NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-23-2025 8PM EDT

Episode Date: April 24, 2025

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You have your job, but you also have a life. And you're not just one thing. Neither is the Here and Now Anytime podcast. Every weekday, we break down the biggest story of the day and something else, like a new trend everyone's talking about. It's Here and Now Anytime, a daily podcast from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. The latest round of talks over a future peace plan for Ukraine should have taken place today in London, but discussions were pared back sharply as American patience with Ukraine and Europe appears to be running short. More from Vila Marks.

After US Secretary of State Marco Rubio pulled out of the meeting at the last minute, it threw the status of a possible framework for negotiations between Kiev and Moscow into doubt. Rubio's no-show meant British Foreign Minister David Lammy cancelled meetings with his French and German counterparts, talking instead with Ukraine's Foreign Minister and Defence Minister. As President Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff travels to Moscow this week, the obstacles to a peace agreement that the Ukrainians will accept may now extend beyond Russian missiles to the White House itself. That's because Trump is pressing President Zelensky to accept that territory seized in Russia's invasion and Crimea could

permanently remain in Moscow's hands, something Kiev has repeatedly rejected. For NPR News, I'm Villamarks in London. There are reports tonight of injuries in Kiev following a drone and missile strike. The repeatedly rejected. For NPR News, I'm Villan Marks in London. Abbas was speaking in the West Bank capital Ramallah. Hamas and Abbas's party, which dominates the Palestinian Authority governing part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, have long been rivals. Abbas blamed Hamas for giving Israel a pretext to destroy Gaza and said Hamas should release Israeli hostages. Israel has tried to destroy Hamas throughout the war in Gaza and has also said it would not accept any role for the Palestinian Authority. Abbas, who is 89, has been under pressure to step down. He's expected to appoint a successor this week.

Jane Araf, NPR News, Amman. In Manhattan, prosecutors and defense teams have made their opening arguments in the sex abuse trial of disgrace film executive Harvey Weinstein. Umaritz has details. Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Shannon Lucy told the jury about three women who will testify against Weinstein. All three were young when they met him. All three will describe Weinstein bringing them to hotel rooms, where he allegedly sexually abused them and in one case allegedly committed rape. The women stayed silent for years, she said, because of Weinstein's clout.

Defense attorney Arthur Idala said what Weinstein had with the women was more like a friends-with-benefits relationship. He said the three accusers' accounts do not add up, and he called them manipulative and conniving. This is Weinstein's second New York trial. An earlier conviction for sex crimes was overturned on procedural grounds last year. For NPR News, I'm Ilya Meretz in New York. Global markets appear to be rising after President Trump has backed off somewhat on his threats to fire Fed chair Jerome Powell and implement tariffs.

The Dow was up 419 points today. You're listening to NPR News. The National Institutes of Health plans to include private health information in a study of rising rates of autism spectrum disorder. NPR's John Hamilton reports the study is part of a larger federal effort to find the causes of autism. NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya says the agency will create a national database of autistic people, then look for factors that might have contributed to their diagnosis. The effort will use data from private doctors and insurance companies as well as government health programs. One goal is to identify environmental exposures that could cause autism.

But Dr. David Mandel of the University of Pennsylvania says that's unlikely. The exposure is probably in utero, and it looks like we're studying children after they're born. There's also concern that sensitive private information used in the study could become public. John Hamilton, NPR News. This year's winner of the $50 million X-Prize is a company that puts crushed rock on farmers' fields to draw climate warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The XPRI is offered by Tesla CEO Elon Musk's foundation, going to U.S.-based Madi Carbon,

which has been using the technology to help farmers in India. Madi Carbon is among the 1,300 teams from 88 countries that took part in this year's carbon removal competition. Officials say several other teams also removed 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide in the past year. Critical futures prices after yesterday's roundup move sharply in the opposite direction today after sources said OPEC might be considering accelerating oil output, oiled down $1.99 a barrel to $61.68 a barrel in New York.

I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington. You want to follow whatPR News in Washington.