NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-29-2025 1PM EST

Episode Date: January 29, 2025

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On NPR's Wild Card podcast, comedian Michelle Butoh says she's glad she ignored the people who told her to lose weight. I'm just going to show you what it looks like to love my body, my double chin, my extra rolls, okay? My buckets of thighs. Sauce on the side, you can't afford it. I'm Rachel Martin. Michelle Butoh is on the Wild Card podcast, the show where cards control the conversation.

Lyle from NPR News in Washington. I'm Lakshmi Singh. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is facing tough questions at his Senate confirmation hearing on his nomination for Health and Human Services Secretary and facing disruptions from protesters today. Democrats on the panel have had tense exchanges with Kennedy. They cite Kennedy's books and actions in accusing him of embracing harmful conspiracy theories. They're disputing his claim that he is not anti-vaccine and raise concerns that he will put politics and his support of President Donald Trump

over the health and welfare of the U.S. public. Kennedy has received a warmer reception from Republicans on the panel. Finance committee chair Mike Crapo of Idaho. Mr. Kennedy, if confirmed, you will have the opportunity to chart a new and better course for the federal approach to tackling both the drivers and the consequences of our ailing health care system. Your commitment to combating chronic conditions that drive health care costs will be critical to our success. Kennedy faces a second confirmation hearing before a separate committee tomorrow.

The Trump administration is investigating former Joint Chiefs of Chairman Mark Milley. NPR's Quill Lawrence reports the Pentagon has taken away Milley's security detail. President Donald Trump railed against Milley on the campaign trail, even calling for the retired four-star general to be executed after Milley criticized Trump. Now Trump has pulled the security teams that were protecting Milley despite credible threats on his life from the government of Iran. A Pentagon statement accused Milley of undermining the chain of command.

His security clearance was also stripped, and Milley may have his rank reduced in retirement pending an investigation by the Defense Department inspector general. That inspector general was replaced last week by the Trump administration in an apparent purge. Quill Lawrence, NPR News. A meeting of Latin American and Caribbean countries scheduled to respond to President Trump's deportations has been cancelled and Piers Zeta Peralta reports the meeting was called after a diplomatic rift between Colombia and the U.S.

Over the weekend, Colombian President Gustavo Petro turned back American military planes carrying deported Colombian migrants. He said the migrants were being treated inhumanely. At the same time, the President of Honduras, Guilmara Castro, called an extraordinary session of the community of Latin American and Caribbean states. Castro is a leftist who has spoken out against the US. As Trump came to office, she threatened to close down a US military base in Honduras if the US mistreats migrants.

But the US said Pedro capitulated, and then Castro canceled the meeting. In a statement Castro said it was a shame that some member states put other interests above Latin American unity. Ada Peralta in PR News. Tegucigalpa. US stocks are trading lower this hour. The Dow is down 161 points at 44,688. It's NPR News. Google Maps says it is prepared to replace Gulf of Mexico with Gulf of America on its app once President Trump's name change order takes effect. The company's policy is to use the names used by the U.S. government. People in Mexico will continue to see Gulf of Mexico.

Outside the U.S. and Mexico, Google Maps says it'll display both names. The tech giant also plans to reflect President Trump's call to rename Mount Denali Mount McKinley. Chat GPT maker OpenAI says it believes the Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek improperly used its data. NPR's Bobby Allen reports DeepSeek sent a shockwave through the AI industry this week when it said its powerful chatbot was developed at a much lower cost. OpenAI says DeepSeek dazzled the world with its chatbot only after secretly relying on the proprietary technology that powers

chat GPT. The company says it is investigating what it believes is evidence that China-based DeepSeek trained its AI model on the outputs of ChatGPT. DeepSeek's claimed that it built a ChatGPT-like bot with a fraction of the cost, rattled stock markets, and raised questions about whether Silicon Valley was falling behind China in the AI race. But the White House's AIsR David Sacks said on Fox News that it is possible that DeepSeek stole OpenAI's intellectual property. OpenAI itself is facing numerous copyright infringement lawsuits over scraping nearly the entire internet to develop chat GPT. Bobby Allen, NPR News.

The NASDAQ has fallen 1.2 percent, the S&P 500 down roughly three quarters of a percent. It's NPR news. Wait, wait, don't tell me. Fresh air?. It's NPR News.