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Judge: 'Probable cause' to hold U.S. in contempt over Alien Enemies Act deportations

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

The government sent several planeloads of alleged gang members to El Salvador, including 137 people under the act, the White House said at the time. The judge gave the U.S. until April 23 to respond.

(Image credit: Carolyn Van Houten)

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'Homegrowns are next:' Trump hopes to deport and jail U.S. citizens abroad

U.S. President Donald Trump met with President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador in the Oval Office of the White House April 14, 2025 in Washington, D.C. Trump and Bukele are exploring a proposal to send American citizens to be held in Salvadorean prisons, a move critics describe as dangerous and unconstitutional.

Trump hopes to deport and imprison U.S. citizens abroad. Critics say the concept is unconstitutional and dangerous.

(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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Retail sales jump as people rush to buy cars ahead of tariffs

Toyota and Lexus cars unloaded from ships sit parked at the Toyota Logistics Services Inc. automotive processing terminal at the Port of Long Beach in Long Beach, Calif. on April 10, 2025.

The key driver of the economy saw the biggest increase in over two years in March, as car buyers tried to get ahead of President Trump's tariffs on imported autos and auto parts.

(Image credit: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

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China reports 5.4% GDP growth in 1st quarter, but analysts say tariffs will bite soon

China

Growth was driven partly by strong industrial activity and exports, before President Trump's punishing tariffs. Experts say these levies will hurt China's growth this year.

(Image credit: STR)

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Could polio be poised for a comeback?

A health worker in Karachi administers polio drops — the oral vaccine — on February 3, the first day of a nationwide polio vaccination campaign. The country, one of only two where wild polio circulates, has seen a rise in cases due to issues with vaccination campaigns.

Cases have been rising in Afghanistan and Pakistan — and global health specialists are worried that this year's U.S. foreign aid cuts could usher in a wider resurgence.

(Image credit: Asif Hassan)

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Harvard professor gives perspective on the Trump administration clash with university

People walk through a gate as they exit Harvard Yard on the campus of Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 15, 2025.

What does the clash between Harvard and the Trump administration look like from the perspective of its faculty? NPR's Michel Martin akss Harvard Law School professor Nikolas Bowie.

(Image credit: JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)

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Trump aims to lower drug prices. And, Harvard's tax-exempt status threatened

Medicare negotiations on drug prices can happen sooner for pills than many drugs that are injected.

Trump has signed an executive action aimed at lowering prescription drug prices. And, the president threatened to revoke Harvard University's tax-exempt status after it rejected government demands.

(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

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Study highlights cancer risk from millions of CT scans performed annually

CT scans use ionizing radiation to create cross-sectional images of the body, providing more detail than X-rays.

They can be life-saving but radiation from the scans also contributes to cancer risk. The authors of a new study estimate overuse of CT scans is increasing the U.S. cancer burden.

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Photos: Scientists trace a butterfly migration route that is millions of years old

Raluca collects butterflies for the Worldwide Painted Lady Migration Project. As drought scorches Europe, painted lady butterflies find blooming flowers in the moist air near melting glaciers in Switzerland.

Scientists have recently mapped the painted lady butterfly's annual flight from equatorial Africa to northern Europe and back, the world's longest butterfly migration. In Constant Bloom, photographer Lucas Foglia documents the journey.

(Image credit: Lucas Foglia)

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Word of the Week: A brief history of Coachella — the festival and the place

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has been a tradition since 1999. But it

When you think of Coachella, you probably picture the festival. But there's much more to know about the place it calls home.

(Image credit: Frazer Harrison)

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Families say school civil rights investigations have stalled after federal cuts

Amy Cupp hugs her daughter, G, for a portrait in her home in northern Indiana. G is 12 and has multiple disabilities. Cupp has filed a federal complaint over G

The U.S. Education Department's Office for Civil Rights investigates discrimination in schools. It recently lost more than 40% of its staff.

(Image credit: Kaiti Sullivan for NPR)

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How psychiatric patients get caught in a cycle of homelessness and spotty care

Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs, Montana is the state

Montana is investing $300 million to help those with severe mental illness from cycling through ERs, state psychiatric facilities, jails and homelessness. Advocates say they also need stable housing.

(Image credit: Aaron Bolton)

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Wink Martindale, the genial game show host and early interviewer of Elvis, dies at 91

Wink Martindale arrives at the International Myeloma Foundation 7th Annual Comedy Celebration at The Wilshire Ebell Theatre in 2013.

The legendary TV host of game shows "Tic-Tac-Dough" and "Gambit" died at his home in Rancho Mirage, California. He had been battling lymphoma for a year.

(Image credit: Richard Shotwell)

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U.K. Supreme Court to rule on landmark challenge over legal definition of a woman

The entrance of the Supreme Court in London.

The court is scheduled to rule whether a transgender person with a certificate that recognizes them as female can be regarded as a woman under equality laws.

(Image credit: Frank Augstein)

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Hong Kong post office will stop shipping parcels to the U.S. over tariffs

Containers pile up at Kwai Chung Container terminal in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is caught in the middle of the trade disputes between the U.S. and China despite being a free port. The former British colony has trade and customs policies different from mainland China's.

