NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-05-2025 12PM EDT

Episode Date: May 5, 2025

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These days, there's 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 as 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 Lakshmi Singh. President Trump is threatening to implement a 100% tariff on movies produced outside the United States, but shown in this country.

NPR's Mandelita El Barco reports the president says he wants movies to be made in America. On social media, Trump wrote that America's movie industry is quote dying a very fast death and that Hollywood is quote being devastated by other nations that draw filmmakers and studios away from the US with incentives, something he calls a national security threat. His post did not give any details about his tariff plan, but it appears to be his solution to the fact that many American films and TV shows are produced internationally. Countries like Canada, the UK, and Australia give productions lucrative tax incentives,

rebates, and grants. Trump blames California Governor Gavin Newsom for allowing that to happen, but Newsom has already proposed boosting his state's tax incentives. Mandelit Del Barco, NPR News, Los Angeles. Israel plans to limit the way food and supplies are distributed in Gaza. Israel says it's part of a strategy to expand its military offensive in the Palestinian territory. The United Nations and main aid groups in Gaza are refusing to take part. NPR's Anas Baba in Gaza contributed to this report from NPR's

Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Israel's cabinet approved a new plan to isolate Hamas from the aid system by sending Palestinians to an Israeli-controlled zone in southern Gaza to get food and supplies. In northern Gaza, resident Bassem Shanaora criticized the plan. It's absolutely crazy how we would be going 30 or 40 kilometers to take food parcels. the plan. The UN says the plan violates humanitarian principles by using aid for military aims. Israel has imposed a more than two-month aid ban on Gaza, fueling hunger. Danielle Estrin, NPR News, Tel Aviv with Anas Baba in Gaza City.

Hip hop mogul Shondady Combs stands trial in New York City starting today over allegations that he engaged in decades of abuse against women and others with help from business employees. NPR's Isabella Gomez-Admiento reports jurors are being selected to weigh the charges against Combs. He faces charges of sex trafficking. That means forcing or coercing someone to engage in commercial sex acts. Combs also faces charges for transporting people across state lines to participate in commercial sex. And the third charge, racketeering conspiracy, is what ties all of this together. Prosecutors allege that Combs directed his employees to organize and conceal these sex crimes for over a decade.

And Combs has pleaded not guilty to all of these charges. And here's Isabella Gomez-Sarmiento reporting. At last check on Wall Street, the Dow was up more than a hundred points at 41,423. This is NPR News. Thousands of unionized employees reportedly are on strike at Pratt & Whitney in Connecticut. They're in a labor dispute with the jet engine maker over wages, retirement benefits, and job security. The Associated Press reporting members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers

were seen picketing today at manufacturing sites in East Hartford and Middletown. Union officials say about a majority of the nearly 2100 union members voted yesterday to approve the strike. A Soviet space probe launched over 50 years ago is expected to finally re-enter Earth's atmosphere next weekend. NPR's Joe Hernandez reports it's unclear where the spacecraft will fall or whether it will burn up before it reaches the surface. Soviet scientists launched Cosmos 482 in 1972 with the goal of reaching Venus, but an apparent engine malfunction stranded the spacecraft in low Earth orbit, according to NASA.

The craft's lander has been following an elliptical path that has finally decayed to the point that it will soon fall back to Earth. It could burn up as it re-enters the atmosphere, but one astronomer told NPR that because of its strong heat shield, the Cosmos 482 lander will probably stay in one piece through reentry. If the thousand pound meter-wide spherical lander survives, scientists say they aren't yet sure where it will land. Joe Hernandez, NPR News. The Dow is up 93 points, the S&P is off 15, and the NASDAQ is down 82 points. This is NPR News.

Does the idea of listening to political news freak you out? Well, don't sweat it. This is NPR News.