NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-10-2025 3PM EDT

Episode Date: May 10, 2025

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Noor Aram, NPR News. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Noor Aram. India is accusing Pakistan of breaking a ceasefire agreement reached earlier today. President Trump first announced the ceasefire after days of strikes and counter strikes. This came after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with both sides and offered to help start discussions to avoid future conflicts. But the Indian Foreign Secretary says there have been repeated violations by Pakistan. Elizabeth Threlke is with the South Asia program at the Stimson Center,

a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank in Washington. She sees the tensions between the neighbors have been going on for decades. Fundamentally, this goes back to the two sides' dispute over the Kashmir region, dating back to their partition in 1947. But over the past several decades, India in particular has accused Pakistan of sponsoring cross-border terrorism. And there was a serious attack that took place on April the 22nd, in which 26 predominantly Hindu tourists were killed in India-administered

Kashmir. Danielle Pletka Pakistan denied any involvement in the attack. India claims the attackers were a proxy group for the Pakistani army. American and Chinese officials pressed on with their talks on trade into the evening today in the Swiss city of Geneva. As Villa-Marx reports, those conversations marked the first face-to-face communications between senior officials since President Trump imposed unprecedented tariffs on Chinese products. Looking out over gleaming Lake Geneva and the manicured lawns of a Swiss government

villa, US Treasury Secretary Scott Besson and China's Vice President for Economic Affairs Hei Le Feng seem to have had a lot to talk about. After a couple of hours of initial discussion Saturday morning, they took a break for lunch before continuing their conversations for several hours. Besant said he hopes the talks will lead to a de-escalation in the ongoing trade war that's frazzled financial markets in recent weeks and driven significant uncertainty in the world's largest two economies. Neither side has made public statements about the content of today's negotiations.

For NPR News, I'm Villam Marx in Geneva. The talks are to resume tomorrow. Investors will be keeping an eye on the trade talks this weekend, after stocks ended the week in the red. NPR's Scott Horsley has more on the story. President Trump floated the possibility of cutting the triple-digit tariff on Chinese imports, but the 80 percent import tax he suggested replacing it with would still be much higher than the U.S. has charged in the past.

Investors were also disappointed by a tentative trade deal with the UK that would leave 10% tariffs on most British goods in place. The Federal Reserve warned on Wednesday that high tariffs increased the risk of pushing both inflation and unemployment up, so the central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged while waiting to see what happens. For the week, the Dow lost about two-tenths of a percent, the NASDAQ lost about three-tenths, and the S&P 500 index lost close to half a percent.

Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. This is NPR News. Texas is now the largest state with a statewide school voucher program. Signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott, the program will allow families to use public funds to pay for private school tuition starting in fall 2026. But the Texas newsroom's Blaise Ganey reports critics are still fighting to stop it. Groups opposing the school voucher program say Texas legislators have abandoned

making necessary improvements to and investments in the public education system. They are now attempting to find out how, if at all, it violates the current laws in the state. Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder believes the program runs afoul of the state constitution. Texans have a constitutional right to a public education and an efficient public education system.

And that is what they are denying from us. He says Democrats are exploring legal action to stop the billion-dollar program from taking effect. I'm Blayce Ganey in Austin. Rescue efforts are underway in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. After heavy rains caused flooding last night, at least seven people died. The flooding collapsed several houses, severely damaged at least six major roads, and disrupted public transportation.

The main airport was closed for a time. In India, weather officials say the monsoon rains are expected to begin earlier than usual this year, hitting the country's southern coast on May 27. This is good news for the nation's farmers. They depend on the monsoon season to deliver nearly 70 percent of the rain they need to grow their crops. India is the world's largest exporter of rice. I'm Noora Rahm, NPR News.