Line from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh.
It has been nearly a year since Pope Leo 14th became the first American elected to leave
the Roman Catholic Church.
“On the eve of that anniversary he received U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is Catholic.”
Their meeting comes at a low point in relations between the Vatican and the United States and the President Trump. The reporter Megan Williams says Rubio and the Pope discussed efforts to resolve conflicts in the Middle East among other issues. Given how short the list is of shared commitments, it's also indicative of the golf between
the Vatican and the White House on so many issues. Now, to be fair to Rubio, he had to walk a tight rope.
He had to show respect for the Pope while staying true to the President who has repeatedly
attacked the Pope, making Williams speaking with NPR's morning edition. A new poll suggests Americans believe many members of Congress are too old. NPR's Elena Moore reports on the latest findings from NPR, PBS News and Maris. The poll looked at support for maximum age limits and term limits for members of Congress,
“and it found that the vast majority of Americans eight and ten support both.”
It's also got bipartisan backing. 78% of Democrats and 83% of Republicans like the idea of age caps. And similar amounts support term limits. 18-year-old Michael Hatch, if you door a Kansas, feels that way about leaders in Washington. They just might be out of touch.
You got 70-80-year-olds in Congress running the country. It's not representing people like me. But support for age and term limits goes past young folks. The generation with the most support, Gen X, folks in their late 40s to early 60s. Elena Moore and Pyrenees.
And effort is underway to trace the whereabouts and contacts of several passengers on a luxury cruise liner dealing with a deadly outbreak of hath of virus.
“The World Health Organization confirms eight cases have been reported, including three deaths”
and three suspected cases evacuated from medical care. As Michael Coloki reports, a WHO says there could be more infections in the pipeline due to the long incubation period of the virus. The operators of the MV Hondiership, said passengers from at least 12 countries, among them six Americans, had previously disembarked on the south Atlantic island of St. Helena.
Hunter virus is a rodent born virus, which can cause fatal respiratory illness. Before departing for the Canary Islands, the ship had been stationed for several days of the coast of Cape Verde, where authorities had refused to grant permission for the ship to dock, citing the move as a precautionary measure. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it is closely monitoring the situation,
adding the risk to the U.S. public is extremely low for NPR News and Michael Coloki in Nairobi. This is NPR News. Recovery is underway across Mississippi, where tornadoes have left more than a dozen people injured and a trail of property destruction. Fifteen-year-old Max Mahafi lives with his grandmother in a mobile home park. In Harthead Lincoln County, he says everything there is destroyed.
"I just thought it was thunder. Yeah, I went to my living room. I'll go back in my room. Rooms gone. Then we got some. Get a tub. That's gone too. So we went to the under the couch. Then when we got to the couch, here's how I started rolling. Whole house." Local authorities say at least three tornadoes tore through several counties and damaged about 500 homes. The Trump administration is marking the national day of prayer.
President Trump says it is a time to honor the country's tradition of faith in God. Millions of people with Medicare will soon be able to get popular weight loss drugs for $50 a month. Jackie Fortier with our partner KFF Health News has details. Starting July 1, GLP-1 medications like Wugovians that bound will be available to some Medicare and rollies for weight loss for the first time. The program will cap the monthly cost of the
popular drugs at $50. Without insurance, these drugs currently cost hundreds of dollars. To qualify, people need a doctor's note and Medicare Part D. They also need to be clinically overweight, plus have a condition like heart disease or pre-diabetes. But there are catches. The $50 copay won't count toward the annual out-of-pocket limit. The pilot also expires in December 2027 with no guarantee that the drugs will be covered under traditional Medicare after it ends.
That's Jackie Fortier reporting. This is NPR News. Iran, Lebanon, Israel, Gaza, with conflict unfolding in so many places. First-hand reporting has
never mattered more. NPR+ supporters power that work. They make it possible for our journalists to
go where news is happening. And supporters get perks for NPR podcasts. Things like bonus episodes, archive, access, and more. You can sign up at plus.npr.org.
