NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-31-2025 3PM EDT

Episode Date: May 31, 2025

NPR News: 05-31-2025 3PM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hey, it's Sarah Gonzalez. The economy has been in the news a lot lately. It's kind of always in the news and Planet Money is always here to explain it. Each episode we tell a sometimes quirky, sometimes surprising, always interesting story that helps you better understand the economy. So when you hear something about cryptocurrency or where exactly your taxes go, yes, I was. Listen to the Planet Money podcast from NPR. ago, yes I was. Listen to the Planet Money Podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rahm. Hamas says it's given its response to a Gaza ceasefire proposed by U.S. Special Envoy Steve Wittkopf. As NPR's Hadil El-Shelchi reports, Hamas is agreeing to some of the terms.

In a statement, Hamas said that it has agreed to release 10 living and 18 deceased hostages. This is in exchange for Israel to release an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners. The U.S. proposal calls for a 60-day ceasefire. Israel accepted Witkoff's proposal earlier this week, but it's not a done deal. Hamas is still seeking other demands, according to reports in Arab and Israeli media. It says it wants a comprehensive withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza and a permanent end to the war. More than 54,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began in Gaza 20 months ago when Hamas militants attacked Israel.

Hadeel Al-Shalchi, NPR News, Tel Aviv. President Trump says his plan to double tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum will take effect next week. Trump announced the hike during a visit to Pittsburgh yesterday to promote a deal with Japan's Nippon Steel that he says will ensure the future of US Steel corporations and steelmaking in the region. NPR's Don Gagne reports. Flanked by steel workers and local officials Trump said Nippon Steel has promised a $14 billion investment with modernization of blast furnaces, a U.S. CEO, and a majority U.S. board of directors for U.S. steel.

It includes vital protections to ensure that all steelworkers will keep their jobs and all facilities in the United States will remain open and thriving. The president cited a commitment to full capacity for at least a decade. The full agreement has not been released. Local union leaders praised the news, but the International United Steel Workers Organization has been critical, citing, among other things, Nippon Steel's history of violating U.S. trade laws. Don Gagne, NPR News, Pittsburgh. The U.S. Supreme Court handed President Trump a temporary win yesterday.

It's permitting the administration to prematurely end a humanitarian program that had granted two-year legal status to more than a half million people from Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua. NPR's Nina Totenberg has more. Trump announced that he was ending the program on his first day in office this year, but a federal district court blocked the administration from doing that. The Justice Department then went directly to the Supreme Court, asking that the district court order be suspended while the litigation plays out in the lower courts. The high court granted the Trump administration's wish for now. Karen

Tumlin, co-counsel for the immigrants, fought back tears today as she described the effects of what she said was the largest mass deportation in the nation's history. These people, she said, played by the rules to enter the country legally. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington. This is NPR. Officials in Nigeria now say at least 151 people died in flooding in a market town in the north central part of the country. Heavy rain unleashed the floods earlier this week in a major transportation hub where farmers sell their wares to traders from the south. President Trump says he's removing

Kim Sayyed as the director of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, the first woman in that job. NPR's Elizabeth Blair reports. President Trump says he's firing Sayyed from her post because he claims she is highly partisan and a strong supporter of DEI, which he says is totally inappropriate for her position. Sixty-two percent of the Smithsonian's budget comes from the federal government. In one of his executive orders, Trump claimed it had come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology. Before joining the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in 2013, Seid held leadership

positions for the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Trump has upended cultural institutions, including the Kennedy Center, since taking office four months ago. He recently dismissed the Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News. A new women's professional sports league opens one week from today. Major League Baseball World News is important, but it can feel far away. Not on the State of the World podcast. With journalists around the world, you'll hear firsthand the effects of US trade actions

in Canada and China, and meet a Mexican street sweeper who became a pop star. We don't go around the world, we're already there. Listen to the State of the World podcast from NPR every weekday.