NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-21-2025 1AM EDT

Episode Date: April 21, 2025

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You want to follow what's happening in Washington, D.C., but you don't want to be scrolling your phone all day. I'm Scott Detrow and NPR has a podcast that can help. It's called Trump's Terms, stories about big changes the 47th president is pursuing on his own terms. They're short, they're focused episodes that tell you calmly, factually what is happening and what isn't. Listen to Trump's Term terms from NPR.

Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Wilman. The Supreme Court this weekend stopped at least temporarily efforts by the Trump administration to deport more Venezuelans to El Salvador. Trump has said that deportations are needed to stop a national immigration emergency. NPR's Domenico Montanaro says it's just the latest example of Trump declaring emergencies to justify behavior, something he says that could be moving the country toward a constitutional crisis. He invoked emergencies when it comes to tariffs, for example, against Canada and Mexico. It's over fentanyl coming across the borders, even though very little of it comes from Canada.

He invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 for his tariffs, more broadly to address what his administration has deemed quote the national emergency posed by the large and persistent trade deficit. So he's really reaching back pretty deep to find ways to justify his actions and go around Congress, the courts, or really anyone else for approvals. That's him Pierce, Domenico Montanaro. Vice President J.D. Vance briefly met with Pope Francis in Rome on this Easter Sunday. The encounter comes after the Pope recently criticized the Trump administration's deportation

policies. And Piers Luke-Girard reports. Vice President Vance exchanged Easter greetings with Pope Francis. The brief meeting came a day after Vance met with senior Vatican officials. They discussed migrants, refugees, and the imprisoned, the Vatican said. In February, the Pope wrote that the Trump administration's mass deportation strategy violates the, quote, dignity of many men and women, end quote. Soon after, the 88-year-old Pope contracted pneumonia and spent five weeks in the hospital.

He continues to recover. During their brief encounter, Vance told the Pope it was good to see him in better health. Hello. So good to see you. Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington. South Korean Air Force planes remain grounded after a warplane accidentally jettisoned gun pods and empty fuel tanks. No casualties or damage have been reported. NPR's Anthony Kuhn has more on the story from Seoul. A light attack plane was on a night flying exercise Friday over Pyeongchang County, about

78 miles east of Seoul. The Air Force says one of two pilots aboard was trying to adjust the heat, but accidentally pressed a button jettisoning fuel tanks and gun pods with 500 rounds of live ammunition. All Air Force aircraft have been grounded, except for those on reconnaissance or emergency standby duty. The incident is forced to pause in U.S.-South Korean Joint Air Force drills currently in progress. It comes a month after a South Korean unmanned aerial vehicle crashed into a parked helicopter

destroying both vehicles. Two weeks before that, fighter planes accidentally bombed a South Korean village, injuring 52 people. Anthony Kuhn in NPR News, Seoul. A Soyuz space capsule carrying two Russians and one American landed Sunday in Kazakhstan. The three were returning to Earth after spending 220 days at the International Space Station. They had orbited the Earth 3,520 times. American astronaut Don Pettit celebrated his 70th birthday in space on Sunday.

This is NPR News. Vice President J.D. Vance is beginning a four-day tour in India. He will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, where they're expected to discuss trade, as well as economic and geopolitical ties. The U.S. is India's largest trading partner. The visit coincides with an intensifying trade war between the U.S. and China. The new supernatural blues movie Sinners found salvation at the box office this weekend. NPR's Bob Mondello has more. Sinners is about the power of the blues.

Well somebody take me in your arms. And also about vampires. And that combination is making it a number one hit this weekend. The film is expected to take in more than $45 million at the box office in its first three days. That's enough to get past the third weekend of the Minecraft movie, which will take in about $41 million. Sinners reunites filmmaker Ryan Coogler and his frequent leading man Michael B. Jordan,

who's playing a double role this time. You twins? No, we cousins. Actually, they are twins. Kugler and Jordan also work together on Black Panther and on Creed, the film that put some punch back in the ailing Rocky franchise. Bob Mandelo, NPR News. Almost six years after 23 people were shot in a racist attack in Texas that targeted Hispanic shoppers, the case may be coming to a close.

26-year-old Patrick Crucius is expected to enter a guilty plea on Monday to capital murder in the El Paso shooting. The incident was one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. Crucius has already been sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences by a federal judge. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News. The scary new movie Sinners from the director of Black Panther finds Michael B. Jordan playing I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.