NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-14-2025 4AM EDT

Episode Date: May 14, 2025

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These days, there's a lot of news. It can be hard to keep up with what it means for you, your family, and your community. Consider This from NPR is a podcast that helps you make sense of the news. Six days a week, we bring you a deep dive on a story and provide the context, backstory, and analysis you need to understand our rapidly changing world. Listen to the Consider This podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. President Trump says he's lifting sanctions against Syria. The announcement came ahead of a meeting today with Syria's leader. As NPR's Franco Ordonia reports, Trump is in Saudi Arabia, where he's been accompanied by several business leaders on

Tuesday. There was a long list of CEOs here 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. And Pérez Franco-Ordonez in Riyadh. Mexico is sending more water to the United States to uphold its end of a nearly 80-year-old treaty. As part of that agreement, Mexico must send billions of gallons of water every five years. But as Carlos Morales reports, the

country has only sent 30% of the total water it needs to deliver by this October. To help spur those deliveries, Mexico and the U.S. have just recently come to a new agreement that the two countries believe will help avoid a water shortfall. But farmers and water experts say the new agreement won't be enough, partly because of the intense drought both sides of the Texas-Mexico border are experiencing right now. Chris Bell is a farmer in Presidio, Texas. Right now it's just been hard on everybody to get enough water. It's not raining that much and there's just a lot of things have changed.

The U.S. and Mexico plan to meet this summer to review water deposits and evaluate rainfall and see how the new agreement and changes they've made are working so far. For NPR News, I'm Carlos Morales in Marfa, Texas. In Los Angeles, a judge has re-sentenced Eric and Lyle Menendez, two brothers serving a life sentence for the 1989 killings of their parents. The tale is from Steve Futterman. The decision means the brothers, who have already served more than 35 years in prison, are eligible for parole.

The ruling came after both brothers, speaking by video link from their prison, took full responsibility for their actions. Their attorney Mark Garagos says the judge made the right ruling. I just know that on a day like today that redemption is possible. The brothers first cousin Anna Maria Barrault was one of many family members who urged their release afterwards she thanked them and end his legal team. You have brought hope to this family that we didn't see come

even if a parole board rules that the menendez brothers should be released, California Governor Gavin Newsom does have the power to reject it. For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Los Angeles. U.S. futures are flat and after hours trading on Wall Street, on Asia Pacific market shares are mixed down a fraction in Tokyo. This is NPR. The leaders of Russia and Ukraine are set to hold face-to-face talks this week. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says he'll meet with his Turkish counterpart Thursday

in Ankara, where the two leaders will wait for Russian President Vladimir Putin's arrival. Zelensky says Western leaders should follow through on threats of new sanctions if Putin fails to show up. He says that any agreement to end Russia's war in his country must be negotiated with Putin. ESPN has announced its long-awaited streaming service featuring access to all of its channels and content with 47,000 events each year, and it will be called ESPN. As NPR's Eric Deggans reports, the sports channel's new service

is a reflection of a changing media landscape. ESPN's new streaming service comes after years of development and negotiations, balancing the sports channel's need for a response to cord cutting with cable and satellite TV systems that still depend on their programming. The service will offer an ultimate plan featuring access to all ESPN channels, including ESPN Plus and ESPN on ABC for about $30 a month or $300 annually. Access to the more limited programming available just on ESPN Plus costs about $12 a month or $120 annually.

The channel will also upgrade its ESPN app for users who have subscribed directly or through a pay TV package. ESPN did not reveal a start date for the streaming service, which is expected to debut this fall. Eric Deggans, NPR News. Again, US futures are flat in after hours trading on Wall Street. This is NPR News. Does the idea of listening to political news freak you out? Well, don't sweat it. Street. This is NPR News.