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Today's Hot Story

Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected Pope yesterday, becoming the first pope in the United States. The 69-year-old chose the name of Pope Leo XIV. When he showed up to greet the masses on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, he said he wanted his message of peace to "enter your heart, with your family and everyone, no matter where they are." From the moment before White Smoke, the first speech from the newly elected Pope to Pope Leo, NPR's Ruth Sherlock was there, watching it all unfold.

• 🎧 Before the next pope is announced Sherlock told first. She said there was initial chaos after the echo speaker announcement. Once people saw Pope Leo, they had different reactions and he made a speech. Around Sherlock, people were disappointed, hoping that one of the Italian Cardinals would be chosen for the role. Among Americans, shocking and joyful. Max Gleason, a 21-year-old American college student who studied in Rome, said that from the moment the pope spoke, he looked “like someone to smash it.”
• 🎧 Even with the long-term resume of Pope Leo, some people are not satisfied with what he has done. NPR's Jason Derose said survivors of clergy sexual abuse said he wasn't doing enough to solve the problem. The question now is how he will deal with future victims. He has also been criticized for comments about people in the LGBTQ+ community. He talked about the Peruvian government’s plan to teach gender in public schools, saying that promoting “gender ideology” is confusing.
• ➡️ Here's everything you need to know About Pope Leo, from there he grew up to spending a large part of his ministry there.

This weekend, trade negotiators from the United States and China will meet in Switzerland for their first senior face-to-face negotiations Since President Trump returned to the White House. Currently, goods from China face taxes up to 245%. Trump's 145% tariff is some older tariffs. Currently, U.S. goods traveling to China face tariffs of about 125%. The meeting this weekend comes after Trump and British Prime Minister Kier Starmer reached a deal yesterday to raise some tariffs on British goods.

• 🎧 U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will attend talks in Switzerland, saying it shouldn't be a trade deal Meeting expectations. China said it hopes to see U.S. tariffs ahead of the meeting, something Trump said would not happen. NPR's Emily Feng said the negotiation styles between the two countries were very different, which would be a challenge. Although tariffs hurt China, Beijing has been preparing for an economic standoff with the United States for many years.

Republican leaders in the swing area insist they will not support any recommendations for depriving Medicaid benefits. The department has become an obstacle to Trump's "big and beautiful Bill". Reorganizing federal health care programs for the poor, older and disabled Americans is one of the clearest ways the Conservatives can achieve their deep spending cut goals. To get the bill through Congress, House Republicans are using a budget blueprint to ask them to find $1.5 trillion in cuts to help offset the cost of expanding the president's 2017 tax cuts.

Diving deep

Natural gas prices have dropped significantly, mainly due to a nearly 25% decline in crude oil prices since the beginning of the year. The West Texas Intermediate benchmark for U.S. crude oil benchmark fell from $80 a barrel in mid-January to less than $60 this week. Prices fell on average to the point where American producers found new wells unprofitable. Here is a breakdown of the impact on oil prices and what it means to the economy:

• ⛽When the economy flourished, companies opened factories and people traveled, causing oil consumption to climb. When the economy is in a recession, oil demand will do so.
• ⛽Analysts say the trade war extending into this year could halve the expected growth in China's oil demand. The tariff situation is so atypical that comparing this year to last year may be irrelevant.
• ⛽On Monday, oil market prices hit a four-year low before recovering after the oil cartel OPEC and its allies announced that they would give up some of the previous volunteer cuts.
• ⛽Gas prices usually rise in the spring. But they fell last month and could fall further. Lower natural gas prices also lower overall commodity prices.

Weekend draft picks

What to check NPR Watch, read and listen to this weekend:

🍿Movie: Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick's Wedding in Capri Another simple busyfull of murder, deception and stylish looks.

📺TV: NPR TV critic Eric Deggans has shared six of his favorite performances of 2025 so far. Will they convince you to add these shows to your watch list?

📚Book: In Katie Goh's memoir Foreign Fruit: Personal History of Orangeshe exudes numerous citrus fruits related to colonialism, inheritance and recognition myths. Here are four other famous books of the week.

🎵 Music: The legacy of the late Patsy Cline helped create Nashville's voice in the 1950s and 1960s, continuing to grow as new albums grow Imagine: Lost recordings (1954-1963). (WBUR)

🎭Theater: Sarah Snook, who plays Shiv Roy successionnominated for the Tony Award for playing 26 roles Dorian grey pictures On Broadway.

❓Query: I got 11 points, also known as "decent". Do you think you did better than me? Test your skills.

Three things to know before moving forward

1. NPR's Bob Mondello and his sister recently met Mom's mother at the Red Cross in Rome in the final months of World War II, a box of 43 forgotten letters.
2. A new study that recruits black and Latino women found that 53% of them used personal care products containing formaldehyde and formaldehyde-released preservatives found to cause cancer in humans.
3. Over the past four years, a mouse named Ronin has set a Guinness World Record by discovering 109 landmines in Cambodia. (via WBUR)

The newsletter is Suzanne Nuyen.