NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-02-2025 10PM EST

Episode Date: February 3, 2025

NPR News: 02-02-2025 10PM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Hurst. The Trump administration's efforts to cut the federal workforce are causing confusion and panic across federal agencies.

As in Piers Franco, Ordonez reports, Trump says he wants to shrink the federal workforce. The White House's Office of Personnel Management has told government workers that if they quit by February 6, they would still get paid through September 30th. Trump told reporters that his goal is to carry out a long-time Republican plan to reduce the size of the government. Everybody's replaceable and we'll get very good people to replace them if it turns out to be more than we thought. It could be a lot, it could be a little, we don't know, but we'd love to have them leave.

The White House bypassed Congress, which is supposed to approve such an offer. Combine that with moves to shut down diversity programs and the USAID website going dark has set off a panic among federal workers who are uncertain about the future of their jobs. Franco, Ordonez, NPR News. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada didn't ask for a trade war but won't back down. He says Canada will put a matching 25% tariff on U.S. imports after President Trump signed an order imposing stiff tariffs on Canada as well as Mexico and China. China says it will take counter measures including filing a

complaint with the World Trade Organization. Mexican President Claudia Scheinbane is also ordering retaliatory measures. And Piers Eder Peralta has more. Mexico has been warning that a tariff war between the two countries would have huge effects not just for American consumers but also for American companies manufacturing in Mexico. Mexico is the number one provider of cars and car parts for the United States. Mexico's economy secretary Marcelo Ebrard said Americans could see a hike in prices in everything from avocados and beer to cars, trucks and medical equipment. The biggest impact, he said, is that millions of American families will have to pay 25% more.

Ada Peralta, NPR News. President Trump says he will talk with the leaders of Canada and Mexico tomorrow morning. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with President Trump in Washington this week. Trump says he wants an end to the war in Gaza that started with the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that left some 1,200 people dead, around 250 people taken hostage. Netanyahu says he's looking forward to strengthening ties with the U.S. Our decisions and the courage of our soldiers have redrawn the map. But I believe that working closely with President Trump, we can redraw it even further and for

the better. This comes as negotiations for the second phase of the ceasefire with Hamas are set to begin this week. U.S. futures contracts are sharply lower at this hour, Dow futures down one and a half percent. You're listening to NPR News. The Grammys are taking place in Los Angeles tonight. Among the winners so far, Beyoncé won Best Country album for

Cowboy Carter. Taylor Swift presented her the award. Beyoncé is up for 11 awards total. Swift has six nominations. Both are up for album of the year. The show opened with host Trevor Noah asking viewers to donate money to victims of the deadly wildfires in and around Los Angeles that have destroyed thousands of homes and businesses and left at least 29 people dead. A new study suggests that when people are having trouble listening to something, a certain ear muscle gets activated.

And Piersnell Greenfield Voice reports, it's as if the muscle is trying to make the ear perk up. Piersnell Greenfield Voice Unlike dogs, cats, and horses, people can't literally prick up their ears. Our evolutionary ancestors seem to have lost this ability millions of years ago. Recently though, lab scientists put electrodes on the muscles around people's ears and ran some tests.

And the electrodes registered tiny amounts of electrical activity in one muscle whenever people were listening especially hard. It was the muscle that in other animals lifts the ear up. The research appears in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience. Researchers say a smart hearing aid could monitor this muscle to keep track of how much effort it was taking for someone to hear and then respond accordingly. Nell Greenfield-Boice, NPR News. U.S. futures contracts are trading lower.

Dow futures are down one and a half percent. NASDAQ futures are down 2.7 percent. This is NPR News.