NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-23-2025 6PM EDT

Episode Date: April 23, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. President Trump has signed another batch of executive orders at the White House, including more than half a dozen dealing with education. One order directs the administration to enforce existing laws requiring universities to disclose large foreign gifts. Another would make changes to the accreditation process. The White House says it's about focusing on merit and results instead of what the administration has termed woke ideology. Trump also says the U.S. is willing to talk about tariffs, but again accused other countries of ripping

off the U.S. The White House is singling out Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky for stalled peace talks to end the war in Ukraine. The Trump administration has been eager to end the now three-year-old war, as NPR's Asmahalland reports. In a post on his social media site, Truth Social, President Trump insisted a deal to end the war is very close, but he slammed Ukraine's leader for making quote, inflammatory statements that he says make it difficult to settle the war. Trump was referring to Zelensky's comments that Ukraine will not recognize Russia's control of Crimea. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt told reporters the president's patience is wearing thin.

In order to make a good deal, both sides have to walk away a little bit unhappy. And unfortunately, President Zelensky has been trying to litigate this peace negotiation in the press. She added that Zelensky seems to be moving in the wrong direction. Asma Khalid, NPR News, The White House. EU regulators are finding tech giants Apple and Metta, the European Commission, finding Apple 500 million euros for preventing app makers from pointing users to cheaper options outside its app store. The Commission also hit Metta with a 200 million euro fine over several reports, Facebook and Instagram users

to choose between seeing ads and paying to avoid them. Supreme Court did something unusual today. Justices celebrated one of the advocates who's appeared before them regularly year in and year out for 46 years. As NPR's Nina Totenberg explains, this deputy US Solicitor General's argued more Supreme Court cases than anyone in modern times. Edwin Needler joined the Solicitor General's

office in 1979, becoming one of the career deputies 14 years later. Today, after arguing his 160th case before the High Court, Needler sat down only to be recalled to the lectern by Chief Justice John Roberts, who commended his service, noting that this was to be Needler's last argument. "'You have carried out your responsibilities with extraordinary care and professionalism,' the Chief Justice said. Thank you for your outstanding service to the Court and the country, whereupon everyone in the courtroom, including the justices, rose to give Edwin Needler a sustained standing ovation. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.

On Wall Street, the Dow is up 419 points, the Nasdaq rose 407 points. This is NPR. Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is on trial again after an appeals court throughout the ex-studio boss's 2020 rape conviction in New York. Opening statements getting underway today in a retrial that could take up to six weeks. Weinstein's retrial is happening in the same Manhattan courthouse where his 2020 trial played out, with two accusers from that first trial expected to testify again. Besides having the original charges retried, Weinstein faces an additional charge, based on an allegation from a woman who is not part of the initial case,

which became a watershed moment for the MeToo movement. Around the world, coral reefs are suffering from the worst bleaching event on record. As NPR's Jacob Fenson reports, 84% of the planet's reefs are affected from Florida to Fiji. Coral reefs are intricate and important ecosystems, brightly colored due to algae living symbiotically inside them. But when oceans are too warm, the algae release toxins, causing the coral to kick them out, turning reefs white. Last year was the Earth's hottest on record, driven by the burning of fossil fuels.

According to the International Coral Reef Initiative, the current bleaching event started in early 2023, and its unknown when it will end. Coral can recover from bleaching if ocean temperatures drop soon enough, but bleaching is often deadly. In 2005, the US lost half its reefs in the Caribbean due to a mass bleaching event. Coral reefs are valuable, protecting shorelines from erosion, and sustaining fishing and tourism industries worth billions of dollars. Jacob Fenston, NPR News.

Oil fell a dollar and 99 cents a barrel in New York to $61.68 a barrel today. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.