NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-21-2025 7AM EDT

Episode Date: April 21, 2025

NPR News: 04-21-2025 7AM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Want to know what's happening in the world? Listen to the State of the World podcast. Every weekday we bring you important stories from around the globe. In just a few minutes you might hear how democracy is holding up in South Korea or meet Indian monkeys that have turned to crime. We don't go around the world. We're already there. Listen to the State of the World podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington on Korova Coleman, there's word from the Vatican this morning, Pope Francis has died at his residence at the age of 88. The Pope's death comes one day after Christians celebrated Easter Sunday around the world.

NPR's Sylvia Puggioli reports Francis was the first non-European pope in about a thousand years. Jorge Maria Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires, the son of Italian immigrants. He was the first Jesuit to become pope, the first to take the name of Saint Francis of Assisi, and the first pope from the global south. Francis was beloved for his common touch

and his vision of a merciful and inclusive church. He described it as a field hospital after battle, healing the wounds of the faithful and going out to find those who have been hurt, excluded, or fallen away. A firm believer in the need to save the planet, Francis was not afraid to criticize Western societies for what he called their unfettered pursuit of money. He also made many enemies within the Church for his efforts to reform and clean up the Vatican bureaucracy. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Rome.

A U.S. Republican senator is now criticizing the Trump administration's handling of Quilmer Abrego-Garcia's illegal deportation to El Salvador. Louisiana U.S. Senator John Kennedy says he will watch President Trump's response to court orders. And Piers Luke Garrett reports. Senator Kennedy told NBC News, Abrego Garcia never should have been sent to El Salvador. Look, this was a screw up, in my opinion. The administration won't admit it.

Kennedy also said Abrego Garcia should have received a hearing before his wrongful deportation to a Salvadorian prison. But when asked whether he believes Trump is in defiance of a court order to facilitate the man's return, Kennedy said, I don't believe that President Trump will defy a federal judge's order. If he does, I'll call him out on it. And Kennedy called Trump's proposal of sending Americans to El Salvador not, quote, appropriate

or moral. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington. The National Science Foundation is freezing its grant-making process at the direction of President Trump's cost-cutting entity, DOGE. NPR's Jonathan Lambert reports the agency has stopped issuing new grants for basic research. The National Science Foundation issues billions of dollars' worth of research grants to scientists and institutions each year on a rolling basis. On Wednesday, that process came to a halt after DOGE gained access to internal systems,

sources told NPR. All proposals that had been approved for funding were sent back to NSF staff for further review, though it's unclear why. Earlier this year, NSF reviewed all its grants, flagging many for diversity, equity, and inclusion-related terms. An NSF spokesperson told NPR the agency continues to issue new awards. Publicly available data reflect a stoppage that started Wednesday. Jonathan Lambert, NPR News.

On Wall Street, in pre-market, trading Dow futures are down about 350 points. This is NPR. Ukraine's president claims Russia violated its own ceasefire the Kremlin declared for Easter. President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia fired dozens of shells and drone strikes on Ukraine. Russia's Defense Ministry claims Ukrainian forces launched overnight attacks on their troops in eastern Ukraine. The Israeli military has released a report on the investigation into its killings of 15 Palestinian medics last month in Gaza. The report says it found professional failures. Israel had claimed that the medics vehicles did not have emergency signals on when troops opened fire. Cell phone video recovered from one of the killed medics

contradicted that account. And Piyaz Hadil al-Shelchi reports Israel says it will take steps. First the military said that the field commander who started the shooting was going to be fired from his position. The commander of the brigade will receive a reprimand for making the decisions that happened after the shooting, including the burial of the medics. And then we press the spokespeople. What if anything is going to change after this incident? They just insisted that this event was a, quote, operational misunderstanding.

They said, we trust in the good intentions of our soldiers, that they already have mechanisms in place to keep this from happening. But then we also know that Palestinians in Gaza and human rights organizations have repeatedly accused the Israeli military of mishandling its own investigations. And Piers Hadil-Alshelchi reporting from Tel Aviv.

Again our top story, the Vatican says that Pope Francis has died today in his papal residence. He had just been seen yesterday greeting well-wishers celebrating Easter in St. Peter's Square. Pope Francis was 88 years old. This is NPR. Do you remember when discovering a new artist felt like finding buried treasure? was 88 years old. This is NPR.