NPR News Now - NPR News: 06-18-2025 1PM EDT

Episode Date: June 18, 2025

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You know those things you shout at the radio or maybe even at this very NPR podcast? On NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, we actually say those things on the radio and on the podcast. We're rude across all media. We think the news can take it. Listen to NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Iran's supreme leader is rejecting President Trump's demand for unconditional surrender. He made a statement in a nationwide address as Israel continued to bomb the Iranian capital today. NPR's

Jane Araf has more from Amman Jordan. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed threats by President Trump and said if the U.S. joined Israel in attacking Iran, it would result in irreparable damage to the United States. He said Iran had been subject to unprovoked attack and would not surrender. Trump on Tuesday wrote that Khomeini was an easy target but said the US would not kill him for now. The president called for unconditional surrender. Trump is believed to be weighing US military involvement in attacks on Iran. He has called on Iranians to evacuate Tehran, a city of 10 million people. Jane Araf, NPR News, Amman.

As President Trump continues to weigh whether the U.S. military should engage in the six-day-old conflict between its Israeli ally and Iran, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is being grilled about President Trump's controversial deployment of National Guard members and Marines in Los Angeles in response to mass protests against federal immigration enforcement. At one point, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren repeatedly asked Hegseth what he'd do if Trump asked for deployments in multiple US cities. It's a complete hypothetical lacking no, lacking any context at all. And I refuse to box myself in based on questioning on a hypothetical.

You're here asking for a trillion dollars and I want to know how you're gonna spend it. And so my question is if Donald Trump tells you to send troops to 15 American cities, are you going to spend the money and send the troops? The government's crackdown on illegal immigration has sparked mass protests across the country. Economists expect the Federal Reserve to leave U.S. interest rates unchanged when the Fed wraps up its latest policy meeting today. And Pierre Scott Horsley says that is despite pressure from the White House. The Federal Reserve has been in no hurry to lower interest rates despite persistent pressure from President Trump. Although inflation has been relatively

tame in recent months, members of the Fed's rate-setting committee are on the lookout for any sign that Trump's tariffs might rekindle upward pressure on prices. At the same time, the unemployment rates have been steady at a low 4.2 percent for the last three months, so there's little pressure on the Fed to try to boost the job market with lower rates. At the end of their meeting today, policymakers will offer their best guesses about future rate cuts. In March, they were predicting that rates would fall by an average of half a percentage point this year and markets will be watching for any change in that forecast.

Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. At last, check on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up more than 100 points. From Washington, this is NPR News. The Supreme Court, in a 66-3 vote, upheld a Tennessee law that barred certain medical treatments for transgender minors. The vote was along ideological lines. 25 states have already enacted laws banning some gender affirming care for minors, citing

concerns about making choices that may be permanently life altering. However, many transgender kids and their parents contend these laws unconstitutionally discriminate based on sex because the same medications banned for trans kids are available to other minors for conditions ranging from endometriosis to earlier late onset puberty. A new study finds that addiction to social media and video games is linked to a higher risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. More on this from NPR's Ritu Chatterjee. Researchers looked at data from a long-term study that followed more than 4,000 kids for four years, starting at when they were between 9 and 10 years old. By age 14, about a third of

the kids had become increasingly addicted to social media. About a quarter had become increasingly addicted to their mobile phone and more than 40 percent to video games. Study author Yunyu Xiao is a professor at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. And these youths are significantly more likely to report suicidal behaviors and thoughts. Xiao says researchers and healthcare providers often use screen time to gauge problematic use among teens, but her findings show that they should be looking

for symptoms of addiction to screens in social media and young people. That's Rita Chatterjee reporting. It's NPR News Now Plus at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.