NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-18-2025 12AM EDT

Episode Date: May 18, 2025

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This is Ira Glass, the host of This American Life. So much is changing so rapidly right now with President Trump in office. It feels good to pause for a moment sometimes and look around at what's what. To try and do that, we've been finding these incredible stories about right now that are funny and have feeling and you get to see people everywhere making sense of this new America that we find ourselves in. This American Life, wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. President Trump says he'll talk by phone

with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday morning, and then with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky later in the day, and Piers Daniel Kurtzleben reports. In a social media post, Trump said that he will talk to Putin by phone at 10 a.m. Monday, then talk to Zelensky and quote, various members of NATO. This past week, Ukrainian and Russian officials met in Turkey for their first direct peace talks since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Zelensky had called for

Putin to attend, but the Russian president did not go. On the campaign trail last year, Trump repeatedly said he would broker a peace deal between the two countries within 24 hours of taking office. Fighting has continued instead, and Trump has talked about wanting peace. After Russia sent missiles and drones to Ukraine in April, Trump posted on social media, Vladimir stop. Danielle Kurtz-Lehmann, NPR News. In Palm Springs, California, law enforcement officials say they believe an explosion near

a fertility clinic was a deliberate act. More from Steve Futterman. As law enforcement officials gather, evidence they've come to one key conclusion. This explosion was no accident. Akil Davis is in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles office. Make no mistake, this is an intentional act of terrorism. The explosion occurred just before noon suffered significant dami

burned out adjacent build damage. Palm Springs Poli There are blocks of debri meticulous effort. So we what happened. Police bel incident for NPR News. I' So we understand very thoroughly what happened. Police believe this was an isolated incident. For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Los Angeles. A Mexican military training ship hit the Brooklyn Bridge in New York Saturday night.

Officials say at least three mass of the sailing ship were damaged and a number of people were injured. Mexican officials say the tall ship sailboat was undertaking a departure maneuver at the time of the accident. Traffic on the bridge was temporarily suspended. At least 27 people are dead following a series of violent storms and tornadoes this weekend that hit the Midwest and parts of the southern U.S. First responders in Kentucky found more bodies on Saturday, bringing the total dead there to 18. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear says the damage in some areas is quite severe. Hard to see. Homes that are in a single wall left standing. Some homes that have all four walls yet lost the person inside. The storms also brought a massive

heat dome to parts of Texas. Talks will resume on Sunday as negotiators try to end a strike by engineers who were working for New Jersey Transit. The strike began on Friday and left 350,000 daily passengers scrambling to find an alternate way to work. Transit officials say if no deal is reached by Monday they'll add additional buses to help with the travel concerns. You're listening to NPR News. More than 2,000 people have been ordered to evacuate rural areas just north of Argentina's capital of Buenos Aires this weekend. That order follows several days of heavy rainfall that's flooded highways and farmland.

A bus with 44 passengers was stranded overnight on one of the roadways connecting the capital with the country's interior. As much as 15 inches of rain has fallen over the past 72 hours. The horse journalism has won the 150th running of the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore. Wamboi Kamau from Member Station WYPR reports. Nine horses burst from the gate at Pimlico Racecourse. After a bump in battle in the final stretch, journalism searched ahead, galloping to victory. Italian jockey Umberto Rispoli is a first-time Preakness winner.

I can tell you I couldn't sleep for four nights after the Kentucky Derby, but I know if I could ride a perfect race, but this takes some of the pain off, and I'm glad that I have this opportunity. I have to wait 20 years, but it was worth it to wait. The first place comes with a $1.2 million payout of the race's 2 million purse. This year's Kentucky Derby winner, Serenity, didn't compete in the race. The next leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, is in three weeks. For NPR News, I'm one boy Kamau in Baltimore. Crystal Palace pulled off one of the biggest FA Soccer Cup upsets in recent times on

Saturday with a one-nil win over Manchester City at Wembley Stadium. It was the first FA Cup win in the team's history while Manchester City ended its run empty-handed. Eborichi Eze scored the only goal in the first half. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.