NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-24-2025 12AM EDT

Episode Date: April 24, 2025

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I'm Jesse Thorne, this week on Bullseye Fat Joe on being a late middle-aged rapper with an 18-year-old daughter. She's really looking at me like I'm a dinosaur. She's like, yo, dad, come on now. You going where? Stop. Just stay home. Watch Jeopardy.

That's on the next Bullseye from MaximumFun.org and NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shae Stevens. President Trump has signed a sweeping list of executive actions targeting both higher education and K through 12 schools. NPR's Janet Woo-Jong Lee looks at a few of them. One of the half dozen executive actions called for new accreditation pathways, taking aim at colleges and universities for having, quote, abuse their authority by imposing discriminatory,

diversity, equity, and inclusion-based standards. Here's White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf ahead of Trump signing the executive order. The basic idea is to force accreditation to be focused on the merit and the actual results that these universities are providing as opposed to how woke these universities have gotten. Other noteworthy executive actions included revising school discipline in K-12 classrooms aimed at removing DEI principles, strengthening apprenticeship programs for industrial jobs, as well as advancing AI education in public schools. Janet Wujongli, NPR News.

The latest round of talks on ending the war in Ukraine concluded in London Wednesday without an agreement. One of the sticking points is the U.S. proposal that calls for Ukraine to give up some territory, including Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014. Speaking in India Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance suggested that the US is losing patience with both sides. We've issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians,

and it's time for them to either say yes or for the United States to walk away from this process. We've engaged in an extraordinary amount of diplomacy, of on-the-ground work. Vance echoed some of President Trump's position on Ukraine. Trump says Zelensky as a choice between peace or more years of fighting before losing his country altogether. President's win in November was initially seen as a boon to populist candidates around

the world. But as NPR's Scott Newman reports, upcoming elections in Canada and Australia are proving otherwise. Three months ago, Canadian opposition leader Pierre Poilieff's message of tax cuts, downsizing government and fighting woke ideology looked certain to propel his conservatives to a historic win in Monday's election. But President Trump's unpopular tariffs and talk of annexing Canada have helped Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal Party stage

a turnaround. Simra Sevi is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Toronto. So in three months, that's a major shift in Canadian politics. Australia's opposition leader Peter Dutton is seeing a similar backlash to his homegrown version of MAGA. He faces voters in May. Scott Newman, NPR News, Washington. U.S. futures are flat and after hours trading on Wall Street. On Asia Pacific, market shares are mixed up a fraction in Tokyo.

This is NPR. A dozen states are suing the Trump administration to stop its tariff policy. The plaintiffs want the import taxes declared illegal and government agencies blocked from enforcing them. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York. White House officials are accusing Democratic attorneys general of engaging in a witch hunt targeting President Trump. Last week, California Governor Gavin Newsom filed a similar case, arguing that Trump's terrorists will harm his state's economy. Christians filled the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem Wednesday for a special mass

dedicated to Pope Francis. The church is one of the holiest sites for Catholics where tradition says Jesus was buried and rose from the dead. As NPR's Gary Cahn reports, Francis is being remembered for his devotion to Christian Palestinians in Gaza. The bells rang out from the fourth century church as the faithful streamed in for the special mass. And Leonis Yerlanke says Pope Francis taught her so much. How to be humble, how to love people, and how to understand the poor and the painful people. The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierre Baptista Pizzaballa celebrated mass.

He has been talked about as a possible replacement for Francis. He is 60 and has only been a cardinal since 2023, but has gained much political experience having to navigate the current conflict. This is NPR News.