever you get podcasts.
