NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-18-2025 12PM EDT

Episode Date: April 18, 2025

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Janine Herbst Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst. Every year, the State Department releases human rights reports on every country around the world. NPR's Graham Smith tells us that this year, there are major changes coming in these reports. Graham Smith Internal State Department documents reviewed by NPR show the Trump administration is dropping multiple categories of human rights abuses from its annual country reports. No longer will the US call out governments for violations against the freedom to privacy,

the right to free and fair elections, or the right to peacefully assemble. More than 20 kinds of violations are being stripped out according to these documents to comply with recently issued executive orders from the White House, among them, violence against minorities and disabled people and serious government corruption. Human rights defenders tell NPR they're concerned the U.S. is abandoning its post as a supporter of personal freedoms and that this will send the wrong message to authoritarian governments. Graham Smith, NPR News. Danielle Pletka Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the U.S. may be ready to move on from efforts for a Russian-Ukraine peace deal if there's no progress in the coming days. We're not going to continue to fly all over the world

and do meeting after meeting after meeting if no progress is being made. So if they're serious about peace, either side or both, we want to help. If it's not going to happen, then we're just going to move on. Rubio made the comment to reporters in Paris after a marathon day of landmark talks among U.S., Ukrainian and European officials over the war in Ukraine that's been going on for more than three years now after Russia invaded Ukraine. Russia continues to bombard Ukraine and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov says ending the war isn't a simple task. It's not clear if the Trump administration would abandon its effort to reach a 30-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine or abandon Washington's

commitments to Ukraine. Mike Huckabee took office as the U.S. Ambassador to Israel today, and as NPR's Hadil Al-Shalchi reports, he came with instructions from President Trump. Mike Huckabee's first order of business as U.S. Ambassador to Israel was to pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Huckabee said that before he left the U.S., President Trump gave him a prayer he wrote on a piece of paper. With the instruction that my first act as the ambassador would be to take his prayer, praying for the peace

of Jerusalem and to bring it to the wall. Huckabee held up the prayer, which read, quote, for peace in Israel, Donald Trump, before pushing it into a crack in the wall. Huckabee has backed calls for Israel to annex the West Bank, calling it by its biblical name, Judea and Samaria. He has also rejected the idea of a two-state solution between Israel and Palestinians. Hadil Alshalchi, NPR News, Tel Aviv. And Wall Street is closed today in observance of Good Friday. You're listening to NPR News

from Washington. Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has been indicted in a federal courthouse in New York on four charges, including stalking and murder with a firearm. The murder charge carries the possibility of the death penalty, which Attorney General Pam Bondi told prosecutors to seek. Mangione's attorney called that statement barbaric and referred to the Justice Department as, quote, lawless. Van Gioni was also charged on multiple counts in both New York State and Pennsylvania. In Cincinnati, thousands of Christians are taking part in an annual Solemn Day of Observance, Good Friday tradition. From member station WVXU, Tana

Weingartner has more. The tradition is known as praying the steps. People come from across the country to slowly ascend nearly 100 steps up a steep hill to Holy Cross Immaculata Catholic Church, stopping on each stair to say a prayer or meditate. Church member Larry Cochran says the practice dates to the late 1850s. We invite all faiths, all denominations to come out and to pray on the steps or meditate. And then they're invited in the church at the top of the steps to light a candle or continue with their prayer or meditation. The ritual began at midnight with the blessing of the steps.

People climb and pray throughout the day. For NPR News, I'm Tanil Weingartner in Cincinnati. And this ahead of Easter, which happens on Sunday. Wall Street is closed today in observance of Good Friday. I'm Janene Herbst, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington.