Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst.
This Supreme Court today has preserved access to the widely used abortion pill Miffopristone,
“allowing it to be available by mail without an in-person appointment.”
The case stems from a suit Louisiana filed rollback the FDA's rules on how the drug can be prescribed. A ruling by a three-judge panel of the fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on May 1st, threatened access to the pill through telemedicine visits and mail delivery. But tonight the High Court granted emergency requests by two drug makers of the pill to block
the lower court ruling for now while a lawsuit plays out. Medication abortions account for nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S. as of 2023, the last year for which statistics are available. President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met in Beijing today, discussing the war
on Iran, global trade and energy security.
But as impairs Tamara Keith reports, it doesn't appear that the talks between the two yielded any significant progress.
“On Thursday, Trump and Xi held a bilateral meeting that, for a time, included CEOs from”
top U.S. corporations, then in the evening at a formal banquet, the two leaders toasted each other and the relationship between their nations. Trump made clear he wants this visit to be the start of a longer dialogue. Tonight, it is my honor to extend an invitation to you and Madame Peng to visit us at the White House, the September 24th.
Before Trump heads to the airport, the leaders are set to take a friendship photo and share a bilateral teeth and lunch. No deals have been announced yet, but there's still time. Tamara Keith and PR News Beijing. Cuba's facing a new energy crisis and rising protests, while the Cubans blamed the U.S.
for blocking energy deliveries, the state department says it's their communist rulers who are responsible for the humanitarian crisis on the island. And here's Michelle Kelliman has more.
“Cuba's energy minister says that the oil donated from Russia, which the U.S. allowed in”
in late March, has now run out, Venezuela and Mexico stop sending fuel earlier this year, because of the threat of U.S. tariffs. The state department doesn't call this a "blockade" however, writing an statement to NPR that, quote, "the false narrative of a blockade against Cuba is just one of the many lies spread by the failing dictatorship on the island."
The U.S. has offered Cuba $100 million in aid to be distributed by the Catholic Church
or other aid groups, as it pushes for what it calls meaningful reforms to Cuba's communist system. Michelle Kelliman and PR News, the state department. Over the third day in a row, Russia launched a massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine, demolishing an apartment building in Kiev, killing at least nine, and wounding dozens of
others. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. Colleges are sounding the alarm over two related challenges facing the industry. Federal funding cuts and a diminished talent pipeline. From Member Station GPH in Boston, Kirk Heropheza reports MIT President Sally Cornbluth
says Federal research dollars are flowing the way they typically do. In a video message, Cornbluth says research funding from private sources is nowhere near enough to make up for the 20% drop in Federal support that MIT is dealing with. As a result, she says University sponsored research is down 10% compared to this time last year. That is a striking loss for one of the most influential and productive research communities
in the world. Cornbluth says MIT saw a nearly 20% drop in new graduates student enrollment this year and expects the decline to continue next year. Other research universities have expressed similar concern over mounting funding pressures and immigration and visa policies affecting international students.
For NPR News, I'm Kirk Heropheza in Boston. Hi gas prices and rising prices at the grocery store fueled by the ongoing war on Iran. The shoppers slowing their spending in April, but that doesn't mean no shopping. The Commerce Department says retail sales rose a half percent last month, a sharp slow down from the 1.6% growth in March.
The biggest category gainers in April aside from essentials, clothing and furniture. The economists worry that spending on non-essentials will drop as the prices rise. I'm Janine Herbst NPR News in Washington News shows new music new movies keeping up with pop culture sometimes feels like a full-time job. Thankfully over at pop culture happy-hour, it's literally our job.
We break down what's actually worth watching listening to and pretending you already knew about. So the next time someone says, "Did you see that, you can say, yeah, obviously, follow NPR's
