Moscow Attack, Trouble for Speaker Johnson, Princess of Wales' Cancer

are in custody.

on fire.

In the U.S., a government shutdown averted for now.

And now there's another revolt from inside his conference.

And a message from the Princess of Wales.

She has cancer.

can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family.

We have the news you need to start your weekend.

Her latest research into the intimate relationships people are having with chatbots.

Technologies that say, I care about you, I love you, I'm here for you, take care of me.

The pros and cons of artificial intimacy.

That's on the TED Radio Hour from NPR.

way to the Ukrainian border.

NPR's Charles Mainz went to the scene of the attack, which has been condemned by leaders

around the world.

Charles, thank you for being with us.

This is the concert venue where this terrible attack took place.

As you can hear there, there's a heavy security presence of helicopters and police and Russians

were bringing flowers to an impromptu memorial set off to the side of this massive entertainment

complex.

Among the Russians there, a gentleman named Anatoly, who declined to provide his last

name, given we were surrounded by security agents.

But it turns out he used to work at the Crocus venue.

I knew a lot of people here.

felt obligated to pay his respects.

He said that some might be injured, others were of course dead.

And he called this all a big tragedy, which of course it is.

on some of the videos we've seen, they entered the venue armed with Kalashnikovs and explosives

shortly before a sold-out concert by a veteran Soviet-era rock band called Picnic.

They were scheduled to start their show.

Witness video shows the gunmen firing point-blank on civilians, on security guards near the

entrance before heading to the main concert hall.

A fire then broke out after the attackers detonated explosives, engulfing the venue

in smoke and flames that quickly spread, sending the public scurrying.

Some people hid in bathrooms and basements, others were rescued from the roof or broke

through glass to make their way out, and of course many never did.

The whole complex caught fire, and today I could see the facade of the building.

It's just now gutted.

Moreover, amid the chaos, the attackers got away.

What's known about them?

the attack today, four apparently for direct involvement.

Leaked data of their passports, at least online, claims that several of these men are from

Central Asia, in fact from the former Soviet Republic of Tajikistan, and yet they were

detained on their way to the Ukrainian border, where Russian security services suggest these

men had, quote, contacts.

Now, as you noted in the intro, an Islamic State group has claimed responsibility in

a statement for this attack, and let's not forget the U.S. Embassy had publicly warned

It had credible reports that extremists were preparing an attack at a public event like

a concert in Moscow, a charge that Russian President Vladimir Putin later said was fear-mongering,

and indeed the intelligence was off.

The U.S. warning came out two weeks ago, said it would happen within the next 48 hours,

but as one gentleman today, who spoke with me off the record, said, how is it the U.S.

knew and our own security forces didn't?

A House speaker works with Democrats to pass spending bills to keep the government open,

and then his job is threatened.

Last time it was Kevin McCarthy.

This time it's Mike Johnson.

And for our political correspondent, Susan Davis joins us now.

Susan, thanks so much for being with us.

Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced a resolution to remove Mike Johnson from leadership.

He's a very good man, and I have respect for him as a person, but he is not doing the job.

The vast majority of House Republicans still support Speaker Johnson.

It's roughly this same small group of hard-right conservatives who continue to be angry that

a Republican speaker cannot deliver clear conservative wins in a divided government.

But they've always sort of wanted an impossible outcome, and Johnson understood this.

There's only so much you can do when Democrats control the Senate and the White House, and

he chose stability in the government versus shutting it down with no endgame out of it.

But House Republicans have been infighting since the ousting of former Speaker McCarthy.

It's been a really unruly majority.

There's a lot of bad blood.

And remember, the current House rules still make it easy for just a handful of lawmakers

to remove the speaker.

Johnson has a short reprieve.

The House is going to be adjourned for two weeks until after Easter, but this is something

that they could confront in April.

Because they voted unanimously against Kevin McCarthy, but does Speaker Johnson engender

any more sympathy?

Hakeem Jeffries, he's the minority leader, the Democrat from New York.

He has publicly said that if the motion to vacate were to happen again, some Democrats

might vote to save him and keep him as speaker.

As Jeffries has reasoned it, they can trust Johnson where they couldn't trust McCarthy.

He has kept his word through these budget negotiations.

He did rely on Democratic votes and negotiated in good faith to pass them.

And there is still one must-pass item before the election, at least for the White House

and for Democrats, which is that money for Ukraine.

And once again, that means Democrats could have some leverage over the speaker and over

the Republican majority, but that, again, is still a pretty difficult position for a

speaker to be in.

there be to make it through the House?

some form of foreign aid.

It's not necessarily going to be that full $95 billion package that the Senate approved.

Some Republicans are talking about making it a loan or putting other terms on the money.

