NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-04-2025 7PM EDT

Episode Date: May 4, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Herbst. The Pentagon is moving a Patriot air defense missile system from Israel to Ukraine, according to a U.S. official. And Western allies are working to provide another Patriot system to Ukraine, either from Greece or Germany, another source familiar with the move, told NPR. The systems would bolster Ukraine in its war with Russia. Both sources were granted anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly.

This comes after the US and Ukraine signed a deal on rare earth minerals. A seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court still hasn't been called almost six months after the November election. Steve Harrison of member station WFAE has more. North Carolina's Republican controlled State Supreme Court last month opened the door for Jefferson Griffin to win the race against Allison Riggs by requiring

thousands of overseas and military voters in a handful of Democratic leaning counties to provide photo ID or have their ballots thrown out. A federal court has stopped that ID requirement for now and the election dispute is now in the hands of a US District Court judge. Meanwhile Republicans took control of the State Board of Elections after a court okayed a law that shifted appointment power away from the state's Democratic governor. It's possible the new GOP-controlled elections board could give Griffin favorable rulings. For NPR News, I'm Steve Harrison in Charlotte. Investors on Wall Street are gearing up for the next meeting of the Federal Reserve policymakers

this week. NPR's Rafael Nam has more. There is good news for the Fed. Inflation continues to ease slowly and the labor market has been sturdy. The problem is that tariffs are sparking a lot of concerns about the economy. So policymakers are unlikely to make any big moves on monetary policy, even if President Trump has been trying to pressure the Fed to lower rates. But investors will be paying close attention to what the Fed has to say about tariffs. And after two weeks of regaining last ground in the market, stock investors

will continue to follow company earnings, including from Ford and AB in Vev, which owns beer brands like Budweiser. The big focus for investors, you guessed it, it's tariffs, of course. Raffaella Numb in PR News. Tomorrow, the Department of Education resumes collecting defaulted student loan payments for the first time since the start of the pandemic. The federal government hasn't collected on defaulted loans since March of 2020. The agency says about two-thirds of the 43 million borrowers who owe money haven't made regular payments. The Trump administration says it will collect the debt

through tax refunds, wages, and government benefits. Comes after years of legal back and forth about loan forgiveness. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. Jury selection begins tomorrow in New York City in the trial of Sean Diddy Combs. The 55-year-old media mogul faces five criminal counts, racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking, and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. Prosecutors claim he directed his employees to solicit victims, solicit illegal substances, and protect his

reputation. Combs, who says he's innocent, has been held without bail in Brooklyn since his arrest last September. Brazilian police say they foiled a bomb attack that had been planned for an open-air Lady Gaga concert held last night in Rio de Janeiro. Julia Carnado has more. Julia Carnado According to Rio's police and the Ministry of Justice, the plan was being orchestrated on social media. A group was recruiting participants to carry out attacks at the concert

with improvised explosives aimed especially at LGBTQ fans. They set, quote, a collective challenge to gain notoriety online. Police say they managed to neutralize the plot, avoiding any panic or impact. They arrested two people and carried out 15 search warrants. Rio's free open-air concert on Copacabana Beach was bigger than Madonna's last year and historic for Lady Gaga. On social media, she said seeing the crowd of more than two million people, her biggest ever, took her breath away. For NPR News, I'm Julia Carneiro in Rio.

U.S. futures contracts are trading lower at this hour. Dow futures down about three-tenths of a percent. I'm Janine Herbst, NPR News in Washington.