NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-25-2025 8AM EST

Episode Date: January 25, 2025

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The indicator from Planet Money is diving into the world of batteries. Not the kind you buy at the grocery store. We're talking really big batteries. The kind that can power thousands of homes. This technology came seemingly out of nowhere. We're digging deep into the battery industry in three back-to-back episodes. Listen to The Indicator from Planet Money podcast on NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. President Trump is due to hold a rally in Las Vegas today after touring wildfire damage yesterday in Southern California.

Trump arrived in Los Angeles from North Carolina, where he spoke about wanting to overhaul or even possibly get rid of FEMA, in Pierce House McCulloch reports. Trump has been sharply critical of California's response to the fires, but when he landed, Democratic Governor of California Gavin Newsom met Trump on the tarmac, and for a few minutes they put politics aside and spoke of cooperation. Trump toured the damage in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Pacific Palisades and said the area would have the support of the federal government. At the same time, he criticized the local water management system and spoke about an

executive order to allow more water from the northern part of the state to southern California. Experts say, though, fighting fires is not related to that issue. Asma Khalid, NPR News. President Trump spoke with reporters in Los Angeles last night shortly after the Senate confirmed Pete Hegseth to be the new defense secretary. We just heard that we have a great secretary of defense. We're very happy about that and we appreciate everybody's vote. Hegseth's confirmation came after Vice President J.D. Vance broke a 50-50 tie.

Three Republican senators joined Democrats in voting against Hegseth, including Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins of Maine, and Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, who released a statement after the vote saying Hegseth failed to demonstrate that he could effectively lead an organization as large as the Pentagon. Trump administration, giving immigration authorities broad new powers to quickly expel migrants who were temporarily admitted to the country by the Biden administration. And Pierce Joel Rose reports it's part of a broader immigration crackdown. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamin Huffman signed a memo that appears to give

immigration authorities a roadmap to begin removing migrants who are temporarily admitted to the country under two Biden-era programs. They include the CBP One app, which allowed migrants to schedule appointments at ports of entry to begin their asylum claims, and another program for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. More than 1.4 million migrants were admitted to the U.S. under the two programs, which depend on an authority known as humanitarian parole. Critics said those programs were themselves unlawful. Now immigrant advocates fear that people who fled

from dangerous places may be forced to go back. Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington. Overseas, tears went up today in Tel Aviv's hostage square as Hamas released four female Israeli soldiers as part of the ceasefire deal that has paused 15 months of fighting in exchange Israel is to release 200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. soldiers as part of the ceasefire deal that has paused 15 months of fighting. In exchange, Israel is to release 200 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. However, Israel is accusing Hamas of

breaching the ceasefire deal by not releasing a civilian hostage. As expected, Israel says displaced Palestinians will not be allowed to return to northern Gaza until the matter is settled. This is NPR. The State Department has issued an expansion on President Trump's executive action to freeze foreign assistance for 90 days. A memo signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday orders a pause in foreign aid. It makes exceptions for military aid to Israel and Egypt and emergency food programs. The memo includes a stop work order for any existing contracts or grants for humanitarian and development projects.

The US is the world's biggest international aid donor. Rebels are rapidly advancing on a provincial capital in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Kate Bartlett reports that UN troops are fighting back as hundreds of thousands of civilians flee. M23 rebels have taken several towns in recent days and also killed a military governor as they advanced towards Goma, the capital of mineral-rich North Kivu province, which has been wracked by violence for three decades. President Felix Cheshire Kedi cut short his trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos and returned

home to deal with the escalating crisis. Meanwhile, US and other foreign nationals have been urged to leave the city. UN peacekeeping forces say they are engaged in intense combat with the rebels, who the DRC government and UN say are backed by neighboring Rwanda. Rwanda denies the allegations. For NPR News, I'm Kate Butler in Johannesburg. The first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the year has a new champion, American Madison Keys upset two-time defending champion Arenas Abilinka in the women's final today, winning her first Grand Slam Tennis title.

The men's final is tomorrow, with defending champion Janek Sinner playing Aleksandr Sverev. I'm Shial Snyder. This is NPR News.