NPR News Now - NPR News: 06-18-2025 4PM EDT

Episode Date: June 18, 2025

NPR News: 06-18-2025 4PM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Trump will not yet say whether U.S. forces would strike Iranian nuclear facilities. NPR's Frank Ordonez has more on the prospect of U.S. involvement in hostilities between Iran and Israel. Speaking to reporters outside the White House while workers lifted a large flagpole, President Trump blamed Tehran for not negotiating with him two weeks ago. But he wouldn't say specifically whether he would order U.S. strikes against Tehran. I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do.

I can tell you this, that Iran's got a lot of trouble and they want to negotiate. And I say, why didn't you negotiate with me before all those deaths? Israel and Iran continue to trade airstrikes in a conflict that now has entered its sixth day. Trump spoke to reporters a day after he met with his national security team to discuss U.S. future involvement. Franco, Ordonez, and Pionese, the White House. The U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority

is affirming Tennessee's ban on certain gender-affirming care for transgender minors, dealing a major blow to trans rights in the US. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts says the law does not violate the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause. The trans rights advocates argue the ban is a form of discrimination and is unconstitutional.

And PR's Nina Totenberg reports on the implications for patients in more than two dozen states with similar laws. It leaves it to the states to do what they want on this score, at least until more information might suggest that the scientific data is wrong. Basically, this leaves it to the states. About half the states will have bans and half the states will not, and kids will have to travel to other states to get treatment. NPR's Nina Totenberg reporting.

The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady this afternoon. That was widely expected. NPR's Scott Horsley reports Fed policy policymakers signal they still expect to cut rates by an average of half a percentage point later this year. The central bank has been in no rush to cut interest rates despite frequent jawboning from President Trump. Fed policymakers are concerned that Trump's tariffs could rekindle inflation, so they're holding borrowing costs steady for the time being.

Forecasts released at the conclusion of today's meeting show members of the Fed's rate-setting committee still expect to lower interest rates later this year at a pace similar to what they were projecting in March. Policymakers have revised some of their other forecasts. They're now expecting somewhat higher inflation and unemployment and slower economic growth than they were three months ago. Scott Horsley in Peer News, Washington. US stocks end the day mixed with the Dow Jones industrial average closing down, 44 points

to settle at 42,171. The S&P is off slightly. The NASDAQ closed up 25 points. This is NPR News. The Salvadoran investigative journalist may be deported after he was arrested over the weekend near Atlanta while covering the No Kings protests against the government's immigration policies. Mario Guevara has been transferred to federal custody. Guevara is well known for documenting immigration raids and arrests as seen in this 2019 mini opinion documentary series by the New York Times. The New York Times reports today that

Guevara's attorneys say their client was authorized to work in the U.S. He has an application pending for a green card. Addiction to social media and video games is linked to a higher risk to a young person's mental health. NPR's Ritu Chatterjee with details. 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 use are significantly more likely to report suicidal behaviors and thoughts. Xiao says researchers and health care 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. The study is published in JAMA. Reetu Chatterjee, NPR News.

The Dow's closed down 44 points. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.