NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-19-2025 12PM EDT

Episode Date: May 19, 2025

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You've probably seen clips from the Jennifer Hudson show Spirit Tunnel on TikTok or Instagram, the ones where celebrities dance down the hallway to a clever song. These videos can reveal a lot. Do they have rhythm? And how famous are they really? We're breaking down the inescapable internet trend. Listen to the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Former President Joe Biden is thanking people today for their support, writing on X, cancer touches us all. And Piers Tamer-Keith reports on Biden's disclosure over the weekend that he has an aggressive form

of prostate cancer. Yeah, according to a statement from Biden's personal office, the cancer was detected after he experienced increasing urinary symptoms. And it has metastasized to his bones and is a more aggressive form of prostate cancer. The statement says, it appears to be hormone sensitive, which means there are options for effective management.

And the former president and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians. And Piers Tamer-Keith, Biden who is now 82, ended his re-election bid last year after he was unable to quell concerns including among his own allies about his advanced age and health. He has continued to push back and did so during public appearances recently ahead of a new book by two journalists who chronicle the role Biden's White House advisors played in how they publicly disclose information about his health. The Prime Minister of Israel is allowing some aid into Gaza

after nearly three-month blockade. Israel has launched an extensive ground offensive in Gaza in an effort to force Hamas to surrender and release Israeli hostages. And Piers, Kary Kahn reports from Tel Aviv. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will allow a, quote, basic quantity of food into Gaza and control all aid distribution there. He also said Israel will hold on to territory seized by ground forces and what he says will

be a plan to, quote, taking control of all of Gaza. Intense shelling and airstrikes in northern Gaza has forced Palestinians to flee like 50-year-old Wael Al-Kilani, who walked for hours with his wife and seven children. He says the bombing was intense, with planes striking artillery, fire and tanks. Hamas and Israel are currently holding indirect talks in Doha. Israel demands Hamas lay down its arms. Hamas wants international guarantees for a negotiated end to the war. Kari Kahn, NPR News, Tel Aviv.

The yield on Treasury bonds rising after Moody's stripped the federal government of its AAA bond rating. Here's NPR's Scott Horsley. Moody's was the last of the big three credit rating agencies to lower its estimate to the U.S. government's creditworthiness. The company warned that U.S. policymakers have failed to address a rising tide of government debt. The move comes as congressional Republicans are weighing an extension of the 2017 tax cut, which is expected to add trillions of dollars in additional red ink over the next

decade. That additional borrowing is only partially offset by GOP spending cuts. Stock in Walmart opened lower after President Trump took to social media to say the retail giant should eat the cost of his new tariffs rather than raising prices. Walmart warned last week that some price increases are inevitable given the magnitude of the president's import taxes. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. It's NPR. The White House says a call is taking place between President Trump and Russian

leader Vladimir Putin about Russia's ongoing war with Ukraine. Bangladesh has among the worst air pollution in the world and the brick making business is partly to blame. But as NPR's Jonathan Lambert tells us, new research shows that simple changes to how bricks are fired could make a big difference. Bangladesh produces nearly 30 billion bricks a year. Most of these are made in coal-fired brick kilns, which spew thick clouds of black smoke, says energy systems engineer Samir Matil. It is essentially a lot of black smoke impacting the workers and the nearby villagers and also impacting overall air quality of the region.

But a new study in the journal Science shows that tweaking this process can make the kilns much more efficient. A few changes, like leaving more space between bricks, cut pollution from the kilns by about 20 percent. Jonathan Lambert, NPR News. The New Jersey Transit rail system is expected to resume service tomorrow. Hundreds of unionized locomotive engineers reached a tentative labor agreement with management. The deal is still subject to union ratification. The engineers went on strike last week for higher pay, leaving commuters to scramble for alternative ways

to get to their destinations. U.S. stocks mix this hour. The NASDAQ is down 73 points. S&P is off 12. The Dow is down two points. This is NPR News. Look, we get it. When it comes to new music, there is a lot of it, and it all comes really points. This is NPR News.