NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-13-2025 2PM EDT

Episode Date: May 13, 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 Lakshmi Singh. President Trump says he plans to lift sanctions on Syria and briefly meet tomorrow with the president who helped topple the long ruling Assad regime. The sanctions were brutal and crippling and served as an important, really an important

function nevertheless at the time, but now it's their time to shine. Trump's announcement in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia today was met with enthusiastic applause from the Investors Conference. Earlier, Trump announced $600 billion in U.S. business deals with Saudi Arabia. The White House says negotiations resulted in $142 billion in arms deals for more than a dozen U.S. firms, partnerships on AI data centers, gas turbines from GE, and $80 billion in tech investments involving Saudi and U.S. companies, including Google,

Oracle, Salesforce, and Uber. Trump has done a lot with his first few months in office, but much of what he has promised to accomplish quickly is still incomplete. And Piers Amedeco-Montanaro looks at the challenges ahead and where Trump stands politically at this point. President Trump took bold action in his first few months in office. He signed 147 executive orders, tried to reshape the federal government, and attempted to win peace deals overseas. But this is a pivotal juncture in Trump's presidency. Domestically, in order to forge a lasting legacy, he needs Congress. Trump is trying to get a tax cut bill passed, but he's working with a very narrow Republican majority that has some conflicting views on how to spend and what not to spend on.

Internationally, Trump has not been able to get the peace deals in Ukraine or the Middle East that he's wanted, and he's looking for off-ramps from trade wars that have dragged down his approval ratings. Domenico Montanaro, NPR News, Washington. Newly elected Pope Leo XIV has spoken with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to the Vatican Press Office. NPR's Jason DeRose reports from Rome that the pontiff began speaking about Ukraine over the weekend. President Zelensky posted on social media following a phone conversation with the pope that he was thankful for his support of Ukraine.

During remarks from the balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square Sunday, Pope Leo called for a true, just, and lasting peace in the war-torn nation. He also called for the children that had been deported from Ukraine to Russia to be returned to their families. Zelensky's social media post also said that his country counts on the Vatican's assistance in bringing them home. And the Ukrainian president wrote that he invited the pope to make an official visit to his country to bring hope to the people there.

Jason DeRose, NPR News, Rome. Consumer prices in the US rose 2.3% in April from a year ago, slightly lower than the 2.4% annual increase seen in the previous month. The inflation data for last month capturing some of the effects from the tariffs President Trump announced last month. The Dow is down 162 points. The Nasdaq is up more than 300 points. It's NPR.

Jurors are hearing from the prosecution's star witness and hip-hop mogul Sean Combs' sex trafficking and racketeering trial in New York. Cassandra Ventura has described her former boyfriend as controlling of her, her music, and frequently abusive. She says Combs pressured her to engage in sex parties and videotaped encounters to blackmail her into continuing. Jurors have seen a video of Combs beating Ventura and kicking her as she lay huddled on the floor in a Los Angeles hotel hallway when she tried to leave. The defense argues that domestic violence is not sex trafficking. A new real estate analysis shows more people in the United States are buying older homes. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports it's a sign of how few homes have been built nationwide

over the last 15 years. The typical home bought last year hit a record age 36 years. That's nearly a decade older than back in 2012, according to a new analysis by the real estate brokerage Redfin. The U.S. housing stock has been aging rapidly since construction plummeted after the 2008 financial crisis. In fact, the report finds the share of homes built in the decade after that was the lowest since World War II. Older homes can come with costly repairs. One reason they're generally less expensive than new ones. But Redfin also finds that price gap is shrinking,

in part because more developers are building smaller, lower-cost homes like townhouses. Jennifer Leibman, NPR News, Washington. You're listening to NPR News.