NPR News Now - NPR News: 06-16-2025 3PM EDT

Episode Date: June 16, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The man facing federal and state charges for the political assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and injury of another over the weekend appeared in court this afternoon. Vance Belter said he could not afford his own lawyer. The judge then appointed an attorney from the Federal Public Defender's Office to represent Belter. The Department of Government Efficiency effort is entering a new phase after shedding its high profile and controversial leader, Elon Musk.

Its remaining operatives are embedding more permanently in government. Here's NPR's Stephen Fowler. Stephen Fowler, NPR Chief Executive Officer, NPR Since January, DOGE staffers have been detailed across the federal government, leading efforts to fire workers, cancel contracts, and obtain access to sensitive data. Now, many of them have been converted to permanent jobs within cancel contracts, and obtain access to sensitive data. Now, many of them have been converted to permanent jobs within the government, and agencies are embracing Doge's mission. That includes more than three dozen Doge-affiliated people at the General Services Administration,

and many more who have senior roles at places like the IRS, Interior Department, and Social Security Administration. Stephen Fowler, NPR News. President Trump wants to expand the crackdown on illegal immigration in major Democratic-led cities. New York and LA, look at LA. LA, those people weren't from LA, they weren't from California, most of those people, many of those people. Yeah, that's the focus. Trump speaking of the G7 Summit in Canada where he met this morning with Prime Minister Mark Carney. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is putting 36 more countries on notice that their citizens

could face visa restrictions in the U.S. More from NPR's Michelle Kelliman. Michelle Kelliman A diplomatic memo seen by NPR says 36 countries need to take steps if they want their nationals to remain eligible to get U.S. visas. They have to come up with an initial plan by Wednesday and implement changes within 60 days. The Trump administration says it's worried that some of these countries don't have a competent or cooperative central government authority to produce reliable documents. Others had large numbers of citizens overstay their visas.

Countries could get removed from the list if they accept third country nationals deported from the U.S. The list includes mostly African countries as well as Pacific and Caribbean island nations. Michelle Kelliman, NPR News, the State Department. Investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder from the site of last week's Air India crash in Ahmedabad. They're hoping that equipment, plus the flight data recorder they found Friday, will uncover what caused the Boeing aircraft to crash shortly after takeoff. The London-bound plane struck a medical college hostel

on Thursday. One man, Vishwas Kumar Ramesh, made it out of the plane alive, but he says his brother, Ajay, did not. 241 passengers and crew died. On the ground, lives were lost as well. From Washington, this is NPR News. In Spain, thousands of people took to the streets on Sunday, some using water guns to protest the negative impact of tourism in their cities. And Piers Miguel Macias has the latest from Seville.

The first time activists used water guns on tourists was recorded about a year ago in Barcelona. It wasn't an organized plan. One of the protesters just had the idea. Well, the funny stunt surely grabbed people's attention, so on Sunday in Barcelona, water guns were out again. It may be a funny stunt that grabs headlines around the world, but the issue at hand is very serious. In cities like Madrid, Barcelona or Seville, or in the Spanish Canary Islands and the Mediterranean island of Mallorca, locals have been denouncing the impact of tourist housing.

Many are being pushed out of their neighborhoods by rising rents, creating a national housing crisis. Miguel Macías and PR News, Seville, Spain. People on ZipBound may be paying even less for the weight loss medication if they're not using their insurance. ZipBound's maker, Eli Lilly, has again lowered the price to about $500 a month or less for patients who renew their prescriptions within 45 days.

The drugs are available as auto injector pens, think EpiPen, but the discount applies to vials administered with a syringe. US stocks are trading higher this hour, the Dow up 281 points, more than half a percent, the Nasdaq has risen one and a half percent, the S&P 500 also up. This is NPR News.