NPR News Now - NPR News: 06-04-2025 6PM EDT

Episode Date: June 4, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. President Trump says he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone today. NPR's Franco Ordonnier reports the two leaders discussed Ukraine's recent strikes on Russian aircraft. President Trump says on social media that the two leaders spoke for about an hour and 15 minutes about Ukrainian and Russian strikes, as well as the ongoing nuclear talks with Iran. He wrote quote, it was a good conversation but not a conversation that will lead to immediate peace. Indeed Trump said Putin told him using strong language that Russia will have to respond to the recent attacks on

its airfields. Trump also says he told Putin that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. Trump says he told Putin that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. Trump says he believes Putin agrees with him on that. According to Trump, Putin suggested that he could help facilitate those discussions. Franco, Ordonez, NPR News, The White House. Federal judges ordered an immediate halt to efforts by the Trump administration to begin deportation proceedings against the wife and five children of the man who carried out a firebomb attack in Boulder, Colorado. Judges saying the order was needed to ensure the family's constitutional rights are protected. The family of 45-year-old Mohammed Sabri Soliman has not been charged in the case.

Soliman faces numerous charges, including a federal hate crime and attempted murder charge in connection with the attack against a group marching to call for the release of Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza. The US has vetoed a resolution that called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. It was the lone no vote, as other UN Security Council members raised alarms about starvation in Gaza. Here's NPR's Michelle Kellerman.

The 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council drafted the resolution because of what Slovenia's ambassador called a deep concern over the catastrophic situation in Gaza. It called on Hamas to release hostages and says Israel should allow aid to reach starving Palestinians. US ambassador Dorothy Shea says there were no real negotiations on the text, calling the vote performative. U.S. opposition to this resolution should come as no surprise. It is unacceptable for what it does say.

It is unacceptable for what it does not say. She says the council should condemn Hamas and tell it to disarm and agree to a ceasefire. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, Washington. President Trump is decrying new private sector jobs numbers showing the service sector contracting last month and private sector hiring slowing dramatically, with just 37,000 jobs created. Following the numbers, including the jobs numbers from payroll processor ADP, Trump in a post on social media said Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell should cut interest rates. The ADP numbers, the weakest private sector jobs numbers in two years, come ahead of the broader federal unemployment numbers due out

Friday. On Wall Street, the Dow is down 91 points. This is NPR. Officials in Saudi Arabia say more than two million people are performing the Islamic Hajj pilgrimage in and around Mecca today. Temperatures have peaked above 100 degrees, and PR's Ayub Achari reports it surpasses last year's figure. The Hajj pilgrimage draws Muslims from around the world to Saudi Arabia each year. It's one of the largest and most logistically challenging gatherings of people anywhere. Last year, at least 1,300 people died of heat exhaustion at the Hajj. Saudi authorities say they've installed more shaded walkways and

water coolers around the Hajj this year. Tens of thousands of medics are also on hand to assist. Most of the people who died last year from the heat did not have authorized visas or adequate accommodation. Saudi authorities say in the lead up to this year's Hajj, they turned away 269,000 people without authorized permits. Many save up for a lifetime to afford the journey to Mecca and wait for years for their turn to secure the visa.

Muslims believe completing the hajj can wipe away past sins. A. Abbas Trawi, NPR News, Dubai. Why did the elephant rob the convenience store in Thailand? Because that's where the snacks are. Security cameras caught the huge male elephant known as Plabean Yellak, seemingly overcome by a desire for treats, leaving an animal park, then strolling into the store, helping himself from shelves.

The store's owner was not abused after Play the Plundering Packager made of bags of sweet rice crackers, a sandwich, and even some dried bananas. And this isn't the large elephant's first brush with crime. Look, we'll say in the past, play has entered people's homes looking for food, but never a grocery store. Crude oil futures prices moved briefly higher today, then oil fell 56 cents a barrel near the close to $62.85.

This is NPR.