NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-24-2025 6PM EDT

Episode Date: April 24, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. In a rare rebuke to Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Trump today called on the Russian leader to quote stop after a deadly strike on Kiev last night that claimed at least a dozen lives and wounded nearly a hundred others. Trump during a meeting with Norway's Prime Minister at the White House called it bad timing as the US and other countries tried a broker deal to end the war. I didn't like last night. I wasn't happy with it.

And we're in the midst of talking peace and missiles were fired. And I was not happy with it. Trump is backing a plan that would give Russia sovereignty over land that it's taken by force, calling that a compromise. Ukraine and much of Europe reject that, though, saying it rewards Putin for his aggressions. New polling data on President Trump's economic policies and public trust all appear to be pointing in the same direction. Down, an Associated Press-Norquist Center for Public Affairs research survey, finds respondents expressing concerns Trump's tariffs will cause prices to rise and could push the country into recession. Roughly half of those surveyed say current policies will increase prices by a lot.

Polls by Reuters and Fox News this week found a little more than a third of respondents say they approve of Trump's handling of the economy. A federal judge in California has blocked the Trump administration from withholding federal funding from sanctuary jurisdictions, those which limit police from cooperating with federal immigration authorities. NPR's Jasmine Garz reports on the preliminary injunction was found the order unconstitutional. In the order, signed on his first day in office, President Trump instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to withhold federal funds from sanctuary cities.

This injunction was requested by San Francisco and over a dozen other municipalities in California, Oregon, Connecticut, and New Mexico. It temporarily bars the administration from taking any action to withhold or condition federal funds. In 2017, during the prior administration, a similar executive order was also found unconstitutional. The administration must notify all federal departments of this order by next Monday. Jasmine Garst, NPR News, New York. Hundreds of university researchers are reporting having their grants pulled abruptly by the

National Science Foundation. That says the group looks to comply with the Trump administration directive to end supportive research on diversity, equity, and inclusion. While some were expecting cuts, others say they think their work may have been targeted by accident, in some cases related to misinformation, or simply because of encouraging more diversity

in science and engineering. The loss of funding has affected numerous academic labs that rely on grants from the NSF to fund basic research. Stocks gained ground for a third straight session today. The Dow was up 486 points to close above 40,000. The S&P gained 108 points. The NASDAQ rose 457 points. This is NPR.

A spaceship carrying three astronauts has docked with China's space station, the Shenzhou-20 spaceship, taking off as planned from atop a Chinese rocket yesterday, reaching the Tiangong space station around six and a half hours later. The Chinese-built space station was completed after the country was excluded from the International Space Station mid-US policy concerns. Scientists say they found evidence exposure to harmful bacteria during childhood could be contributing to a rise in colorectal cancer in young adults as based on a new study published in the journal Nature

and pure as Will Stone is more. E. coli and other bacteria can produce a toxin known as colibactin that can inflict damage on DNA and previous research has identified mutations that are signatures of colibactin in some people with colorectal cancer. Now, scientists at the University of California, San Diego, have looked at more than 900 cancer patients from around the world. They find people under 40 are much more likely to have these mutations and that exposure to this toxin likely happened during their childhood. The study authors say this is by no means the only contributor to colon cancer,

but the results suggest something about our modern environment could be leading bacteria like E. coli to release this toxin and lay the groundwork for early cancer. Will Stone, NPR News. Shortly after the clock struck midnight, orders began streaming in for Nintendo's latest hot gaming platform, the Nintendo Switch 2.

Apparently some chaos though as customers jumped online hoping to be the first to place orders for the game console which launches June 5th. Devices also appear to be quickly selling out at retailers like Target, Walmart and Best Buy. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.