NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-27-2025 8PM EDT

Episode Date: May 28, 2025

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These days, there's a lot of news. It can be hard to keep up with what it means for you, your family, and your community. Consider This from NPR is a podcast that helps you make sense of the news. Six days a week, we bring you a deep dive on a story and provide the context, backstory, and analysis you need to understand our rapidly changing world. Listen to the Consider This podcast from NPR. Listen to the Consider This Podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. A large crowd of hungry people in Gaza swarmed a new site secured by the Israeli military where cardboard boxes stuffed

with canned food, pasta, and cooking oil were being handed out for the first time. Inverse Iber Trawi reports the chaotic scene comes as Israel continues to block the entry of nearly all goods into Gaza. This was supposed to be the first rollout of a new plan Israel is imposing on Palestinians in Gaza following nearly three months of total blockade and child deaths from malnutrition. Instead, in videos verified by NPR, one of two new fenced-off distribution sites in southern Gaza is shown overrun by large crowds. Contractors of the American company running the Israeli-secured site fled.

Hamas says the incident reflects Israel's failure to manage the humanitarian crisis it deliberately created. Israel says its aim is to keep aid from Hamas. UN agencies and humanitarian organizations in Gaza refuse to take part in this plan, saying it politicizes aid. They're calling on Israel to allow them to distribute the aid sitting in warehouses just outside Gaza. Aya Batraoui, NPR News, Dubai. Russia and Ukraine are continuing an ongoing prisoner swap in the third and last major

part of the exchange. Each side brought home more than 300 military and civilian prisoners. It's a moment of cooperation in an otherwise failed attempt by President Trump to broker a ceasefire between the two sides. Trump appears to be going ever more frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In a post on social media, he said the Russian leader is, quote, playing with fire. The latest swap comes just hours after Ukraine's capital, Kiev, and other areas of Ukraine were targeted by massive Russian drone and missile strikes. Federal judges temporarily block the Trump administration's efforts to end New York City's congestion pricing program that taxes vehicles driving into Manhattan. Temporary restraining order keeps the program alive at least through June 9th. More from

NPR's Brian Mann. State officials in New York say the congestion pricing program launched earlier this year incentivizes mass transit, reduces gridlock and improves air quality. The Trump administration began trying to kill the program in February, threatening to withhold federal transportation dollars for New York State. Federal Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has called the program a cash grab. But this latest court order pauses the federal attack on the program. In a statement, New York Governor Kathy Hochul calls the temporary restraining order a massive victory for New York commuters. State officials are hoping to extend the order while the fight over congestion pricing plays out in federal court. Brian Mann in PR News, New York.

Even as President Trump has pulled back a bit on his timetable for new tariffs against European goods coming into the U.S., he continues to talk tough. Trump's saying if no deals reach by July 9th, he'll impose a 50% tariff or import tax on European goods. EU for its part has said it's fully committed to having discussions with the US. That sent stocks soaring today. The Dow is up 740 points. The NASDAQ rose 461 points.

This is NPR. Salesforce says it's greeted by cloud data management company Informatica for an approximately $8 billion deal. Informatica helps manage data systems both in the cloud and across company sites to allow for better analysis with clients ranging from Unilever to Toyota. San Francisco-based Salesforce specializes in software that helps sales staff manage customer relations. Both companies boards have to approve the deal, which is expected to close in early 2027. A manhunt is underway in Arkansas for a former police chief and convicted murderer who escaped a high security prison over the weekend. Member stationed KUAF in Fayetteville, Daniel Coorth reports. Authorities are still searching for 56-year-old Grant Harden, the former

police chief of Gateway, Arkansas, was serving a 30-year sentence for first degree murder and an additional 50-year sentence for the rape of a school teacher. Officials say he escaped the North Central Unit prison in Calico Rock, Arkansas, on Sunday afternoon. Video surveillance shows Hardin escaping through a controlled entryway to the prison, wearing what officials describe as a makeshift law enforcement uniform. The Arkansas Department of Corrections says Hardin is considered extremely dangerous. State and local law enforcement are searching vehicles and scouring the area using drones and canine units. For NPR News, I'm Daniel Carruth.

A couple of border collies in West Virginia take their jobs seriously. The Dogs Hercules and Ned McDaly patrols at West Virginia's busiest airport, with their task of keeping birds and other wildlife off the runway at Yeager Airport in Charleston, West Virginia. This is NPR. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things and other currencies. This is NPR.