NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-26-2025 5AM EDT

Episode Date: May 26, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dave Mattingly. President Trump says Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his words, has gone absolutely crazy. Trump went on social media yesterday to denounce Putin for unleashing the largest aerial drone attack of Russia's war with Ukraine, and earlier in the day suggested he's open to new U.S. sanctions on Moscow. Russian forces have attacked Ukraine for three consecutive nights despite efforts by the U.S. to broker an end to the war. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed in the latest Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. They include a strike that hit a school sheltering displaced families in central Gaza according to a pair of hospital

directors speaking to the BBC. The Israeli military says it was targeting a command and control center being run by Hamas. Many Jewish people in France have begun criticizing Israel for expanding its military offensive in Gaza. As NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports from Paris, the backlash intensified when a prominent rabbi wrote an op-ed earlier this month. Reform rabbi Delphine Orvilleur said, no pain is eased and no death is avenged by starving innocents or condemning children. She faced a torrent of abuse from more conservative members of the community.

Several dozen prominent Jewish intellectuals also signed an op-ed condemning the Israeli government for undermining democracy and the rule of law, endangering the hostages and expanding settlements. On Sunday, hundreds of Jews gathered in Paris to call for an end to the war. Hannah Asseline is a peace activist. There are some in the Jewish community who don't want to see or recognize the pain of the people of Gaza, she says. But adds Azzolin, the silent majority is beginning to speak up and wants this war to end.

Eleanor Beardsley in PR News, Paris. There's no trading today on Wall Street. NPR's Scott Horsley says later this week investors will be watching for new data on inflation in the U.S. economy as well as consumer confidence. The stock market's closed on Monday for the Memorial Day holiday. That could be a welcome break after last week's turbulence, which saw all the major stock indexes falling about 2.5%. This coming week we'll get an update on consumer confidence from the Nonprofit Conference Board.

Confidence has been falling for the last five months, dropping to its lowest level since the early days of the pandemic. That's not always a good predictor, though, of people's actual spending habits. On Friday, we'll get a look at how personal spending held up in April. That's also when the Commerce Department will report on inflation, a measure that's closely watched by the Federal Reserve. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. Authorities in South Carolina say at least 11 people were taken to hospitals last night after a shooting in Little River. This is NPR News.

The Justice Department says it's reached an agreement with Boeing over allegations the company misled federal regulators about its 737 MAX jets. In a court filing late last week, the DOJ says it's agreed to dismiss a criminal fraud charge against Boeing in exchange for the company paying more than a billion dollars, with much of the money going toward safety and quality programs as well as a new fund for crash victims. The deal stems from two 737 crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed all 346 people aboard. President Trump continues to criticize Harvard University as the Ivy League school puts up a legal fight to stop the administration from blocking the enrollment of international students. Here's NPR's Joe Hernandez. Trump said that the home countries of some of Harvard's international students

don't pay for their education and are quote not at all friendly to the United States. He added that the administration wants to know the identities of those students but that Harvard hasn't been forthcoming. We want a list of those foreign students and we'll find out whether or not they're okay. Many will be okay, I assume, and I assume with Harvard many will be bad. Harvard did not immediately reply to NPR's request for comment. On Friday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from revoking Harvard's ability to enroll international students. Harvard president Alan Garber said the ruling was quote,

a critical step to protect the rights and opportunities of our international students and scholars. Joe Hernandez, NPR News. I'm Dave Mattingly in Washington.