NPR News Now - NPR News: 06-16-2025 8PM EDT

Episode Date: June 17, 2025

NPR News: 06-16-2025 8PM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. President Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced they have signed a new trade deal today at the G7 in Canada. The agreement firms up a trade announcement the leaders made in May. More from NPR's Danielle Kurtz-Levin. Talking to reporters alongside Trump, Starmer touted the new deal. This now implements on car tariffs and aerospace our really important agreement. And so this is a very good day for post-life countries.

Under the deal, a quota of UK steel and aluminum won't be subject to Trump's 25% steel and aluminum tariffs. Similarly, a quota of 100,000 automobiles would be tariffed at 10% instead of 25%. The countries have previously said the deal would give some U.S. exports, like beef and other ag products, greater U.K. market access. Trump imposed tariffs on nearly every country in April, upending global trade. Since then, Trump has been trying to make one-on-one tariff deals.

Danielle Kurtzlaven, NPR News, Calgary. The White House meanwhile announced Trump will leave the G7 early due to the escalating Mideast conflict. Following a two-day manhunt that took place over the weekend, Vance Luther Belter, 57 years old, was charged with shooting two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses in federal court. Minnesota Public Radio reporter Melissa Olson was in the courtroom. Belter appeared in an orange jail-issued shirt and pants in front of Federal Magistrate John Doherty at the Federal Courthouse in St. Paul. Clean shaven and subdued, Bellter

stared straight ahead and answered questions from the magistrate judge with either yes or yes, sir. The judge magistrate appointed Federal public defender Matthew Dietz to represent Belter. The judge magistrate granted the defense's motion for a continuance and ordered Belter's detention and preliminary hearings combined. The combined hearing is set for June 27th. For NPR News, I'm Melissa Olson in St. Paul. The Trump administration is defending a possible expansion of travel bans to a dozen more countries. NPR's Tovia Smith reports up to 36 nations may face restrictions on top of 19 that were

already banned or restricted earlier this month. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a memo to the 36 countries that he says have problems, ranging from involvement with terrorism to too many citizens who overstay visas. Some leniency may be granted to nations willing to take other countries' citizens being deported from the U.S. For others, new travel bans could be recommended as soon as August. A Department of Homeland Security official says the move is key to U.S. national security. The countries on this latest list are mostly African, along with Caribbean and Pacific Island nations, as were the countries hit with travel restrictions earlier this month.

Critics call the bans racially and religiously discriminatory. Tovia Smith, NPR News. On Wall Street, the Dow is up 317 points. This is NPR. With student loan payments back on track after some relief during and after the coronavirus pandemic, millions of Americans are now seeing an effect on their credit scores if they can't keep up. That's because the government is once again referring missed student loan payments for debt collection, and after 90 days of non-payment, there are reports of being sent to major credit bureaus. Falling behind on student loans can affect a person's credit score almost as severely as having filed for bankruptcy. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York estimates

around one in four people with student loan accounts were more than 90 days behind in March. The European Space Agency today released the first images from a pair of orbiting satellites that can create on-demand solar eclipses. As Joe Palko reports, the artificial eclipses are used by scientists to study the Sun's outer atmosphere. On Earth, a solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, temporarily blocking out the Sun's light. This reveals the solar corona, a cloud of hot gas made by the Sun. The corona is actually hotter than the Sun itself. The European space

probes, known collectively as Probe A3, fly in tandem a precise distance apart. The probe closer to the Sun blocks the solar light so its partner probe can measure the corona. Unlike on Earth where total solar eclipses are fairly rare, Probe A3 can create an artificial eclipse every 19.6 hours. For NPR News, I'm Joe Palca.