But it seems pretty clear that there is a bipartisan majority of votes to pass aid to

Ukraine in the House.

There has been enormous pressure on Speaker Johnson from the national security community,

from the White House, and from the other top three congressional leaders saying, we have

to do this.

But Donald Trump opposes it.

And there is deep opposition to this money among Republican base voters.

So far, Donald Trump continues to back Johnson for speaker, but, you know, could that change?

That could weigh on lawmakers here, and it adds to the precarious nature of his hold

on the job and how long he can hold on to it and whether he can hold on to it through

the election.

One of the leading investigators, Oversight Chairman James Comer, he's a Republican from

Kentucky.

He said this week that the path forward might shift to possible criminal referrals to the

Justice Department.

That, of course, does not mean that the Justice Department will investigate.

It just means they could.

It seems pretty clear Republicans don't have the votes to impeach Joe Biden on the House

floor.

Democrats are obviously not going to help them on that one, Scott.

But this is a tough vote that just got tougher.

Ken Buck of Colorado is a House Republican who left the House early on Friday.

He retired early.

That same day, Mike Gallagher, he's a Republican from Wisconsin, announced he'd already said

he was going to retire, but he announced he's going to leave in a couple of weeks.

Gallagher was one of just three Republicans who voted against the impeachment of Homeland

Secretary Mayorkas.

He condemned his party for using impeachments for purely political purposes.

But also what that means, Scott, is when Mike Gallagher leaves, Speaker Johnson is going

to have a one-vote margin in his majority to pass legislation or any other matter through

the House.

and then, for some, shame.

about a photoshopped picture and about her marriage.

I'm sure Lauren Frayer has been covering this from London.

Lauren, thanks for being with us.

Today, the headlines in all the papers here say things like, Kate, you are not alone,

Kate, cancer shock, all sort of extolling love and support for the princess.

That's a big turnaround from even a couple days ago, when the UK tabloids were speculating

about whether Kate's abdominal surgery was actually a nervous breakdown, why that Mother's

Day photo of her and her children was photoshopped, what the palace was keeping from the public.

Stephen Colbert on his TV show joked about rumors that Kate's husband, Will, was having

an affair.

The headline in the Atlantic magazine now reads, I hope you all feel terrible now.

Here's a woman named Sheena Best, whom we caught up with at London's Victoria Station.

It's so, it's so sad.

Well, I hope all the press do feel really guilty, because God help her, like it's just

really sad.

plan?

We know she was hospitalized for 13 days back in January for abdominal surgery.

At the time, the guidance we got from the palace was that this was not cancer.

But then Kate said in this video last night that post-op tests showed cancer had been

present.

The palace says she started treatment in late February.

They're calling what she's getting, though, preventative chemotherapy.

Now, as you know, Scott, King Charles also has cancer.

For both him and Kate, we don't know the type of cancer.

We don't know the stage, where the treatment is happening, for how long it'll last, none

of that.

The king did issue a statement last night saying he's proud of his daughter-in-law and

he's in touch with her often.

in Windsor.

That's west of London where Kate and William live.

It was filmed by a BBC Studios camera person.

Only a handful of people knew about its existence.

Kate is shown sitting on a garden bench, dressed casually, looking relaxed, her hair in waves

down her shoulders.

And it seems designed to reassure people, you know, that she's OK.

But also to kind of tell them to back off, in the most polite royal words, of course.

Here's part of the video.

We hope that you'll understand that as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy while

I complete my treatment.

She mentions her three children.

The youngest is just five years old.

She says it's taken some time to explain this to them.

She also talks about her husband, William, and calls him a, quote, great source of comfort

and reassurance.

His father and his wife are now both in treatment for cancer.

How does all this affect the monarchy?

Harry and Prince Andrew both having stepped down from royal duties.

And of course, this is after the loss of Queen Elizabeth around 18 months ago.

With the king getting his own cancer treatment, Queen Camilla has been stepping in to handle

some of his duties.

So this will overall be a bigger workload for an ever smaller number of working royals.

And you know, Scott, Kate ranks absolutely number one in polls of which royal is most

beloved here.

The palace had said she would be back on duty sometime after Easter.

That looks pretty uncertain now.

I'm Aisha Roscoe.

Craig, Gabe O'Connor, and Martin Patience.

Our director is Michael Radcliffe.

Hynes, and Phil Edfors.

Sarah Lucy Oliver is our executive producer.

Jerry Holmes is our deputy managing editor.

transition to electric vehicles over the next decade or so.

But people have questions.

And NPR's Camila Dominoski, who covers cars and energy, she has some answers.

plain fun, you can always tune in to Weekend Edition.

And of course, you find it on NPR, only NPR.