NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-14-2025 1AM EDT

Episode Date: May 14, 2025

NPR News: 05-14-2025 1AM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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. Shea Stevens Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea

Stevens. President Trump is set to meet with Syria's leader Wednesday in Saudi Arabia, the first stop of his four-day visit to Gulf nations. The brief gathering will come on the heels of Trump's announcement that he plans to lift sanctions on Syria. As NPR's Franco Ordoniez reports, the president was accompanied by several business leaders in the Saudi capital on Tuesday. There was a long list of CEOs here today with Trump, from NVIDIA, OpenAI, Elon Musk, of

course, financial firms and defense contractors. The White House says there were about $142 billion in arm deals with more than a dozen U.S. firms and $80 billion in technology investments. And we're really going to expecting to see more of that during other stops on the trip to Qatar and UAE. NPR's Franco Ordonez reporting. In Washington, the House Agriculture Committee is considering a Republican proposal that would make deep cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP. NPR's Maria Godoy reports that cuts to the nation's

largest anti-hunger program would help pay for proposed tax breaks. Maria Godoy-Gadoy Also known as food stamps, the SNAP program helps feed just over 42 million low-income Americans each month. The proposed legislation would cut nearly $300 billion from SNAP over the next decade. It would expand work requirements to include people under age 65 and those with children ages 7 and up. Currently work requirements only apply to those under 55 and people with children under 18 are exempt.

The package would also freeze future increases in benefits, and it would require states to pay for a portion of SNAP benefits and administrative costs. Maria Godoy, NPR News. A key witness has testified in the Sean Diddy-Cohm trial in New York. The defendant's ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, described how the powerful hip-hop mogul exerted control over her for a decade, as NPR's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento reports. And a note here, this report mentions sexual situations. Cassie Ventura's relationship with Shawn Combs started not long after a 19-year-old

Ventura signed a multi-album deal with Combs' label, Bad Boy Records, in 2006. Ventura testified that after she began dating Combs, he not only controlled her career, he also paid her rent, managed her physical appearance, and even told her who to speak to. She said physical abuse soon followed. Combs allegedly asked Ventura to participate in orchestrated sexual encounters, known as freak-offs, that sometimes lasted days. Through tears, Ventura told the court she gave them to the encounters to appease combs,

but they made her feel humiliated. Ventura's testimony is expected to continue Wednesday. Isabella Gomez-Armiento, NPR News. US futures are flat in after hours trading on Wall Street. This is NPR. Two California men serving life sentences for killing their parents in 1989 may now be eligible for parole. A Los Angeles judge has reduced the sentences

for Eric and Lyle Menendez to 50 years to life. The two brothers maintain that the slayings were carried out in self-defense following years of abuse by their father. They remain in custody while a parole board reviews their new sentences. After being banned for life, the late Pete Rose and shoeless Joe Jackson could be finally headed for baseball's Hall of Fame. Major League Baseball has reinstated the two players, more than a dozen others as well. As NPR's Becky Sullivan reports, most have been involved in gambling or game fixing.

LORI SIEGEL Commissioner Rob Manfred decided to posthumously reinstate them, saying players who have died are no longer a threat to the integrity of the game. Beat Rose is the Major League's all-time hits leader. He was permanently banned in 1989 after revelations that he had bet on dozens of Cincinnati Reds games and hundreds of other MLB games while he was the Reds' manager. Rose died last fall after years of petitioning baseball officials to be reinstated. The other major Hall of Fame possibility is shoeless Joe Jackson, who was among the best in baseball during his prime. He was one of eight Chicago White Sox banned for allegedly taking bribes from gamblers

to throw the 1919 World Series. Becky Sullivan, NPR News. US futures are flat and after hours trading, following Tuesday's mixed close, the Dow dipped 269 points, the NASDAQ rose 301 points. On Asia Pacific markets, shares are mostly higher but down a fraction in Tokyo. This is NPR News.