NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-02-2025 3AM EST

Episode Date: February 2, 2025

NPR News: 02-02-2025 3AM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hey, it's Robin Hilton from NPR Music. Many years ago, I helped start the Tiny Desk Concert Series. And right now, NPR is looking for the next great, undiscovered musician to perform behind the famous desk. Think you've got what it takes? Submit a video of you playing an original song to the Tiny Desk Contest by February 10th. Find out more and see the official rules at npr.org slash tiny desk contest. Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. China is urging the Trump administration to quote rectify its erroneous approach

after it announced new 10% tariffs on Chinese imports. The administration says it wants Beijing to do more to cut the supply of the synthetic opioid fentanyl. MPH's John Ruehits reports. China's foreign ministry says it's strongly dissatisfied with the new tariffs and resolutely opposes them. It says Beijing will take necessary countermeasures to, quote, firmly safeguard China's legitimate rights and interests. It stopped short of saying what those measures would be.

Experts say many of the precursor chemicals for fentanyl flow from China to Mexico, where they're combined in underground labs to make the drug. Beijing says it's taken steps to stop trade in those chemicals as part of what it calls extensive anti-drug cooperation with the United States. The foreign ministry says the new unilateral tariffs violate World Trade Organization rules and they will inevitably undermine future cooperation against drugs. John Ruehich, NPR News, Beijing. Tariffs will also go into effect on imports from Canada and Mexico. President Trump ordered airstrikes against ISIS operatives in Somalia on Saturday. The Pentagon says the strikes took place in the Golis Mountains and Pierre's Deepa Shivram

has more. The White House declined to provide further information on the strikes, like how many ISIS operatives were killed. But Defense Secretary Pete Hegsett said in a statement that the Pentagon's initial assessment is that no civilians were harmed in the strikes and that the strikes send a quote clear signal that the U.S. is ready to find and eliminate terrorists who threaten the U.S. and its allies. Hegsett says the strike was coordinated with the Somali government. On his platform, Truth Social, President Trump said he ordered the military airstrikes on a quote, senior ISIS attack planner, who he didn't name and quote, other terrorists. He also criticized

former President Biden for not acting quickly enough to target this ISIS leader, though the Biden White House did conduct other airstrikes in Somalia targeting both Al Qaeda and ISIS. Deepa Sivaram, NPR News. Federal investigators are analyzing the flight recorders from both aircraft involved in Wednesday's crash in Washington, D.C. One thing the information shows is that the pilots could not hear each other. National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman says it's common for aircraft to be communicating on different frequencies. Both the airplane and the helicopter would hear any air traffic control, but they would not hear the other aircraft or helicopter conversely if they were transmitting out.

Inman says investigators are also interviewing the five workers in the air traffic control tower at the time of the crash. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in Central America this weekend. It's his first overseas trip in his new position. He'll be pressing Central American leaders on the Trump administration's top priority of curbing illegal immigration. He'll also be discussing President Trump's effort to regain control over the Panama Canal. The administration also wants to slow China's growing influence in the region. You're listening to NPR News.

The FAA says there could be some flight delays today. in the region. You are listening to NPR News. The FAA says there could be some flight delays today. A key messaging system used by pilots in the US is facing an outage. Officials say a backup system is working and they're trying to find the cause for the problem. A similar problem in 2023 disrupted more than 11,000 flights. The estate of one of Superman's original creators is suing DC Comics and its parent company Warner Bros. Discovery. As NPR's Chloe Veltman reports, the lawsuit seeks to block the use of the character on screen in several overseas markets.

The new Superman movie starring David Corrensweat is scheduled to drop in July. Home, David, home. But its release in key markets such as the UK, Australia, Ireland and Canada is now in jeopardy owing to a lawsuit filed Friday in the Southern District of New York by the family of Superman graphic artist Joseph Schuster. The complaint claims the rights to the Superman story under copyright law in those countries automatically terminated 25 years after Schuster's death. He died in 1992. The graphic artist dreamed up the Superman character in

1934 alongside writer Jerry Siegel. The pair were working for Detective Comics, a predecessor to DC Comics at the time. In an email to NPR, a Warner Brothers spokesperson says, quote, We fundamentally disagree with the merits of the lawsuit and will vigorously defend our rights. Chloe Valtman, NPR News. Government officials in Congo say at least 773 people have been killed in fighting in the eastern city of Goma this week. Some 2,800 others have been injured, rebel forces backed by troops from Rwanda took control of the city days ago. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News. days ago. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.