NPR News Now - NPR News: 06-05-2025 11PM EDT

Episode Date: June 6, 2025

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Dan Ronan, NPR News Anchor Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Ronan. The Supreme Court issued three important decisions today on guns, reverse discrimination in employment, and tax exemptions for religious charities, NPR's Nina Totenberg reports. Nina Totenberg, NPR News Anchor Each of the unanimous opinions was written by one of the liberal justices, proving that not all of the court's decisions are split and showing as well that the liberals can and do rule for religious institutions, for gun manufacturers, and for an Ohio woman claiming that she was denied a promotion and demoted because she's straight.

With less than a month to go until the court is scheduled to end its term, the justices still have 27 cases left to decide before they close down for the summer. That, however, won't stop the Trump administration's many emergency requests for intervention from having to be dealt with all summer long. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington. China is condemning a move from the Trump administration to block foreign students from studying at Harvard, an executive order behind the ban is said to protect the U.S. national security. NPR's Emily Fang reports. China's foreign

ministry says it will protect the interests of its students. Nearly 280,000 Chinese students study in the U.S., making China the second largest source of international students behind India. And the ministry says banning foreign students quote will only damage the image and international reputation of the US. A US court struck down an earlier attempt by the Trump administration to prevent Harvard from taking international students. Now the Trump administration argues letting foreign students study at the elite university would expose US research to foreign interests. Separately,

the administration says it will start aggressively revoking visas for students from China already studying in the United States. Emily Feng, in Pure News. In the last half hour, a federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order that blocks the Trump administration in the proclamation aimed at preventing foreign students from Harvard attending the UN entering the US. The judge said a hearing on the matter for June 16th. Israel is arming private militias in Gaza in order to undermine Hamas. Here's NPR's Daniel Estrin. Israel has confirmed that it has secretly transferred weapons to a Palestinian group

in Gaza known as the Abu Shabab clan. An Israeli lawmaker opposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leaked the revelation, accusing Netanyahu of arming criminals. In a video, Netanyahu confirmed that Israel has made use of clans in Gaza that oppose Hamas. Previously, the group is believed to have been involved in looting humanitarian aid. Now, its Facebook pages say it secures aid delivery. It also promotes anti-Hamas messages. Hamas is calling on Palestinians to oppose the Israeli-supported militia, accusing Israel of creating chaos in Gaza.

Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Tel Aviv. And you're listening to NPR News. As environmental crews look to clean up a 2,000-gallon diesel fuel spill in Baltimore's inner harbor, workers are also rescuing some wildlife, including birds and turtles. Officials are using oil skimmers and are flushing some of the water into the city's storm drain system. They say the spill has been contained to an area in the Patapsco River about double the size of a football field. Officials at nearby Johns Hopkins Hospital say during a routine fuel delivery for generators, there was an accident that caused the overflow. Archaeologists have discovered what is likely the largest intact remains of ancient agricultural

sites in the eastern half of what is now the United States. As NPR's Nell Greenfield-Boice reports, it's in the U.P. of Michigan. Researchers used a drone to survey over 300 acres near the Menominee River. The drone was equipped with a laser that could map the shape of the ground. Madeline McLeaster is an archaeologist with Dartmouth College. She says the drone detected row upon row of raised gardening beds. I mean I didn't expect them just to keep going and going and going. This

surprisingly large agricultural system was built by the ancestors of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. In the journal Science, the researchers say the discovery suggests that large-scale agriculture may have been common in the region before Europeans moved in. Nell Greenfield, Boyce, NPR News. On Wall Street Thursday, U.S. stocks moved lower. The Dow, the Nasdaq and the S&P all had losses of less than 1 percent. From Washington, this is NPR News.

I'm Dan Ronan. Support for NPR.