NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-22-2025 11AM EDT

Episode Date: April 22, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington on Corva Coleman, the Vatican says Pope Francis' body will be moved to St. Peter's Basilica tomorrow. He will lie there in state until his funeral on Saturday. The pope died yesterday of a stroke and of cardiac ailments. Many mourners are grieving. Others, such as Laura Martin of Wichita, Kansas, are expressing gratitude for the pontiff's clear messages on humanity. It's so important for leaders in this day and age to be able to speak the truth and to stand up and to really be strong and not swayed.

Roman Catholic cardinals will meet within 20 days to select the next pope. This meeting is called a conclave. It will be conducted in the Vatican's historic Sistine Chapel. The US Department of Education says it will again start collecting payments from student borrowers who have loans that are in default. NPR's Janaki Mehta reports collections resume on May 5.

During the pandemic, the Biden administration introduced a series of measures that gave students wiggle room on federal student loan payments. The reprieve was never permanent. Now the Trump administration says the Education Department will begin collections next month. It could also begin garnishing wages from borrowers, meaning a portion of their paycheck would automatically be sent to the federal government. Linda McMahon, the Education Secretary, says, quote, American taxpayers will no longer be

forced to serve as collateral for irresponsible student loan policies. About 5.3 million borrowers are in default on their federal student loans. Janaki Mehta, NPR News. Officials with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement have rejected the request of a former Columbia University graduate student for a temporary release from detention. Mahmoud Khalil missed the birth of his first child yesterday in New York. NPR's Adrienne Florido reports President Trump is seeking to deport Khalil over his pro-Palestinian activism. Since ICE agents arrested him in New York last month, they've held Khalil at a remote

detention center in Louisiana. His lawyers have been trying to free him while his federal lawsuit challenging his arrest as unconstitutional moves forward. On Sunday, his wife went into labor. Khalil's lawyers asked the director of ICE's Louisiana office to temporarily release him so he could attend the birth. The request was quickly denied. Mark Vanderhoo is one of Khalil's lawyers. He had certainly hoped and expected that the government would show some humanity,

but they did not. His baby was born the next day. Khalil listened on the phone. Adrienne Flaherty, NPR News. Financial leaders are gathering in Washington for the spring meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Federation. The IMF released its forecast today of the world economy. It says that President Trump's tariffs and economic uncertainty will reduce global growth this year. On Wall Street, the Dow is now up about 800 points or 2 percent. This is NPR.

Global shipping company DHL says it's going to stop shipping packages to the U.S. that are worth more than $800. DHL is pointing to the 10 percent global tariffs imposed by President Trump. The carrier says this is slowing down deliveries. This decision affects DHL delivered packages sent from any foreign country to anybody in the U.S. About 40 percent of women have dense breast tissue. This puts them at higher risk, both for developing cancer and for cancer to be missed on mammograms. But MPR's Yuki Noguchi reports,

follow-up imaging can be expensive and hard to get. Mammogram results now include information about whether a patient has dense breasts. But many don't know what to do with that information or when to get a follow-up MRI. Wendy Berg, a radiologist, says MRIs can catch many more early-stage cancers, but many doctors themselves don't know what to advise patients. And so it remains incumbent on the woman herself to look at her risk factors, to talk to her doctor and say, hey, I'd like to get an MRI.

Don't wait for them to recommend it to you. Berg says self-advocacy could help more women at earlier ages catch cancers so they can be treated. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News. Today is Earth Day. It was launched in 1970 by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson. He acted after seeing a huge oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Nelson and others organized students, faith groups, and other organizations to demonstrate

against the effects of industrial development on human health. This is NPR.