NPR News Now - NPR News: 06-01-2025 2PM EDT

Episode Date: June 1, 2025

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Shortwave thinks of science as an invisible force, showing up in your everyday life. Powering the food you eat, the medicine you use, the tech in your pocket. Science is approachable because it's already part of your life. Come explore these connections on the Shortwave Podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Noor Rahm. Congress comes back from the Memorial Day recess tomorrow. The Senate is to consider a huge tax cut and spending bill passed by the House along party lines last month. NPR's Tamara Keith reports senators will be under considerable pressure to approve it.

Tamara Keith The big questions are how hard it will be for Senate Republicans to pass this and how many changes they'll make to the House version. There's a lot of pressure on Senate Republicans because this basically contains Trump's entire domestic agenda, all in one bill, tax cuts, immigration spending, cuts to Medicaid and other programs. NPR's Tamara Keith. Health officials in Gaza say Israeli forces fired on Palestinians today who are on their

way to food distribution sites supported by Israel and the U.S. They say at least 32 people were killed and more than 200 people were wounded. The Israeli military called the report false and said troops had fired warning shots towards suspects who had advanced towards soldiers, about a thousand yards from a food distribution site. At least seven people are dead and 71 injured after a bridge collapsed in Russia, derailing a passenger train passing below. Then another Russian bridge collapsed overnight. NPR's Charles Mains reports. The first bridge collapsed as a packed passenger train was passing underneath in Russia's Bryansk region overnight, causing debris and several trucks to fall into the train carriages

below. Images shared on social media showed stunned passengers trying to climb out of the wreckage in the dark. Meanwhile, a separate rail bridge collapsed in the neighboring Kursk region several hours later, derailing a freight train and injuring the driver. Russia's investigative committee said it was investigating both incidents as potential acts of terrorism, and several prominent Russian politicians were quick to blame Ukraine. The incidents come ahead of plans for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul Monday. Charles Mainz, Imperial News, Moscow.

Polish voters are casting their ballots today in the second round of a presidential election. The office is largely ceremonial but has the power to veto legislation, in effect how Prime Minister Donald Tusk coalition governs. Esmé Nicholson reports. With two candidates remaining in the presidential race, voters have the choice between Warsaw's Liberal Mayor, Rafał Trzakowski and National Conservative Karol Nawroski. The latest polls indicate that the two candidates are neck and neck. A victory for Trzakowski, a pro-EU progressive politician who speaks a number of languages,

would enable the Tusk administration to reinstate Poland's judicial independence and strengthen civil rights. A win for Nawroski, who is new to politics and whose conservative values and strongman image have gained him approval from the Trump administration could change Poland's position on Ukraine, whose NATO membership Nawroski opposes. For NPR News, I'm Esme Nicholson in Berlin. This is NPR News in Washington. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said today he's sending a delegation to Istanbul

tomorrow for a new round of direct peace talks with Russia. Ukraine earlier said Russia must provide a memorandum setting out its position on ending the war before a meeting could take place. Moscow says it will provide such a document at the meeting. Meanwhile, the war continues. The Ukrainian Air Force says Russia launched 472 drones over Ukraine overnight. A ceremony in New Orleans has honored 19 black Americans whose skulls were shipped to Germany in the late 1800s for racial research. Those remains were recently repatriated and laid to rest in the city where they died. NPR's Alina Seljuk reports.

Samuel Prince was a 40-year-old cook who died of tuberculosis at Charity Hospital in New Orleans. He was among 19 black patients whose heads were removed and shipped to Germany for study in then-popular pseudoscience that purported connections between skull shapes and intellect or morality, often with racist motives. More than a century later, the University of Leipzig has now returned those remains to be interred back in New Orleans in a memorial service led by Dillard University. The ceremony featured multi-faith prayers, an African drum and dance procession, and a jazz band.

Alina Selouk, NPR News. The NBA finals are set. The Indiana Pacers will face the Oklahoma City Thunder. Game one is Wednesday night. I'm Nora Rahm. NPR News in Washington.