NPR News: 04-03-2026 4AM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder. French President Emmanuel Macron has offered a thinly veiled critique of President Trump, saying the Ron War requires a, quote, serious approach and not one that changes every day. And Pierre Zelliner beardsly reports on the first time Macron has called out Trump so directly. This is not a show we are talking about war and peace and the lives of men and women the French President told journalists upon arrival in South Korea for a state visit. Referring to Trump's talk of leaving NATO, Macron said casting doubt on the defense alliance weakens and empties it of its substance. As for Trump's comments that Macron is treated badly by his wife, the French President said they didn't merit comment. He called the remarks unelegant and unworthy of a president. Eleanor Beardsley in Pierre News, Paris. President Trump says deputy attorney General Todd Blanche will lead the Justice Department for the time being. Trump made Blanche acting attorney general after ousting Pam Bondy Thursday.

1:03Bondy's ouster follows months of scrutiny over the Justice Department's handling of the Epstein files and or handling of cases against President Trump's perceived political enemies. The State Department had a self-imposed deadline this week. The Trump administration has been trying to shift foreign aid from largely going through nonprofits and international organizations to going through individual governments. While more than two dozen agreements have been signed with recipient governments, others are not yet hammered out, and most implementation plans are not ready to go. Meanwhile, interim funding for aid groups on the ground is sometimes arriving months late. Caspian Tariya oversees HIV work in a dozen African countries for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. So we have to work on giving notices to staff so that we can prepare for possible termination

2:08of their countries. In a statement to NPR, the State Department said it's taking decisive steps to ensure continuity of life-saving services. Gabriella Emanuel NPR News. NASA's Artemis II mission with its crew of four astronauts is now bound for the moon. The Orion spacecraft called integrity left Earth orbit Thursday. After the astronauts fired up its engine for five minutes fifty seconds. Integrity looks like a good burn. We're confirming. Integrity copies. The astronauts now on track for a lunar fly by early next week. By the time they returned to Earth, the astronauts will have broken the human space flight distance record, said in 1970 by Apollo 13, Artemis II, a key test flight in NASA's lunar ambitions. And you're listing two NPR news. May M.R.'s recently elected parliament has chosen the leader of the 2021 coup against the elected government as its new president.

3:11Michael Sullivan reports from neighboring Thailand. When senior general Minong Long seized power, he promised a new election and a fresh start within a year. It's taken five years for that election, and while the general resigned as its head, the military remains firmly in charge. The parliament filled with its proxies, and 25 percent of the seats reserved for the military itself. Myanmar, meanwhile, remains mired in a brutal civil war between the military and those who wish to see it out of politics for good. That war has left tens of thousands dead with millions displaced and even more hungry, with no end in sight. Minong Long has chosen another hardliner to replace him as the military's leader. The president of Wisconsin's largest mosque has been detained by federal immigration agents. The Islamic Society of Milwaukee says Salas Asura was taken into custody on Monday by nearly a dozen ICE agents.

4:12Asura is a Palestinian-born legal permanent resident, he has lived in the U.S. for more than three decades. Authorities in the Netherlands say a priceless agent, Romanian helmet, has been recovered under police guard. Prosecutors unveiled a 25 hundred-year-old helmet during a press conference Thursday considered a cultural icon of Romania. It was on loan to a Dutch museum when it was stolen more than a year ago. This is NPR News. Listen to this podcast, Sponsor Free, on Amazon Music with a Prime Membership, or any podcast app by subscribing to NPR News Now Plus at plus.npr.org. For more information, visit our website at www.npr.npr.npr.