NPR News Now - NPR News: 06-01-2025 6AM EDT

Episode Date: June 1, 2025

NPR News: 06-01-2025 6AM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

On NPR's Thru Line, witnesses were ending up dead. How the hunt for gangster Al Capone launched the IRS to power. Find NPR's Thru Line wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. China is denouncing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's speech this weekend to an international defense forum in which he warned of threats posed by China. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Singapore where Hegseth called on allies and partners to increase defense spending.

In a statement on its website, China's foreign Ministry said Hegseth's speech was provocative, smeared China, and peddled a Cold War vision of confrontation between opposing camps. In his speech to the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, Hegseth said the U.S. is strengthening its deterrence of China by, for example, deploying anti-ship missiles to the Luzon Strait near Taiwan in April. China's Foreign Ministry said the U.S. is turning the Asia-Pacific region into a powder keg, ignoring the wishes of Asian nations for peace and development. The ministry says it lodged diplomatic representations with the U.S. over Hegseth's speech. Anthony Kuhn in PR News, Singapore.

Three-judge appeals court panel has ruled the Trump administration cannot continue its doge-fueled cuts to the federal government. From Member Station KQED in San Francisco, Brian Kranz reports a ruling remains in effect while a lawsuit is pending. In a 2-to-1 decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the Trump administration's request to lift an injunction from a federal district court judge, saying that resuming the mass firing of federal workers would have an irreparable effect. A coalition of unions, nonprofits, and local governments sued the Trump administration,

asserting President Trump lacks the authority to remake the federal government. San Francisco is one of the plaintiffs. Here's city attorney David Chu. We're grateful for the ruling for recognizing the continuously disastrous harms that we are facing because of President Trump's complete disregard for the rule of law. The Trump administration can appeal the panel's decision to the Supreme Court. For NPR News, I'm Brian Krantz. Overseas, medics in Gaza say at least 25 Palestinians have been killed and many more wounded in

Israeli tank fire near an aid distribution center. Some reports put the number of injured at more than 100. The BBC's Sebastian Usher has more. The bodies of the dead and wounded have been taken on donkey carts from the site that was hit near a US-funded aid distribution center in Rafa in southern Gaza. A local Palestinian journalist says that thousands of Palestinians had gathered early in the morning close to the aid center when Israeli tanks opened fire. The BBC has contacted the IDF for comment but has not yet received a response. The latest deadly incident connected to the new aid mechanism occurred hours after Hamas

gave its response to the latest US-backed ceasefire proposal. A senior Hamas official said the group had responded positively and responsibly, but the US envoy Steve Whitcoff said that it was totally unacceptable. Nat. Steve Whitcoff, U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S.

U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S.

U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. Paris has been going wild after its soccer team won its first ever Champions League Cup, that's a top soccer tournament in Europe, and Paris Eleanor Beardsley reports PSG beat Inter Milan by a score of 5-0. Paris exploded in joy as its team, PSG Paris Saint-Germain, won the European Championship for the first time, beating Inter Milan at

the final match played in Munich. Parisians chanted and shot off fireworks late into the night, with tens of thousands celebrating on the Avenue Champs-Élysées. Many had the name Desiré Douay on their lips. Douay is the 19-year-old new star of Paris Saint-Germain who scored two goals and assisted another. The 5-0 victory was record-breaking. The Qatari-owned PSG is only the second French club to win European football's top trophy since Marseille won in 1993.

Eleanor Beardsley in Pierre News, Paris. The celebrations in Paris were marred by clashes with police. The Interior Ministry says two people were killed and hundreds were arrested. California this weekend, a transgender athlete took home two gold medals at the High School Track and Field Championship. A.B. Hernandez topped the field in the high jump and the triple jump. Under a new rule that may be the first of its kind nationally at the high school level, Hernandez shared her first place with her closest competitors.

Critics, including President Trump, had called for Hernandez to be barred from competing. I'm Giles Snyder. This is NPR News. President Donald Trump is testing the power of the presidency in ways that are stressing global financial markets, federal courts, and changing the United States relationship with the rest of the world. What is Trump trying to do and is it working? Trump's Terms keeps you up to speed.

It's a short podcast where we curate NPR's coverage of the Trump administration. Trump's Terms. Listen in the NPR app wherever you get your podcasts.