NPR News: 05-13-2026 8PM EDT
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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. President Trump and China's leaders, Xi Jinping, are about to begin talks in Beijing in a few hours. This is the first U.S. presidential visit to China in more than eight years.
What are the key issues on the agenda for Trump and Xi Jinping's meeting?
And as NPR's Emily Fang reports, high-stakes issues ranging from trade to technology are on the table.
Trump and China's Xi Jinping will meet in Beijing's Great Hall of the People in the city's central Tiananmen Square. And there, Trump says he'll talk about the war with Iran and high energy prices. He's asked for China for help before to unblock the Strait of Hormuz. The two men will also discuss Taiwan. the democratic island China wants to take control of, but which the U.S. has historically sold weapons to to defend against China. China's officials have been signaling their desire for a diplomatic detente with the U.S. on trade tariffs, as well as willingness to help pressure Iran towards a ceasefire. Earlier on Wednesday, Beijing welcomed Trump to China with a grand red carpet welcome. Emily Fang, NPR News.
The House Oversight Committee is investigating prediction markets and threatening subpoenas. The move comes as reports of military and political insider trading mount in Washington. NPR's Luke Garrett reports.
Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer says he's requesting data from prediction markets. Those are exchanges that host bets on future events. Here's Comer, a Kentucky Republican, on Fox Business.
Well, we're starting to request information. That's the process. That's how it begins. We'll request information. And if we have trouble getting it, then a subpoena will follow.
The probe comes after Representative Chris Pappas, a Democrat from New Hampshire, called on Comer to investigate suspicious bets on military actions and political outcomes. Billions of dollars are wagered each week on prediction markets, like Polymarket and Kalshi, where users can bet and win money on everything from sports, culture, to even elections. Comer did not specify which prediction markets are being investigated. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington.
The South Carolina Supreme Court has overturned a case that captivated the nation. Former high-profile attorney Alex Murdoch will get a new trial after being convicted in 2023 for the murders of his wife and son. South Carolina Public Radio's Victoria Hansen reports.
The ruling was unanimous. The justices said Murdoch was denied a fair trial. Specifically, they said the Colleton County Clerk of Court attacked Murdoch's credibility by telling jurors to watch him closely as he testified. The justices also said the presiding judge should not have admitted evidence of Murdoch's financial crimes into the six-week-long trial. The ruling is a win for Murdoch, who has long denied shooting his wife and son in 2021. But the 57-year-old won't be getting out of prison. He's serving a lengthy sentence for state and federal financial crimes, including stealing millions from former clients. For NPR News, I'm Victoria Hanson in South Carolina.
The majority of U.S. stocks fell today following another discouraging update on inflation. This is NPR. Researchers are warning that the U.S. is experiencing a reading recession, a slide that predates the COVID-19 pandemic. A new analysis of state test scores from 3rd to 8th grade for over 5,000 school districts in 38 states found that only five states plus Washington, D.C. had meaningful growth in reading test scores from 2022 to 2025. A team of scientists believe they've found evidence of what may have amounted to an ancient root canal in Neanderthals. Ari Daniel reports.
Researchers unearthed a nearly 60,000-year-old Neanderthal tooth, a molar, in a Siberian cave. It had a deep hole on the biting surface. When the team looked more closely, they noticed microscopic radial grooves that they think may have been artificially created by drilling into the tooth to deal with a cavity, perhaps. Rachel Kalischer is a bioarchaeologist at UC San Diego who wasn't involved in the research. She's open to the idea that Neanderthals were capable of treating cavities.
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