NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-18-2025 2AM EDT

Episode Date: April 18, 2025

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Fall in love with new music every Friday at All Songs Considered. That's NPR's music recommendation podcast. Fridays are where we spend our whole show sharing all the greatest new releases of the week. Make the hunt for new music a part of your life again. Tap into New Music Friday from All Songs Considered, available wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens, MPR News, Washington, D.C. Live from MPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. President Donald Trump is criticizing the Federal Reserve for holding off its next interest rate cut. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell says the central bank is still waiting for inflation to get

closer to its target of 2 percent. And MPR's Scott Horsey reports that Trump is so frustrated he's now threatening to fire Powell. Trump wants a central banker who will follow orders from the White House, and that is not Jerome Powell. Even though it was Trump himself who appointed Powell as Fed chairman during his first term in the White House, Powell has jealously guarded the central bank's independence. And that's the way it's supposed to be. The Fed was deliberately structured to be insulated from just this kind of political pressure. NPR's Scott Horsley reporting.

U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen says he's met with Kilmar Obrego-Garcia at the Salvador prison where he's being held. Van Hollen says Thursday's meeting was the goal of his trip, and that he'll say more upon his return to the U.S. Obrego-Garcia was mistakenly deported to El Salvador last month, along with other migrants accused of being gang members. The Trump administration is under court orders to give sworn testimony on Obrego Garcia's status and efforts to bring him back to the U.S. Dozens of international students attending universities in the Washington, D.C. area

say they've been stripped of their visas. For Member Station WAMU, Jackson Sinnenberg has the story. Jackson Sinnenberg, Member Station WAMU, Jackson Sinnenberg, has the story. Nearly every major university in the D.C. region has reported students having their visas revoked or terminated. The numbers of students affected range from the single digits at the Catholic University of America and Howard University to double digits at Georgetown and George Mason universities. Connor Martin is editor of the Georgetown Voice student paper.

He says students are concerned about... The lack of information about why visas are being terminated. I think there's a large sense of fear. The cancellation of student visas comes as part of a larger immigration crackdown by the Trump administration. For NPR News, I'm Jackson Sinidenberg in Washington, D.C. Danielle Pletka The Health Ministry in Gaza says Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 40 people in the past 24 hours. Multiple strikes have

targeted families sheltering in tents. NPR's Ayah Batraoui has the story. Ayah Batraoui Overnight, Israeli attacks targeted three displaced families sheltering in makeshift tents, two of them in northern Gaza and one in the south. Gaza's health ministry says 23 people were killed in those separate attacks. The Aburruz family was hit hardest, losing 10 people who burnt to death when their tent was struck in a sandy area called Moessi that Israel's military has told people to shelter in. Video from the incident shared by rescue crews shows a tent engulfed in fire. The death toll in Gaza from the past 18 months of war has surpassed 51,000 people killed

by Israeli fire, a third of them children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry's public records. Ayah Batraoui, NPR News, Dubai. This is NPR. Houthi rebels in Yemen say U.S. airstrikes have killed 20 people and wounded 50 others. U.S. Central Command says the strikes targeted a rebel-controlled oil terminal along the Red Sea coast. Central Command says the attack was meant to wipe out a source of fuel and oil revenue for the Houthis. The man accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has been indicted on new charges in New York. Twenty-six-year-old Luigi Mangione was already facing state and federal murder charges, plus

other counts. A federal grand jury in Manhattan has added four new charges, including stalking and murder-through-use of a firearm, a charge that carries the death penalty. The 19th century artist known as God's architect, Antoni Gaudi, is one step closer to becoming a saint. Details from Claire Gengreve with the religious news service in Rome. Gaudi's most famous work is the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain, a building so grand that Gaudi died before completing it. It's a soaring cathedral that

some have described as lifting you up to the sky. His work is so powerful that a number of people converted to Catholicism after visiting. Gaudí's faith and work were deeply intertwined. He was so devout that he once almost starved to death because of his rigid fasting during Lent. In order for Gaudí to become a saint, the Vatican will have to attribute two miracles to him, which could happen before his life's work in Barcelona is scheduled to be completed in 2026, on the centennial of his death. For NPR News, I'm Claire Jean-Gave in Rome. This is NPR News.

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