NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-10-2025 9PM EDT

Episode Date: May 11, 2025

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This is Ira Glass, the host of This American Life. So much is changing so rapidly right now with President Trump in office. It feels good to pause for a moment sometimes and look around at what's what. To try and do that, we've been finding these incredible stories about right now that are funny and have feeling and you get to see people everywhere making sense of this new America that we find ourselves in. This American Life, wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Herbst. American and Chinese officials held talks today

on tariffs in the Swiss city of Geneva. The talks continue tomorrow. Villa Marks reports this was the first face-to-face communication 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 He 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. Besson 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 sides made public statements about the content of today's negotiations. For NPR News, I'm Villam Marx in Geneva. A federal judge in San Francisco issued a temporary pause last night in the Trump administration's plans for mass layoffs of federal workers and the closing of programs and agencies. The judge

says the administration's moves are illegal without congressional authorization. This came in response to a lawsuit filed by a broad coalition of organizations. And here's Andrea Hsu has more. The heart of this case is an executive order that Trump signed back in February that lays out what he expects agencies to do, you know, prepare for large-scale layoffs, shut down offices whose functions are not mandated by statute. Well, the government's attorney said the president's executive order merely provides directions to agencies to carry out what the law already allows them to do.

But in court, the plaintiff's attorney, Danielle Leonard, was not having this, she told the judge. No, this is a mandatory order instructing agencies to begin mass layoffs now and to do so in the manner that the president is directing. Danielle Pletka MPIR's Andrea Hsu reporting. It's the latest in a string of court battles over Trump's executive power. Imprisoned former tech executive Elizabeth Holmes is advising her partner on a new blood testing company. In Pierce, Bobbi Allen reports, Holmes is serving an 11-year federal sentence for defrauding investors. Elizabeth Holmes' partner Billy Evans has raised millions of dollars for a biotech company.

It's called hermaphys. It's the Greek phrase for blood flower. It hopes to use AI to detect diseases early. That's according to two sources familiar with the venture who are not authorized to speak publicly since the company has not yet launched. The startup bears a striking resemblance to Theranos, Holmes's fraudulent blood testing company that led to her 11-year sentence. A source close to the effort told NPR, Holmes has been providing advice to Evans as he develops the company. As a result of a federal settlement, Holmes cannot be an officer of a publicly traded company for a decade, but it does not affect her ability to work with a new private startup, even from prison. Bobbi Allen, NPR News.

O'Reilly-Wilson-Wall Street was in the red this week, and for the week the Dow was down about two-tenths of a percent. The S&P 500 was down about a half percent. This is NPR News. Women in the U.S. will soon be able to use an at-home alternative to the pap smear. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports the FDA has approved a device to self-screen for cervical cancer. The company Teal Health makes the wand with a swab on its tip and says it's more comfortable and convenient than getting a pap smear at the doctor's office. Women will be able to collect a vaginal sample, then send it to a lab to test for HPV, the virus that causes nearly all cervical cancers.

Teal Health says the device will be available by prescription next month in California first, then nationwide, and that it's working with insurance companies to provide coverage. More than 4,000 women a year die from cervical cancer, in part, health experts say, because many don't get screened often enough or at all. Jennifer Levin in Peer News, Washington. A magnitude 4.1 earthquake hit Tennessee this morning, and it was felt as far away as Atlanta and western North Carolina. The U.S. Geological Survey says the temblor hit around 9 this morning about 12 miles from Greenback, Tennessee, which is about 30 miles south of Knoxville. Earthquakes are not uncommon

in the region. The eastern Tennessee seismic zone is one of the most active in the southeast and extends across parts of Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. Ayesha Davis with the USGS says the southeastern U.S. carries a significant quake risk, especially around the East Tennessee seismic zone, which is where this morning's quake happened. Seismic waves from quakes spread more efficiently in the eastern U.S. compared to the west because of the region's geology. This is NPR News. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things and other currencies.

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