NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-14-2025 2PM EDT

Episode Date: May 14, 2025

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Know that fizzy feeling you get when you read something really good, watch the movie everyone's been talking about, or catch the show that the internet can't get over? At the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, we chase that feeling four times a week. We'll serve you recommendations and commentary on the buzziest movies, TV, music, and more. From lowbrow to highbrow to the stuff in between, catch the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR Lyle from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Qatar is now hosting a state dinner for President Trump, who traveled to the Middle East to deepen defense and economic ties with several Arab governments. He announced the sale today of a record number of Boeing jets and as heard on the Associated

Press today, President Trump also said he and Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani discussed U.S. attempts to persuade Iran to wind down its nuclear program. I have a feeling it's going to work out. I think it's going to work. It's got to work out one way or the other. We know it's going to work out. Trump arrived in Doha today from Saudi Arabia. His next stop is the United Arab Emirates.

A federal judge has released Badar Khan Suri from immigration. The Indian postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University will now return to Virginia from Texas while his challenge to his detention plays out in court. NPR's Sergio Martinez-Bertran has the latest. Sergio Martinez-Bertran Badar Khan Suri had been in immigration detention for eight weeks following his arrest in Virginia in March. The Department of Homeland Security has accused Suri of, quote, actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting anti-Semitism on social media.

According to DHS, his father-in-law is a senior advisor to Hamas. Multiple news outlets describe the father-in-law as a former advisor. The federal government revoked Suri's visa, but he has not been charged with a crime. He has denied the accusations against him. Suri is the latest scholar to be released by a federal judge following a crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists. Sergio Martinez Beltran, NPR News, Washington. The man charged with attempting to assassinate Trump when he was running for president last year is asking a judge to dismiss some of the charges against him. NPR's Greg Allen reports Ryan Routh was spotted with a rifle at Trump's West Palm Beach Club

in September. At a hearing in Fort Pierce, Florida, Ryan Routh's defense lawyers argued that two of the charges against him should be dismissed because they violate his Second Amendment rights. Routh is accused of illegally owning a firearm as a convicted felon and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Public defender Sonia Farazi told U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon that recent court decisions show, quote, the Second Amendment doesn't just apply to law-abiding citizens. Justice Department Prosecutor John Shipley said the statute that prohibits felons from possessing firearms is still law. And he said a firearm with an obliterated serial

number has no lawful purpose. Ruth's trial was set for September. Greg Allen, NPR News, Fort Pierce, Florida. Danielle Pletka Hip hop mogul Sean Diddy Combs' ex-girlfriend was again taking the stand today in the rapper sex trafficking and racketeering trial in New York. R&B singer Cassie Ventura had provided graphic testimony alleging that Combs had emotionally, physically, and sexually assaulted her for years, blackmailed her, and derailed her music career. Combs maintains his innocence and has pleaded not guilty. This is NPR News. The U.S. saw the largest drop in fatal drug overdoses ever recorded last year. A new report issued by the Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention found street drug deaths plummeted 27 percent, saving tens of thousands of lives. NPR's Brian Mann has details. Drug researchers are still scrambling to understand why fatal overdoses are dropping so fast. Most experts say it's a mix of better health care developed under the Biden administration, weaker fentanyl being sold on American streets, and the high number of drug users who've already died. In a brief statement, the CDC called the drop remarkable and attributed the shift to policies that began in 2017 when President Trump declared an opioid emergency during his first term. But drug deaths rose dramatically after 2017 and continued to rise through 2023

when fatalities began to drop. Fatal overdoses are still far higher in the U.S. than other countries with roughly 80,300 deaths reported in 2024. Brian Mann, NPR News. A panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down one of the key remaining ways of enforcing the Federal Voting Rights Act in seven mainly Midwestern states. For decades, private individuals and groups have brought the majority of lawsuits for enforcing the landmark law, Section 2 protections against racial discrimination in the election process. However, in a two-to-one ruling released today, the three-judge panel found that Section 2 cannot be enforced by lawsuits from private

parties under a separate federal statute. The Dow is down 87 points at 42057. This is NPR.