NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-20-2025 11PM EDT

Episode Date: May 21, 2025

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Support for NPR in the following message come from the estate of Joan B. Kroc, whose bequest serves as an enduring investment in the future of public radio and seeks to help NPR produce programming that meets the highest standards of public service in journalism and cultural expression. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shae Stevens. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shae Stevens. Senate Republican leaders left a meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson today, saying that a massive House spending plan is still a long way from final passage. Details from NPR's Claudia Crisales. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said a recent U.S. credit rating downgrade is a warning shot for ongoing talks shaping a new sweeping partisan spending plan.

And that's why I think a lot of our colleagues have made it very clear that in order for a bill to get through the House and Senate and on the president's desk, it has to make a meaningful dent in the out-of-control spending we've seen over the past several years. Thune said House Speaker Mike Johnson reassured Senate Republicans that the tax cuts and spending package cannot raise the deficit or debt. The group met after President Trump pushed House Republicans to approve what he calls his big, beautiful bill, one that still faces a long list of competing demands from various

GOP factions. Claudia Desalves, NPR News, The Capitol. European nations have announced plans to lift sanctions on Syria. NPR's Jane Arath reports on the EU effort to avert poverty and radicalism following the overthrow of the Assad regime. The European Union says it will lift sweeping economic and financial sanctions on Syria. Foreign ministers meeting in Brussels said they could re-impose the sanctions if the new Syrian government does not respect human rights. The EU said it would implement new sanctions on Syrian individuals accused of human rights abuses. The move follows President Trump's pledge last week to

lift US sanctions in place for more than a decade while Bashar al-Assad ruled the country. The EU said it would maintain a ban on providing weapons and technology that could be used for internal repression. The UN says 90% of Syrians are now living in poverty. Economists say rebuilding would have been impossible with the sweeping sanctions still in place. Jane Araf and PR News, Amman. A measles outbreak that began in West Texas has spread to the southern part of the state where a case has been confirmed in a county south of San Antonio. Texas Public Radio's

Bonnie Petrie has the story. The case in Atascosa County is the first infection connected to the West Texas outbreak confirmed in South Texas, according to the State Health Department, it's one of four new outbreak-linked infections, bringing the total to 722. 92 people have been hospitalized over the course of the outbreak, two otherwise healthy but unvaccinated children have died. Nationwide, the CDC has confirmed 1,024 measles cases. Most of them are also linked with outbreaks. There are 14 of those recorded across the country so far this year.

For NPR News, I'm Bonnie Petrie. Danielle Pletka This is NPR. The U.S. Supreme Court has granted an emergency request to restore legislative voting rights to a Maine lawmaker who was censured over a social media post. Republican State Representative Laurel Libby argued that her right to free speech had been violated. Libby was removed from her committee assignments and barred from voting in the state house after criticizing transgender athletes in girl sports.

Libby also posted the name and photos of a transgender athlete who won a high school pole vaulting competition. In New York, a third accuser has taken the stand in the sex crimes retrial of former film executive Harvey Weinstein. Ilya Maritz reports that the woman's testimony is key to the charge of rape in the third degree. Jessica Mann alleges Weinstein raped her in a DoubleTree hotel one morning in 2013. She said she decided to go to police four years later after reading about other women's accusations against Weinstein in the news.

She told the court, quote, I thought it was just me. I thought I was the one doing things wrong. It was the first moment in my life I realized this is who he was. On cross-examination, Mann conceded that directly after the alleged rape, she accepted Weinstein's invitation to a film screening and met him and his family the next morning for tea. This is Weinstein's second New York trial. His conviction in 2020 was overturned on procedural grounds. Mann also testified in that first trial. Weinstein maintains all of his sexual encounters were consensual. For NPR News, I'm Ilya Meretz in New York.

U.S. futures are flat and after-hours trading on Wall Street following today's losses on Asia-Pacific market shares are mixed. This is NPR News. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things and other currencies. With WISE, you can send, spend, or receive money across borders all at a fair exchange rate, no markups or hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit WISE.com.

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