NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-11-2025 7AM 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 Joel Snyder. In his first Sunday message before a crowded

St. Peter's Square newly elected Pope Leo XIV appealed to world leaders to bring war to an end. I would also like to address the powerful people of the world, repeating the always current call never again war. Speaking in Italian, Pope Leo recalled the end of World War II 80 years ago and quoted the late Pope Francis in saying the world is currently experiencing a third world war in pieces.

The pope offered the traditional Sunday blessing as the U.S. mediated ceasefire between India and Pakistan appears to be holding. Witnesses say the fighting has died down after both sides blamed each other for violating the truce. Russian leader Vladimir Putin is proposing direct peace talks with Ukraine, saying they should begin this Thursday in Istanbul without preconditions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is welcoming Putin's proposal, but says Moscow must first agree to an immediate ceasefire.

Israel has shut down six schools run by the United Nations for Palestinian children in East Jerusalem. This comes after Israel banned the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees from operating in Israel earlier this year. NPR's Hadil Al-Shalchi reports. Hadil El-Shalchi, PIRS News Anchor More than 800 Palestinian students must now find different schools around East Jerusalem, according to the Israeli Education Ministry. Parents say this means many Palestinian children will have to go through dangerous checkpoints daily, some of whom don't have the appropriate permits. Last month, heavily armed Israeli police

stormed the six UN-run schools and delivered closure notices. The ministry said they were running without a license. The schools were run by the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA. Israel has long called UNRWA biased and anti-Semitic, calling for its elimination, a campaign boosted after the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. Hadil Al-Shalchi, NPR News, Tel Aviv. The Justice Department investigating a proposed housing development by Mount North Texas mosque. Caroline Love of Member Station KERA reports that Senator John Cornyn sent Attorney General

Pam Bondi a letter last month. Epic City is a proposed development about 40 miles northeast of Dallas that's associated with the East Plano Islamic Center mosque. The community will include a new mosque, more than a thousand single and multi-family homes, and a faith-based school. The state of Texas also has several ongoing investigations after questions about the project began circulating online. Governor Greg Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton claim the project violates the

Texas Fair Housing Act and consumer protection laws. An attorney for the East Plano Islamic Center calls the investigations misguided and unnecessary, but says the mosque will fully cooperate. For NPR News, I'm Caroline Loven, Dallas. Nat. And you're listening to NPR News. Tufts University student, Ramesa Ostirk, says she is relieved to be back in Boston. She spoke to reporters at Logan Airport last night

after a federal judge ordered her release pending a final decision in her case. She spent six weeks at a Louisiana detention center after she was arrested by immigration agents. Voters in Albania going to the polls in a parliamentary election today. The prime minister seeking a fourth term after a campaign dominated by an effort to join the European Union. The Socialist Party of the prime minister says it can deliver EU membership in five

years. Main opponent says Albania is not yet ready for the EU and has hired a veteran of President Trump's 2024 campaign. Earlier this year Eurasian lynx were spotted in the Scottish Highlands, animals that had not roamed that landscape for hundreds of years. Officials say they were released illegally as NPR's Jacob Finston reports. The four lynx were quickly caught but whoever set them loose wasn't. It may be a case of rogue rewilding where vigilantes attempt to reintroduce a species on their own. There's been a backlash. The Scottish First Minister now says there

won't be any official lynx reintroduction on his watch. Peter Cairns with the non-profit Scotland the Big Picture says there's no need to fear these native wild cats. Ecologically speaking, we know that these animals are important. We know that apex predators play a vital role in maintaining healthy ecosystems. The UK has seen previous cases of suspected rogue rewilding, including butterflies, wild boars and beavers. It's been dubbed beaver bombing. Jacob Fenston, NPR News.

And I'm Giles Snyder. This is NPR News from Washington. Look, we get it. When it comes to new music, there is a lot of it. And it all comes really fast. Kyle Snyder. This is NPR News from Washington.