1A - The News Roundup For May 23, 2025

After an early-morning vote to open debate, the House passed the Republican spending and tax bill this week. Now, it moves to the Senate.

Elsewhere in Washington, President Donald Trump welcomed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa for a meeting in the Oval Office where he lectured the visiting leader and made false claims about supposed persecution of white Afrikaner farmers.

Despite Gaza being on the edge of famine, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli Defense Forces launched a new offensive in the region that will supposedly bring the entire area under Israeli control.

In his first general audience, Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday called for aid to be allowed to enter Gaza.

The European Union is engaged in a war of words with Israel after the IDF fired warning shots at an E.U. diplomatic delegation visiting the city of Jenin.

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Planet Money - The secret world behind those scammy text messages

You might have seen these texts before. The scam starts innocently enough. Maybe it's a "Long time no see" or "Hello" or "How are you." For investigative reporter Zeke Faux it was – "Hi David, I'm Vicky Ho. Don't you remember me?"

Many people ignore them. But Zeke responded. He wanted to get scammed. This led him on a journey halfway around the world to find out who is sending him random wrong number texts and why. After you hear this story, you'll never look at these messages the same way again.

To hear the full episode check out Search Engine's website.

Search Engine was created by P.J. Vogt and Sruthi Pinnamaneni. This episode was produced by Garrott Graham and Noah John. It was fact-checked by Sean Merchant. Theme, original composition, and mixing by Armin Bazarian. Search Engine's executive producers are Jenna Weiss-Berman and Leah Reis-Dennis.

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State of the World from NPR - Inside a Drone Factory in Ukraine

Throughout the more than three years since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, drones have been a key tool and weapon used by both sides in the conflict. Because of this, Ukraine is at the cutting edge of drone innovation, churning out some two million unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, last year. These flying drones come in all sizes and they're produced in factories large and high-tech, as well as small and shoestring. In today's episode, NPR's Eleanor Beardsley takes us inside a drone-making operation in Kyiv.

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Up First from NPR - Suspected D.C. Shooter Charged, Trump vs. Harvard, SCOTUS Ruling On Agency Firings

The man suspected of killing two Israeli Embassy employees outside a Jewish museum in D.C. has been charged with two counts of murder, among other crimes. The Trump administration has revoked Harvard University's ability to enroll international students, sowing confusion for those who are already enrolled. Plus, the U.S. Supreme Court said President Trump can fire two members of independent agencies — for now.

Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.

Today's episode of Up First was edited by Krishnadev Calamur, Nicole Cohen, Russell Lewis, Ally Schweitzer and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Zac Coleman and Josh Sauvagvau. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange.


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The Indicator from Planet Money - Target, Klarna and Sesame Street’s new addy

Can you tell me how to get... how to get to Indicators of the Week? This week's econ roundup looks at Target's sagging sales, Klarna's pay-later problem, and Sesame Street's new streaming address.

Related:
When do boycotts work? (Apple / Spotify)
Buy now, pay dearly?

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Fact-checking by
Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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NPR's Book of the Day - With new novel, Ocean Vuong says he wants to reframe America as a place of salvage

Ocean Vuong's debut novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous placed him in an elite club of American writers. He teaches at NYU and is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, among many other honors. But before all this, the author was raised by working-class Vietnamese immigrant parents in Hartford, Connecticut. Vuong's new novel The Emperor of Gladness takes place in a similar environment and centers on an unlikely friendship between a 19 year-old college dropout named Hai and an 82-year-old with dementia named Grazina. In today's episode, Vuong joins NPR's Ari Shapiro for a conversation about reframing our view of the United States and the American dream, describing ugly things in a beautiful way, and Vuong's experience working in close quarters at a fast food restaurant.

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Short Wave - Flamingos: The Water-Bending Physics Masters

Riddle us this: Which animal is pink, curved beaked and a master of the physics required to create water tornadoes? If you guessed flamingos, you're right. New research out this month in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that across a range of harsh environments, flamingos have become masters — of physics, fluid dynamics and so much more — all in pursuit of their filter-fed prey. Short Wave host Regina G. Barber sits down with biomechanics researcher Victor Ortega Jiménez to hear all of the incredibly involved lengths these birds go through to get their prey.

Want to hear about more physics or animal discoveries? Email us at shortwave@nprg.org to tell us what areas of science you'd be interested in.

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Consider This from NPR - Two Israeli embassy staffers killed amid a rise in antisemitism

Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim worked for the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C.

This weekend, they were slated to go to Jerusalem — Milgrim was to meet Lischinsky's family for the first time. According to Israeli ambassador Yechiel Leiter, Lischinsky had bought a ring and was planning to propose.

Instead, they were gunned down outside an event at the Capitol Jewish Museum on Wednesday night.

The killing comes aside a rise in antisemitic incidents. Daniel Shapiro, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, reacts to the news.

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State of the World from NPR - In Mexico, Songs for Women who Kill Their Abusers

By some estimates, some 90% of murders in Mexico go unpunished. But when a woman in Mexico kills an abusive partner, many of them do end up in jail convicted of "excessive use of legitimate force". Mexican singer-songwriter Vivir Quintana started looking into the issue and found compelling, tragic tales. We speak to Quintana about her new album which tells the stories of some of these women.

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1A - What Cuts To USDA Funding Mean For America’s Food Banks And Farms

Cuts at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, specifically to programs funding farms, schools, and food banks, mean meals won't make it to many tables across the country.

A new report from Feeding America found that people in every county are experiencing hunger. In some areas, child food insecurity is as high as 50 percent.

How are food banks and farms responding to a loss in federal funding?

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