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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst.
Chapter 2: What recent Supreme Court ruling affects access to the abortion pill mifepristone?
The Supreme Court today has preserved access to the widely used abortion pill mifepristone, allowing it to be available by mail without an in-person appointment. The case stems from a suit Louisiana filed to roll back 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.
Chapter 3: What were the outcomes of the Trump-Xi Jinping meeting in Beijing?
President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met in Beijing today discussing the war in Iran, global trade and energy security. But as NPR's Tamara Keith reports, it doesn't appear that the talks between the two yielded any significant progress.
Chapter 4: What challenges is Cuba facing regarding its energy crisis?
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 Madam Peng to visit us at the White House this September 24th.
Before Trump heads to the airport, the leaders are set to take a friendship photo and share a bilateral tea and lunch. No deals have been announced yet, but there's still time. Tamara Keith, NPR News, Beijing.
Chapter 5: How are federal funding cuts impacting colleges and universities?
Cuba is facing a new energy crisis and rising protests. While the Cubans blame 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. NPR's Michelle Kellerman 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 stopped sending fuel earlier this year because of the threat of U.S. tariffs.
The State Department doesn't call this a blockade, however, writing in a 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."
Chapter 6: What trends are affecting retail sales amid rising prices?
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 Kellerman, NPR News, the State Department.
For the third day in a row, Russia launched a massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine, demolishing an apartment building in Kyiv, 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 GBH in Boston, Kirk Carapazza reports MIT President Sally Kornbluth says federal research dollars aren't flowing the way they typically do.
In a video message, Kornbluth 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.
Kornbluth says MIT saw a nearly 20% drop in new graduate 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 Carrapeza in Boston.
High gas prices and rising prices at the grocery store, fueled by the ongoing war in Iran, left 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 slowdown from the 1.6 percent growth in March.
The biggest category gainers in April, aside from essentials, clothing and furniture, though economists worry that spending on non-essentials will drop as the prices rise. I'm Janine Herbst, NPR News in Washington.
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