NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-07-2025 11PM EDT

Episode Date: April 8, 2025

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This message comes from Mint Mobile. Mint Mobile took what's wrong with wireless and made it right. They offer premium wireless plans for less and all plans include high-speed data, unlimited talk and text, and nationwide coverage. See for yourself at mintmobile.com slash switch. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shae Stevens. President Trump says his administration will begin direct nuclear talks with Iran next weekend. As NPR's Michelle Kelliman reports, Trump made the announcement as he met with Israel's prime minister.

Prime Minister Netanyahu says he and President Trump are united in the goal that Iran will never get nuclear weapons. President Trump says he would prefer a diplomatic deal and says his administration is having, in his words, a very big meeting on Saturday. We're dealing with them directly and maybe a deal is going to be made that'll be great. It'll be really great for Iran, I can tell you that. He would not say where or with whom, though Trump says the meeting will be at quote, almost the highest level. The last time he was president, he pulled the U.S. out of a nuclear deal with Iran.

This time, he says he wants to negotiate something different. Michelle Kelliman, NPR News, the State Department. President Trump has imposed two rounds of tariffs on the European Union. The first round, implemented last month, targeted steel and aluminum. And Trump's 20 percent tariffs on all EU exports will take effect on Wednesday. From Brussels, Derry Schultz reports that the EU is finalizing its own retaliatory measures. The EU insists it would rather negotiate than retaliate, and has offered to completely eliminate tariffs for U.S. cars and all industrial goods if Washington does the same. But with no sign, the White House will agree.

EU Trade Commissioner Maros Shevkovic says the bloc must go ahead with its own measures. We are prepared to use every tool in our trade defense arsenal to protect EU single market, EU producers and EU consumers. The first round of EU counter tariffs is expected to include a wide range of items from dental floss to meat, but bourbon has reportedly been dropped from the list under heavy US pressure. For NPR News, I'm Terri Schultz in Brussels. As the president promises to expand access to in vitro fertilization, his administration

is eliminating a CDC team in charge of researching fertility treatments. More from NPR's Sarah McCammon. Among thousands of federal employees laid off by the Trump administration in recent days was a small team at the CDC in Atlanta. They were responsible for researching the effectiveness of treatments at IVF clinics around the country. Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon sponsored a 1992 law that led to the team's creation.

For somebody to say that they want to be the fertilization president and then basically do everything they can to gut the office that was set up in order to do that essential work is absurd. Officials with the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, have not responded to repeated requests for comment. Sarah McKammon, NPR News.

U.S. viewtors are higher in after-hours trading on Wall Street. This is NPR. Federal health officials have confirmed at least three measles-related deaths since an outbreak began in West Texas earlier this year. Outbreaks of the disease are also being monitored in New Mexico, Ohio, Kansas and Oklahoma. Additional cases have been reported in 16 other states. Measles is a preventable communicable disease that had been eliminated in the U.S. 25 years ago.

Heavy downpours prompted utility companies from Texas to Ohio to turn off power and gas services. At least 23 deaths are blamed on storms in parts of the South and Midwest. Forecasters warn that flood conditions could linger for several days, especially in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. A Texas biotech company says it has created creatures with key features of an extinct species, the direwolf. NPR's Rob Stein has details. Colossal biosciences in Dallas says company scientists edited the genes of gray wolves to breed animals with key traits of direwolves.

Direwolves have been extinct for more than 12,000 years and were featured in the HBO series Game of Thrones. The colossal scientists created embryos from genetically modified gray wolf cells and then implanted them into female dogs. The surrogate mother dogs gave birth to three healthy wolves with dire wolf traits. The company named the animals Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi. Colossal hopes to do something similar with other extinct species, including the woolly mammoth. Rob Stein reporting. This is NPR News. This message comes from Mint Mobile. Mint Mobile took what's wrong with wireless and

made it right. They offer premium wireless plans for less, and all plans include high-speed data, unlimited talk and text, and nationwide coverage. See for yourself at mintmobile.com switch.