NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-24-2025 3AM EDT

Episode Date: May 24, 2025

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This message comes from the Kresge Foundation. Established 100 years ago, the Kresge Foundation works to expand equity and opportunity in cities across America. A century of impact, a future of opportunity. More at kresge.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Ronan. Harvard's international students were shaken Thursday when the Trump administration said they could no longer attend the university and then relieved when a judge blocked the move Friday. But the mood on the campus remains uneasy.

WBUR's Emily Piper Valillo has more. Harvard's campus thinned out after final exams. But those who lingered shared their disbelief. Matt's a graduate student. NPR agreed to only use his first name because of his concerns about being targeted as an international student. He hopes he'll be able to finish his degree in a few years, but on Thursday, he wasn't even looking that far ahead.

If you saw that letter issued by the Department of Homeland Security, it said that it's effective immediately, so students would have to find other schools or transfer somewhere else or leave the country. AMNA NAWAZ-JONES, NPR NEWS ANCHOR, NPR NEWS ANCHORS, NPR NEWS ANCHORS, NPR NEWS ANCHOR Matt had just heard about the judge's temporary restraining order when I bumped into him and said the news was reassuring. For NPR News, I'm Emily Piper-Villillo in Boston. A luxury jetliner gifted to the U.S. government by Qatar is waiting for a huge overhaul to become the next Air Force One. The U.S. officially by Qatar is waiting for a huge overhaul to become the next Air Force

One. The U.S. officially accepted the gift earlier this week. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reports it will likely take a significant amount of money and time to fix the plane. President Trump has suggested the plane could be converted quickly, but experts say it will likely take years to rework it to meet the current standards set for Air Force One. Doug Berkey, executive director of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, says the plane from Qatar is likely more luxurious than the current Air Force One. But there's no way it has any of the necessary communications or self-defense features required. Installing those is not an easy thing. I mean, you have to deconstruct the aircraft a fair

amount to do that. That will cost hundreds of millions. In the meantime, Boeing already has two planes in production to replace Air Force One, but they're long delayed. Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Washington. The U.N. Secretary General says the entire population of Gaza is facing the risk of famine after the blockade by Israel. Israel led a small amount of aid in this week as they pressed their offensive. NPR's Michel Kellerman reports. Secretary General Antonio Guterres says this could be, as he puts it, the cruelest phase of a cruel conflict in Gaza.

Families are being starved and denied the very basics, all with the world watching in real time." He says only a trickle of aid made it into Gaza this week, and Israel's military offensive is intensifying. Guterres did not take questions. The U.S. has backed a private foundation that is promising to deliver aid to Gaza. The UN has refused to take part in that and says it has its own plans and a record of being able to get food to Palestinians in need.

Michelle Kelliman, NPR News, the State Department. And from Washington, you're listening to NPR. Military aircraft controllers lost contact with an Army helicopter May 1st as it flew near the Pentagon, causing two Delta Airlines flights to abort their landings at nearby Reagan National Airport outside of D.C. According to the AP, the controllers lost contact with the helicopter because a temporary control tower, the radio antenna, was not in the correct location where it could maintain contact with the helicopter as it flew to the Pentagon.

The antenna has since been moved. The aborted landings followed the fatal midair collision in January involving a Blackhawk helicopter and American Airlines plane that left 67 people dead. Boeing and the Justice Department have reached a tentative deal to remove their criminal charges. Here's NPR's Joe Rose. The Justice Department says it's reached an agreement in principle that would allow Boeing to avoid criminal prosecution. Boeing agreed last year to plead guilty to a single count of conspiracy to defraud regulators about the safety of its planes after the crashes of two 737 MAX jets that killed 346 people.

But a federal judge rejected that plea deal over concerns about the selection of an independent monitor. Now, prosecutors under the Trump administration say they've reached a non-prosecution agreement with Boeing that would include more than $440 million for a crash victims fund. But some family members of victims say they're outraged by the deal and plan to keep fighting it in court. Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington. On Wall Street, all three of the major stock

indexes were down because the market traders said they were concerned about EU tariffs. This is NPR News. Support for NPR comes from 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. T's and C's apply.