Harvard international students; Summer books 2025 : NPR

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Today’s top stories

Elias Rodriguez, who is suspected of killing two Israeli Embassy employees outside a Jewish museum in Washington, D.C., has been charged with first-degree murder, the murder of foreign officials and other crimes. Law enforcement officials are continuing to investigate the attack as a possible hate crime. According to the affidavit, Rodriguez flew from his Chicago home to the nation’s capital on Tuesday, the day before the attack. He also purchased a ticket for the museum event, which was a mixer for young diplomats, just three hours before it began.

• 🎧 NPR’s Jennifer Ludden reports to Up First that going forward, D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith said there will be more law enforcement officers around faith-based organizations, schools, and places like the Jewish Community Center. The couple that was killed was Yaron Lishinsky, a German and Israeli citizen, and Sarah Milgrimwho grew up in a Kansas City suburb. A friend of Milgrim’s informed Luden that she took the job at the embassy after Hamas attacked Israel a year and a half ago, as she wanted to combat what she sensed was a rise in antisemitism with “diplomacy, with love, with intelligence.”

The Trump administration has revoked Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students. This decision, communicated in a letter to the university, impacts currently enrolled international students. Harvard, which has been in a months-long dispute with President Trump, says the government’s actions are “unlawful.”

• 🎧 The letter sent to Harvard said the administration is terminating its student exchange certificationwhich means the school can no longer sponsor student visas. NPR’s Elissa Nadworny reports that nearly 7,000 international students attend Harvard, which accounts for roughly 25% of the student body. One senior at the school expressed worry that she wouldn’t be able to graduate next week and others are concerned about fall semester plans. Low enrollment of international students could have a big impact on the U.S. economyas they contributed over $43 billion last year, according to a report last year.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court granted the Trump administration’s emergency request to fire the heads of two independent agencies. The fired individuals are Gwynne Wilcox, a member of the National Labor Relations Board, and Cathy Harris, a member of the Merit Systems Protection Board. The 6-3 ruling is technically temporarybut it indicates how the higher court views the extent of the president’s power.

• 🎧 When creating the bipartisan agencies, Congress wrote into law that their members can only be fired for causelike neglect of duty, NPR’s Andrea Hsu says. SCOTUS stated that the Constitution gives the president the power to fire officials who help him carry out his duties, with only narrow exceptions. The ruling isn’t definitive. Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissent that it isn’t just someone’s job at stake, but the very idea that Congress embraced when it created independent agencies. Wilcox and Harris warned that if the court found Trump had the power to remove them, nothing would stop him from firing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Today’s listen

International students in the U.S. are grappling with a difficult decision: should they express their views on the war in Gaza or remain silent? Federal judges have blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to deport some noncitizen university students based on their comments about the war in Gaza. However, the government has indicated it will continue to cancel some students’ visas, citing national security concerns. NPR’s Adrian Florido recently spoke with two international graduate students in the final weeks of their academic programs who decided to continue speaking out despite the risk of losing their visas and being detained or deported. The two students discussed how that decision impacted their lives and plans for the future.

Weekend picks

Check out what NPR is watching, reading and listening to this weekend:

🍿 Movies: In Friendshipa deeply strange and intense man develops a troubled friendship with his new neighbor, a TV weatherman played by Paul Rudd.

📺 TV: The two-part HBO documentary Pee-wee as Himself features footage and thousands of photos from the late Paul Reubens’ life and career. Reubens is the performer who created the iconic Pee-wee Herman character.

📚 Books: There are several great fiction and nonfiction titles being published this summer. As part of the Books We Love series, here are 17 of those books NPR critics can’t wait to read.

🎵 Music: Stereolab returns with a new album for the first time in 15 years. Robert Moore of 90.9 The Bridge in Kansas City joins Stephen Thompson to talk about the group’s new music and the other best albums out this week.

🎭 Theater: The Broadway comedy Oh, Mary! offers a reimagined portrait of Mary Todd Lincoln, depicting her as a woman who has developed an addiction to alcohol in her desperate pursuit of becoming a cabaret star. Cole Escola, who wrote the play and stars as Mary, discusses the show’s success with Fresh Air.

🍽️ Food: Mostly Meatless: Green Up Your Plate Without Totally Ditching the Meata new cookbook from America’s Test Kitchen, features mostly meatless recipes that taste, look and feel pretty meaty.

❓ Quiz: If you love a challenge, this quiz could be for you. I found myself with an “OK” score, but I believe you can do better than I did. Put your knowledge to the test.

3 things to know before you go

1. OpenAI is acquiring io, a startup founded by former Apple designer Jony Ive, in an effort to create new AI-enabled devices.
2. Loving Day is celebrated on June 12, commemorating the landmark case Loving v. Virginiawhich invalidated all state laws against interracial marriage in the U.S. We’d love to hear from people in interracial relationships. Your story could be featured in our June 8 newsletter.
3. Jim Irsay, the longtime owner and CEO of the Indianapolis Colts and a prolific rock-and-roll collector, has died at age 65.

This newsletter was edited by Majd All-Whydy.