NPR News Now - NPR News: 06-03-2025 4PM EDT

Episode Date: June 3, 2025

NPR News: 06-03-2025 4PM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. The Trump administration has sent a letter to U.S. trading partners giving them a Wednesday deadline to make their best offers and negotiations over the steep tariffs the president proposed in April. NPR's Tamarie Keith reports the pause on those tariffs is set to run out next month. Facing market backlash, President Trump paused the bulk of the tariffs saying that would allow time to negotiate bespoke deals with each trading partner. But well over halfway

through the pause, the deals have been slow to come together. White House press secretary Caroline Levitt insists that will change soon. This letter was simply to remind these countries that the deadline is approaching and the president expects good deals and we are on track for that, I will emphasize. She said administration officials are in active talks with key trading partners. The tariff pause is set to end on July 8. Tamara Keith, NPR News. The White House is pushing for additional money to fund FEMA, and PR's Rebecca Hirscher

reports the request comes despite repeated threats from the Trump administration to slash the agency. In new budget documents from the White House, the Trump administration requests more than $26 billion in funding for disaster relief. It's about $4 billion more than President Biden requested in his final budget. The increase comes at a time when the Trump administration is also moving to eliminate FEMA and move more disaster responsibility to state governments. The president has said he does not think the disaster agency should exist in its current form, and he appointed a group of

high-level federal officials, governors, and emergency experts to propose drastic changes to the agency. Rebecca Hersher, NPR News. Immigration officials have detained the family of the man charged in Sunday's violent attack on peaceful demonstrators in Boulder, Colorado. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noem. We're also investigating to what extent his family knew about this horrific attack, if they had any knowledge of it or if they provided support to it. Mohammed Soleiman used a makeshift flamethrower and hurled molotov cocktails into a small crowd that was calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.

The Egyptian national is now facing a federal hate crime charge and 16 counts of attempted murder. He was living in the U.S. on an expired tourist visa. In New York, closing arguments are wrapping up today in the third sex crimes trial of disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein. The 73-year-old is already serving a 23-year sentence from his Los Angeles conviction. Jurers are expected to begin deliberations tomorrow. At last check on Wall Street, the Dow was up 214 points, the Nasdaq up 156. This is NPR News. People across much of Minnesota woke up to hazy skies after smoke blew in from

major wildfires burning across central Canada. Matt Sepick of Minnesota Public Radio reports. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency says the air across the eastern half of the state and part of Wisconsin is unhealthy. Officials are urging people to limit outdoor exertion if possible and wear N95 masks. An air quality alert remains in effect across the region through midday Wednesday. That's Matt Sepick reporting. Singer Rick Astley's 1987 hit, Never Gonna Give You Up, has surpassed one billion streams on Spotify. NPR's Chloe Veltman reports the British pop star owes much

of the song's success to the fact it became an internet joke in the 21st century. Rick Astley's earwormy tune zooms to the top of the charts in the US and more than 20 other countries in 1987. Some two decades after its release the song took on new life thanks to the Rickrolling trend. The online prank involves clicking on a hyperlink that takes you not to the web page you're hoping it leads to, but instead to the never-gonna-give-you-up music video. A few other 1980s songs by British artists have reached one billion streams on Spotify. Among the nearly 1,000 who have reached the benchmark are Soft Cells, Tainted Love and Every Breath You Take by The Police. Chloe Valtman, NPR News. You're

listening to NPR News from Washington.