NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-13-2025 6PM EDT

Episode Date: May 13, 2025

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Tariffs, recessions, how Colombian drug cartels gave us blueberries all year long. That's the kind of thing the Planet Money podcast explains. I'm Sarah Gonzalez and on Planet Money, we help you understand the economy and how things all around you came to be the way they are. Para que sepas. So you know. Listen to the Planet Money podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. President Trump announced a series of US business deals with Saudi Arabia. As NPR's Franco Ordonez explains, the White House says the deals add up to a $600 billion investment in the US. President Trump sat down with the Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, to sign multiple business deals, including economic partnerships and arms programs.

You're going to be creating tremendous numbers of jobs in the United States. We have the best product, we have the best military equipment in the world by far. Here are some specific ones. $142 billion arms deal involving more than a dozen US firms, $80 billion in technology investments from Google, Oracle, Salesforce, Uber, and Saudi companies, and a $20 billion agreement in AI data centers. Trump and the Crown Prince also signed agreements to work together on energy, defense, and minerals. Specific details about each were not yet available.

Franco Ordonez, NPR News, Riyadh. Vaccine experts are questioning a new project the Trump administration has launched to try to create what is known as a universal flu vaccine. Here's NPR's Rob Stein. The Department of Health and Human Services will spend $500 million to try to create a flu vaccine that doesn't have to be updated every year. That's long been an elusive goal for vaccine researchers. But many vaccine scientists are puzzled by the new project, known as Generation Gold Standard. That's because the project is using an old technology that involves injecting people with whole viruses that have been inactivated to make them harmless but still capable of stimulating an immune

response. Vaccine experts say newer technologies are more promising and produce fewer side effects. Rob Stein and PR News. The heat is coming early to Texas and other areas where temperatures commonly seen during the summer months are making an early entrance. Forecasters at the National Weather Service say a high pressure system over the Gulf is being blamed for much of the hotter than usual weather. The broadest measure of the stock market is staging a remarkable comeback. NPR's Rafael Nam has more.

Just last month, stocks tanked after President Trump unveiled widespread tariffs. But he then paused many of those tariffs as the White House negotiates with countries, including his biggest trading partner China. Investors were also relieved after data earlier in the day showed inflation at 2.3% in April from a year ago, slightly lower than in March. Economists do caution that we're still not seeing the full effects of the tariffs. By stock investors for now, see the glass as half full. The Nasdaq also rose, although the Dow Jones fell in part after United Healthcare shares tumbled after the company's CEO stepped down.

Rafal Nam, NPR News. This is NPR. Cassie Ventura, the ex-girlfriend of hip-hop tycoon Sean Combs testified against him today in a federal courtroom in Manhattan. She is one of the prosecution's star witnesses. It appears Anastasius Lucas is following the trial. And a note, this story includes mentions of physical and sexual assault. Cassie Ventura was a model and singer who signed a 10 album deal with Combs' record label when she was 19 years old.

She claims that rather than releasing her music and furthering her career, Combs instead subjected her to years of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. On the stand, she said her main job was organizing and participating in multi-day marathons of sex and drug use directed by Combs. She added, quote, there was no space to do anything else but to recover and try to feel normal again. Combs is accused of racketeering and sex trafficking. His lawyers say domestic violence, while a crime, is not sex trafficking or racketeering.

Anastasia Tsilkos, NPR News, New York. A Los Angeles judge is hearing arguments this week over whether brothers Eric and Lyle Menendez should receive reduced sentences. The pair have spent more than 30 years in prison for the killing of their parents at their Beverly Hills home in 1989. Lawyers for the brothers are expected to argue that over their decades behind bars they've been rehabilitated and they have the support of their extended family. Prosecutors however say they oppose re-sentencing on the grounds they say Eric and Llamanendez

have never admitted to lies, told him during their original trial. Oil prices closed up nearly 3% today in New York. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington. Imagine if you will a show from NPR that'sar, NPR News in Washington.