NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-05-2025 2PM EDT

Episode Date: May 5, 2025

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Imagine, if you will, a show from NPR that's not like NPR, a show that focuses not on the important but the stupid, which features stories about people smuggling animals in their pants and competent criminals in ridiculous science studies and call it Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me because the good names were taken. Listen to NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Yes, that is what it is called wherever you get your. Lyle from NPR News. I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Trump says he will lower tariffs on China at some point, but made no public

commitments to help small businesses directly affected. NPR's Luke Garrett has more on Trump's remarks about the economy when he sat down with Meet the Press moderator, Kristen Welker, for an interview that aired last night on NBC. President Trump was asked by NBC News whether he'd lower tariffs on China in order to start trade negotiations. At some point I'm going to lower them because otherwise you could never do business with them. Meanwhile, some small businesses that rely on Chinese imports say they're struggling

with the 145 percent tariffs on some goods from China. When asked if these businesses would receive government relief, Trump said, They're not going to need it. Okay. They're going to make so much money. Are these tariffs? If you build your product here. Following Trump's new tariff policy against China and other nations, no trade deals have

been made by the White House yet. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington. Border Czar Tom Homan is standing by President Trump's idea to reopen Alcatraz and possibly send detained migrants there. We need detention beds and we do contracts, a lot of states, a lot of local municipalities. So that's, I think, a certainly an option, especially for the significant public safety threats, national security threats. Homan speaking to reporters at the White House today about the notorious federal prison

off California, Alcatraz was shuttered more than 60 years ago over high operational costs. Rwanda's foreign minister has confirmed the African country has spoken to the Trump administration about possibly accepting migrants deported from the U.S. Kate Bartley reports these stress discussions were still in an early stage. Foreign Affairs Minister Olivia Underhund Dureje told Rwandan TV that talks are ongoing. He said his country had experience in the matter after Rwanda made a similar deal to accept expelled migrants from the UK. That multi-million dollar deal was found unlawful by the British Supreme Court and ultimately scrapped.

One of President Trump's key policies is a crackdown on illegal immigration, and he has started mass deportations that are being challenged in court. His secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said last month the U.S. was searching for countries that would accept deportees. For NPR News, I'm Kate Butlett in Johannesburg. Thousands of unionized employees 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 a majority of the nearly 2100 union members voted yesterday to approve the strike. At last check on Wall Street the Dow is up more than 100 points. At 41,420 S&Ps down 9. NASDAQ is off 42 points. From Washington this is NPR News. From Washington, this is NPR News. The paramilitary group at war with Sudan's army have struck the wartime capital, Port Sudan, with a series of drone attacks for the first time.

The attacks mark a turning point in the more than two-year civil war. NPR's Emmanuel Atkenwotu has details. The Sudanese army said drones launched by the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, targeted an air base, an ammunition warehouse and civilian facilities near the city's airport on Sunday. A second drone strike on Monday hit an oil depot on the outskirts of the city. No casualties have been reported, but flights in and out of the city were briefly suspended. Port Sudan had been considered a safe zone since the start of the war, but there has been a rise in drone strikes on areas previously thought to be out of reach of RSF positions.

The war has caused the world's largest humanitarian crisis, according to the UN, and the worst famine in decades. Imanual Ackimotu, NPR News, Lagos. AMT. LYNCH-LEE MULLEN, HOST, NPR NEWS, LAGOS Skype has shut down after more than 20 years of connecting callers through the Internet known by this icon. We should say known by this iconic tone. An end of an era. Microsoft now focusing on Teams, which it has integrated with other Office apps to appeal to more corporate users.

One's a key base for Skype, Microsoft, Outbit, Google, and Facebook to acquire Skype in 2011 for $8.5 billion. The Associated Press reports that at the time, the service had roughly 150 million monthly users. In recent years, that number had fallen to about 23 million. Microsoft says Skype's final call was today.