NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-23-2025 10AM EDT

Episode Date: May 23, 2025

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Conductor Robert Franz says a good melody captures our attention. And then it moves you through time. Music is architecture in time. If you engage in the moment with what you're listening to, you do lose a sense of the time around you. How we experience time. That's on the TED Radio Hour from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. Stocks opened lower this morning after President Trump threatened new tariffs on European imports and iPhones. NPR's Scott Horsley reports the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank about 340 points in

early trading. In what's become a familiar pattern, President Trump took to social media this morning with new tariff threats, sparking a selloff in the stock market. Trump says trade talks with the European Union are going nowhere, so he's threatening to oppose a 50% tax on imports from Europe starting next month. The President is also threatening to slap a 25% tax on iPhones unless Apple agrees to build the devices in the United States. Smartphones and other electronics have so far gotten a pass in Trump's trade war.

Stocks were already under pressure this week as the bond market recoiled from rising government debt. Higher bond yields lead to higher borrowing costs. Mortgage rates inched up this week to 6.86%. Scott Horsley, Impair News, Washington. Harvard University is again suing the Trump administration. This follows the administration's decision to revoke the university's ability to enroll international students. The administration claims Harvard fosters anti-Semitism.

Harvard alleges the Trump administration is retaliating against its right to use the First Amendment. Eight migrants deported from the U.S. who were supposed to go to South Sudan are now being held in the East African nation of Djibouti. They'll stay there for at least two weeks and comply with the U.S. court order. NPR's Jasmine Garz reports the White House has been complaining that courts are trying to control its foreign policy. The migrants are from Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cuba and South Sudan. Earlier this week, lawyers were told they were being deported to South Sudan. Earlier this week, lawyers were told they were being deported to South Sudan. At a hearing in Massachusetts this week, Judge Brian Murphy said the Trump administration was in violation of

an injunction that prevents people from being deported to countries other than their own, without a chance to voice fears for their well-being. Murphy ordered that the individuals be given at least 15 days to challenge their deportation. At her daily briefing, White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt confirmed the migrants will stay in Djibouti and accused Judge Murphy of threatening U.S. diplomatic relationships. Jasmine Garst, NPR News, New York. Federal officials have charged a suspect from Chicago in the killing of two diplomats from the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. The two were leaving an evening event at a Jewish museum when they

were shot and killed. The diplomat, Sarah Milgram, and Yaron Lashinsky were a couple. Friends say they were soon to be engaged to be married. Marian Waba was a friend of theirs and remembers Lashinsky as a man of peace. When I think about Yaron's legacy, I will forever think of him as a diplomat on par and a peacemaker at heart. Lashinsky was a dual Israeli-German citizen. Milgram was an American citizen who grew up in Kansas. On Wall Street, the Dow was down 330 points. This is NPR.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that President Trump has the power to fire key federal agency members if he disagrees with them. The 6-3 decision overturns a 90-year-old Supreme Court president, but the high court did say Trump cannot fire the head of the Federal Reserve who can only be fired for cause. The Senate now has the multi-trillion-dollar spending bill that squeaked by in the House yesterday by a single Republican vote. It widely expands President Trump's tax breaks and slashes spending in other government areas. That includes cuts to federal nutrition assistance or food stamps.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates this will balloon the deficit to nearly $4 trillion. On this unofficial kickoff to summer, a record number of people are forecast to travel. Most are driving this holiday weekend. As NPR's Amy Held reports, gas prices are at a four-year low. AAA projects more than 45 million people getting away around Memorial Day. 40 million driving. Regular gas is down about 40 cents a gallon from last year,

now averaging about $3.20. Three years ago, it was over five. Jonathan Peoples is in Lincoln, Nebraska. We are thankful that the gas prices are dropping because it gives us more opportunity to go out and explore, you know, and just see things more. And despite air traffic control problems, AAA projects more than 3.6 million people are flying. Barbara Slavins is at Chicago's O'Hare. This is crazy. Oh my gosh,

when I walk there, that hopefully we can make our flight. Holiday air travel forecasts rise almost two percent over last year. Amy Held, NPR News. And I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News in Washington. We've all been there, running around the city, looking for a bathroom, but unable to find one. Hello, do you have a restroom we could use? A very simple free market solution is that we could just pay to use a bathroom, but we can't. On the Planet Money podcast, the story of how we once had thousands of pay toilets and why they got banned. From Planet Money on NPR, wherever you get your podcasts.