(Image credit: Chan Long Hei)

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Records show Gene Hackman's wife researched symptoms of illness days before her death

This is an undated image provided by the Santa Fe County Sheriff

Photos, hours of footage and other documents were made public Tuesday after a recent court order that mandated any depictions of the deceased couple would be blocked from view.

(Image credit: Santa Fe County Sheriff/AP)

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White House must answer whether it's helping wrongly deported Maryland man

President Trump meets with President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador in the Oval Office on April 14.

The hearing is the first about Abrego Garcia's case since El Salvador's president told reporters he is not going to "smuggle a terrorist into the United States."

(Image credit: Win McNamee)

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Trump signs executive action to lower drug prices

Medicare negotiations on drug prices can happen sooner for pills than many drugs that are injected.

The action is intended to build upon the existing program for Medicare drug price negotiations, which was created by the Inflation Reduction Act that passed during the Biden administration.

(Image credit: Spencer Platt)

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The White House is starting the process to eliminate funding for public media

The White House is proposing that virtually all federal funding for public media—that's NPR and PBS—be eliminated, starting a process that will reach Congress later in April.

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Top House Democrat says DOGE data access at NLRB may be 'technological malfeasance'

Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-Va.) speaks during the House Oversight Committee meeting at the U.S. Capitol on March 25, 2025.

A top House Democrat is asking independent agency watchdogs to investigate after NPR reporting revealed DOGE may have taken sensitive data from the National Labor Relations Board.

(Image credit: Kayla Bartkowski)

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New Israeli ceasefire offer demands Hamas discuss disarming, but group rejects it

People walk by a tent shelter near the rubble of a collapsed building in western Gaza City on April 15.

Hamas is rejecting a new Israeli proposal to pause the war in Gaza, a Hamas official told NPR. Earlier, officials mediating talks had expressed optimism that a deal could be reached within weeks.

(Image credit: OMAR AL-QATTAA)

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Higher ed war heats up as Trump threatens Harvard's tax-exempt status

President Trump threatened on social media to revoke the tax-exempt status of Harvard University.

The president's comments came after the administration froze $2 billion in federal grants for Harvard after the university rejected what it saw as illegal government demands.

(Image credit: Kevin Dietsch)

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U.S. Army libraries target books with a focus on DEI or 'gender ideology' for removal

Army Corp of Cadets march on the field before the Army/Navy game on Dec. 14, 2024 in Landover, Md.

Books "overtly promoting DEI, gender ideology, and critical race theory" are under new scrutiny following a memo issued by acting Assistant Secretary of the Army Derrick Anderson.

(Image credit: Patrick Smith)

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When an earthquake struck San Diego, these elephants formed an 'alert circle'

Elephants at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido, Calif., quickly formed an "alert circle" to protect their young following Monday

When a 5.2 earthquake hit near San Diego yesterday, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park caught its elephants on video taking action to protect their young, forming what experts call an "alert circle."

(Image credit: Ken Bohn)

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Dismantling Democracy in Hungary

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks at a press conference at Buda Castle in Budapest, Hungary, on February 17, 2025.

In his fifteen years as prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban has steadily chipped away at his country's democratic freedoms. We go to Budapest to see what the erosion of democracy looks like and we find that may of Orban's strategies are being studied by politicians elsewhere.

(Image credit: ATTILA KISBENEDEK)

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A colossal squid is filmed in its natural habitat for the first time

ThiMesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, in its natural habitat. The team on Schmidt Ocean Institute's Research Vessel Falkor captured footage of the nearly one foot squid at a depth of 1,968 feet, using their remotely operated vehicle "SuBastian" on March 9, during an Ocean Census flagship expedition searching for new marine life.'/>

Colossal squid are known to be elusive and likely avoid the bright and loud research equipment used underwater.

(Image credit: ROV SuBastian)

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Mark Zuckerberg defends Meta in court against monopoly claims

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg departs E. Barrett Prettyman United States Court House on April 14, 2025 in Washington, DC. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has begun an antitrust trial against Meta over the company

In Zuckerberg's second day of testifying in the federal antitrust trial, he defended Meta's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. The U.S. government wants Meta to bust up the two companies.

(Image credit: Andrew Harnik)

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Trump moves to speed up asylum cases without court hearings

An asylum seeker reacts while waiting for news on her appointment with U.S. authorities before crossing through El Chaparral port in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico, on Jan. 20, 2025.

The memo could result in immigration judges deciding someone is not eligible for asylum without a hearing, and based solely on a lengthy and complex asylum request form.

(Image credit: Guillermo Arias)

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Photos: Two years of war in Sudan

A Sudanese army soldier in Omdurman, Sudan on 2024.

Images of Sudan, after two years of civil war have led to the world biggest humanitarian crisis.

(Image credit: Faiz Abubakr)

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Melinda French Gates on what billionaires with 'absurd' wealth owe back to society

"It takes philanthropy in concert with civil society and government — massive government funding — to change things ... " says Melinda French Gates. "Philanthropy cannot do it on its own."

In a new memoir, French Gates writes about the end of her marriage to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and her ongoing philanthropic work, directing funds and attention to women's health initiatives.

(Image credit: Jason Bell)

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