NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-07-2025 1AM EDT

Episode Date: April 7, 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, I'm Dale Willman. President Trump said Sunday his tariffs on imports from which much of the world will stay, from much what the world will stay in place until other countries begin to even their trade with the U.S. Those tariffs have sent markets around the world reeling. On Friday, Wall Street hit its lowest point since the start of the COVID pandemic. But Trump says some countries are already reaching out to make deals.

Europe's treated us very badly. We put a big tariff on Europe. They are coming to the table. They want to talk. But there's no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis, number one for present but also for past. Trump says he doesn't want markets to collapse, but he said sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something. Stocks in Asia, meanwhile, collapsed early Monday as the global sell-off continued. Investors remain worried about the economic fallout from the Trump administration's sweeping tariffs. NPR's John Ruech reports.

Investors in Asia got their first chance to process news from late on Friday local time of Beijing's forceful retaliation against Trump's tariffs. Key stock indexes in Shanghai and Shenzhen dropped more than 5% in early trading. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was off some 9%. And there was panic selling in Taiwan, where the weighted stock index dropped 9.7%. Taiwan's central news agency said it was the biggest intraday loss on record.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index shed over 6%, and South Korea's market was down more than 4%. The carnage looked set to continue elsewhere in the world, with European and US stock futures also down. Trump's bigger than expected tariffs have led economists to reassess their forecasts, and many think recessions, including in the United States, are now more likely this year.

John Ruehich, NPR News, Beijing. The Israeli military says that its initial assessment of the killings of 15 Palestinian emergency workers in Gaza last month was wrong. Israel previously said troops targeted the vehicles because they appeared suspicious. MPR's Hadil Al-Shalchi has more. At first, the Israeli military said that infantry troops were lying in ambush along a road near Rafah in south Gaza last month when a convoy of ambulances

and a fire truck approached. The military said the vehicles were quote advancing suspiciously and without headlights. The troops opened fire. The United Nations said 15 Palestinian first responders were killed in the attack but video later released by the Palestine Red Crescent Society showed the rescue vehicles with headlights and red emergency lights on. An Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of army rules said the original account from forces were quote, mistaken. The official added an investigation into the deaths was ongoing. Hadil Al-Shalchi, NPR News, Tel Aviv. Flooding continues to worsen in the Midwest and parts of the South this weekend.

At least 18 people have died from flooding and tornadoes over the past several days, including 10 people in Tennessee. This is NPR News. Hockey has a new all-time scoring leader. Washington Capitol star Alex Ovechkin scored the 895th goal of his career on Sunday and that was enough to finally overtake hockey's all-time great Wayne Gretzky. NPR's Becky Sullivan reports. It couldn't have been a more fitting goal for Ovechkin, a Capitals power play with number eight drifting all alone by the

left face-off circle. A teammate passed him the puck, he squared up the shot and made history. Wayne Gretzky claimed the NHL goals record back in 1994 and by the time he retired five years later, many in hockey wondered if anyone would ever break it. Then along came Alex Ovechkin, the Russian goal scoring machine in Washington. It's taken him 20 seasons to get here. He's 39 now. And in a TV interview after breaking the record, Ovechkin said it was a relief to have it done. Finally, no one's going to ask me about when you're going to do it. So it's over. Right now we just have to focus on the game.

Next up, the playoffs and he hopes a second Stanley Cup. Becky Sullivan in PR News. A Minecraft movie is the hit of Hollywood this weekend. The video game adaptation earned $157 million in North American ticket sales in its debut. It also pulled in $144 million in international sales, which gives Minecraft a weekend total of $301 million. It's the biggest movie so far of the year, and it's also broke the record for a video game adaptation that was previously held by the Super Mario Bros. movie. Second place, meanwhile, went to A Working Man, while The Chosen Last Supper Part 2 came in third.

I'm Dale Willman, 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.