NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-03-2025 7AM EDT

Episode Date: May 3, 2025

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Hey, it's Aisha Harris from Pop Culture Happy Hour. If you love NPR podcasts, you'll want the new NPR Plus podcast bundle. Enjoy an all-you-can-eat selection of NPR Plus podcasts with sponsor-free listening and bonus episodes. Plus, you'll be supporting public radio. Check it out at plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. Top Trump administration officials are sharply criticizing Germany for classifying the Alternative

for Germany party as right-wing extremists, paving the way for state surveillance of the party. Vice President J.D. Vance is accusing Germany of rebuilding the Berlin wall, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio says it's tyranny in disguise. From Berlin, NPR's Rob Schmitz reports on Germany's decision. Rob Schmitz, NPR The new classification announced by Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is a step up in severity from its former classification

of the Alternative for Germany, or AFD, party as a suspected right-wing extremist party. And it's one that gives domestic intelligence permission to observe AFD meetings, tap party members' telephones, and recruit informants to gather information about the party on the national level. The party's associations in three German states, all located in the East, had previously been assessed with this category. This new categorization of the AFD comes in the final days of the administration of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and it may spur a debate about banning the AFD party altogether,

a debate that will be presided over by incoming conservative chancellor, Friedrich Mautz. Rob Schmitz, NPR News, Berlin. President Trump's tariffs on foreign auto parts are now in effect. The 25% tariffs kicked in today. In a move the administration says is aimed at boosting domestic manufacturing. The tariffs apply to a wide range of auto parts including engines and transmissions.

So Trump this week did ease the impact of the tariffs on automakers and allowed for some exceptions for qualifying parts imported from Mexico and Canada. President Trump's tariffs and cost of living issues loomed over today's federal elections in Australia. Votes are still being counted, but multiple Australian media outlets are rejecting that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's Labour Party will remain in power. Stocks rallied this week after some mixed news on the U.S. economy. NPR's Scott Horsley reports a better than expected jobs report

helped ease the sting of an economic contraction in the early months of the year. Investors shrugged off a disappointing GDP report which showed the economy shrinking in the first quarter. Much of that drop was due to a surge of imports as businesses and consumers stocked up in an effort to postpone the pain of looming tariffs. The trade war has rattled consumer confidence, but so far it hasn't done much to dent the job market.

U.S. employers added 177,000 jobs in April, and the unemployment rate held steady at a low 4.2 percent. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 index gained about 3 percent during the week, while the Nasdaq jumped 3.4 percent. The S&P and the Nasdaq have during the week, while the NASDAQ jumped 3.4%. The S&P and the NASDAQ have now regained all the ground they lost after President Trump launched his worldwide terrorist. The Dow is still down a little more than 2%. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

And from Washington, you're listening to NPR News. The State Department has given initial approval for the sale of $3.5 billion worth of air-to-air missiles for Saudi Arabia's fighter jets. The sale was announced early today ahead of President Trump's planned trip to the region later this month. Minecraft is a popular video game and now a movie, and it's also helping science. NPR's Regina Barber reports on how researchers are using the game to study how people learn.

In the past, psychologists studied two modes of learning separately. You were either learning on your own or from another person. But cognitive scientist Charlie Wu and his team wanted to look at how these modes of learning interacted with each other. Wu and his team created scenarios with the video game Minecraft for over 100 participants. These scenarios had rewards clustered or randomly distributed, and this distribution altered how much players had to interact with others. This study found that the most successful players were the most adaptive, switching between individual mining and using social learning when the situation called for it.

The findings were a new way to look at learning learning and using Minecraft to do so was also unique. Wu and his team published the study in the journal Nature Communications. Regina Barber, NPR News. Today is Derby Day, the 151st Kentucky Derby being run later today at Churchill Downs. It's the first leg in horse racing's Triple Crown. There are 19 three-year-old thoroughbreds in the field, trainer Bob Baffert, aiming for a record-setting seventh Kentucky Derby victory in his return from a three-year suspension after the Baffert train 2021 Derby winner failed a drug test. The weather may not cooperate. The forecast shows a strong likelihood for rain. This is NPR News. The scary new movie Sinners from the director of Black Panther finds Michael B. Jordan playing

twin brothers. It's got vampires, it's got great music, and it's a fun one to see with a big crowd. This is the most excited I've been about a movie in a very long time. We'll tell you why you should see Sinners on the biggest screen you can. Listen to the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR.