NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-25-2025 7AM EDT

Episode Date: April 25, 2025

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These days, there is a lot of news. It can be hard to keep up with what it means for you, your family, and your community. Consider This from NPR is a podcast that helps you make sense of the news. Six days a week, we bring you a deep dive on a story and provide the context, backstory, and analysis you need to understand our rapidly changing world. Listen to the Consider This podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korova Coleman. White House envoy Steve Witkoff is in Moscow today for another round of talks focused on Ukraine. He's expected to present a U.S.-backed peace plan. President

Trump is insisting the U.S. is closing in on a deal to end the war. NPR's Charles Maines has more from Moscow. This is Witkoff's fourth visit to Russia since the Trump administration began negotiations aimed at ending the war. While details of the U.S. peace plan are not publicly known, administration officials indicate it involves acknowledging Russia's rightful hold over territories seized from Ukraine by force. That includes the Crimean Peninsula, illegally annexed by Russia back in 2014.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly rejected the idea, angering President Trump in the process. Yet Trump has also expressed frustration with Russia over its continued attacks on Ukrainian cities, including strikes on the capital Kyiv Thursday that left at least a dozen people dead and scores more injured. Charles Mainz, NPR News, Moscow. This morning, Time magazine has published an interview with President Trump. In it, Trump says that Crimea will stay with Russia. The Vatican says more than 125,000 mourners have passed by the casket of Pope Francis.

He's been lying in state in St. Peter's Basilica ahead of tomorrow's papal funeral. Scores of nations are sending representatives. President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump are leaving this morning for Rome. Trump says he expects to get pulled aside there by other officials who want to talk about tariffs. Many of them there and they all want to meet and they want to meet about trade. And we are making some great inroads in great deals. Trump claims dozens of nations are moving to open trade talks with the U.S. but it's

not clear if China is among them. Trump insists the U.S. is talking with China but the Chinese government said flatly yesterday any report of any trade talks with the U.S. is false. The Trump administration is restoring funding to a landmark study of women's health and B.S. Rob Stein has the story. The Department of Health and Human Services says the administration is reversing a decision to slash funding for the Women's Health Initiative,

which has been following tens of thousands of women for decades. An HHS spokesman says the decision was made because the National Institutes of Health, which funds the study, was able to exceed savings by cutting other research contracts. The decision to cut the project had shocked medical researchers because the study has been responsible for a series of landmark discoveries about women's health.

Rob Stein, NPR News. The man accused of killing UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson last year in New York will appear in federal court today to enter a plea. Luigi Mangione was indicted last week on federal murder and other charges. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has instructed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for a conviction. You're listening to NPR News from Washington.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has denied assistance to Kentucky. The state is seeking help for several counties badly affected by flooding in February. Kentucky officials are also waiting to hear if they'll get FEMA help from flooding that happened just this month. Drivers of electric Kia vehicles can now power up using Tesla charges. These used to be exclusive to Tesla, and Piers Kamila Domenoski reports there is an abundance of Tesla chargers.

Lots of companies are building electric vehicle chargers, but Tesla has a commanding lead with the most chargers and the best reliability ratings. Every major EV maker in the US has embraced Tesla's tech. Kia is the latest to actually get access to Tesla's network after some delays. Owners of existing vehicles will need an adapter. Future vehicles will come with a Tesla charging port built in. Kia says that getting access to superchargers nearly doubles the number of DC fast chargers

— the kind you might use on a road trip — that Kia drivers can use. Kamila Domenoski, NPR News. Round two of the NFL draft continues tonight in Green Bay, Wisconsin with the first overall pick last night the Tennessee Titans selected quarterback Cam Ward of Miami. The Cleveland Browns were due to pick second until the Jacksonville Jaguars traded up as heard here on the NFL Network. And with the second pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, the Jacksonville Jaguars select Travis Hunter, wide receiver, defensive back from Colorado. It's unclear if Hunter will play both sides of the ball

in the NFL as he did in college. You're listening to NPR. Aviv Regev is the co-founder of the Human Cell Atlas. It's a huge leap in understanding how human cells work. She says it's like upgrading from a 15th century map of the world to Google Maps. If I want to develop a medicine that would only go to the place where something is broken, I need to know how to get there. The new wave of biotechnology that's on the TED Radio Hour podcast from NPR.