NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-12-2025 4AM EDT

Episode Date: May 12, 2025

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Does the idea of listening to political news freak you out? Well, don't sweat it. The NPR Politics Podcast makes politics a breeze. Every episode will break down the day's headlines into totally normal language and make sure that you walk away understanding what the day's news might mean for you. Take a deep breath and give politics another chance with the NPR Politics Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman.

Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander is expected to be released by Hamas today. The exchange could come within the next hour. Hamas has offered the release in hopes of establishing a ceasefire in the fighting in Gaza. The U.S. and China both say trade talks in Geneva over the weekend that were related to high tariffs have been constructive. But as Terri Schulz reports, the two sides say they'll hold off on sharing details until later today. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson delivered an upbeat assessment after the meetings with his Chinese counterparts.

I'm happy to report that we made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks. Besant did not detail to reporters what that progress is but said it would be revealed on Monday. Similarly, Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Li Qinggang said the talks achieved what he called good news for the world. The US has put tariffs of 145% on Chinese goods and China's reacted by enacting 125% on US imports. The taxes have effectively stalled trade between the world's two largest economies. For NPR News, I'm Terry Schultz.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says he'll reduce the number of flights in and out of New York Airport for the next several weeks. New Jersey's largest airport has struggled for more than a week with radar outages and numerous flight delays. The problem in part is a shortage of air traffic controllers. William McGee is an aviation expert for the American Economic Liberties Project. He says he's concerned with the administration's upgrade plans. President Trump joined Duffy by phone at one point, and he said something that really set off alarm bells for me. He said we're going to give, in his words, President Trump

a big, beautiful contract to one company. Well, this is complex work. It involves hundreds and hundreds of facilities all across the country, airports all across the country, and there isn't one company that you sign a contract with that can fix this overnight. They're talking about an initial investment of $12.5 billion. That won't be even nearly enough. President Trump says he'll sign an executive order sometime today to reduce

drug prices. He made that announcement on social media on Sunday. MPR's Luke Garrett has more on our story. President Trump is promising to reduce drug prices by 30 to 80 percent, quote, almost immediately. Posting on social media, Trump says his executive order will lower pharmaceutical costs to quote, the same price as the nation that pays the lowest price, and quote, he's calling it a most favored nation policy. In 2020, Trump signed an executive order of the same name and general principle, but it was blocked by the courts and

then killed by President Joe Biden a year later. The driving idea is that Medicare would refuse to pay more for certain drugs than the lowest price paid by other developed nations. Drug companies criticized the idea as unworkable and irresponsible in 2020. It's unclear what payments or drugs this new order would apply to.

Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington. And you're listening to NPR News. The Kurdistan Workers' Party as the PKK says it will disband and disarm its forces. The move by the Kurdish militant group is part of a new peace initiative with Turkey. The group has been in armed conflict with Turkey for the past 40 years. The decision to disband comes just days after it convened a party congress in Iraq. 49 years after her death, the writer known as the Queen of Crime has been brought back to life through artificial intelligence. Vicki Barker reports from London.

I must confess that this is all rather new to me. Agatha Christie recreated using AI for the online masterclass series BBC Maestro. Her great-grandson James Pritchard told a BBC promotional video. At the heart of this was my father who knew Agatha Christie better than any person alive. At times he was astounded by how similar to his grandmother this version was. The crime writers family set a condition that all the words used be Christy's own. Christy scholars combed her published and unpublished works and private letters to assemble this masterclass. For NPR News, I'm Vicki Barker in London.

Sergei Bobrovsky had his fifth career shutout on Sunday night as the Florida Panthers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-0. That evens the NHL Eastern Conference semifinal series. Bobrowski is the first goalie with two shutouts during this year's playoffs. The Dallas Stars, meanwhile, beat the Winnipeg Jets by a score of 5-2 and take a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference Series. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News. You may have heard that President Trump has issued an executive order conference series. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.