NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-05-2025 12PM EST

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

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Our long national nightmare is over. Beyonce has finally won the Grammy for Album of the Year. How and why did it take so long for Beyonce to win the top prize at Music's Biggest Night? We're talking about her big wins and breaking down the Grammys for Kendrick Lamar, Chappell Rhone, and Sabrina Carpenter. Listen to the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Employees at the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency receive worker resignation offers in recent days according to sources who spoke to NPR on condition of anonymity. The move is part

of an effort to realign the intelligence community with President Trump's agenda. A CIA spokesperson said that Director John Ratcliffe is, quote, moving swiftly to ensure the CIA workforce is responsive to the administration's national security priorities, end quote. The offers were sent to all employees of both agencies through a source caution that there will likely be exceptions for highly sensitive or senior roles. An estimated 10,000 staff at the United States Agency for International Development will be placed on administrative leave in the next 48 hours.

The administration's new directive has touched off protests in the nation's capital and NPR's Luke Garrett is on the scene. Here in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol, democratic lawmakers and scores of federal workers and citizens are protesting the shutting down of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Tech billionaire turned special government employee Elon Musk called USAID a, quote, ball of worms and is leading the effort to shut it down. As you can hear, scores of citizens and protesters are calling for Elon Musk to leave the federal government. Musk, along with his allies on Capitol Hill, like Senator Joni Ernst, say USAID is spending too much money. But protesters here call USAID a core

function of the federal government and important to the United States standing around the world. That's Luke Garrett reporting. President Trump is suggesting that the United States take over Gaza and redevelop it as displaced Palestinians are relocated to other countries. Trump also said he envisioned Palestinians and others returning to the region once it is rebuilt. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reports Palestinians are reacting now to the idea.

29-year-old Bassam Mohammed Abdelraouf stands in the central square of Gaza City, once grand and now reduced to piles of rubble, after more than a year of war between Israel and Hamas. Still, he says he would never leave. Even if there was a place that was a million times better, I would still live among the rubble and the tents, he says. But for some, life in Gaza has simply become too hard. 30 year old Yahya Barakat says he would leave if given the chance.

My home is gone, my life is gone, my future is gone, he says. If I find a country that embraces me, provides me with safety, I'll go. Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News Tel Aviv with reporting from NPR's Anas Baba in Gaza City. US stocks are trading higher this hour. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 118 points at 44,673. It's NPR News. 10% tariffs are now in effect on goods from China, and President Trump has delayed for at least a month

25 percent tariffs on most products from Canada and Mexico. NPR's Laurel Wamsley reports that could cost U.S. households hundreds of dollars a year. Every day, many Americans eat fruit grown in Mexico, use phones made in China, and live in homes built from Canadian lumber. But that could all be interrupted and get a lot more expensive,

with tariffs against China and even higher ones threatened against U.S. neighbors. The potential economic blow to Americans' wallets is big, says Erica York at the Tax Foundation. We found that on average, if all of the tariffs are imposed it would be a tax increase of more than $800 per household in 2025. The bulk of that would come from the steep 25% tariffs proposed on imports from Canada and Mexico, which would raise the prices of

everything from fresh produce to building materials to cars and gas. Laurel Wamslee, NPR News, Washington. Black pregnant women in the U.S. died at a rate nearly three and a half times higher than that of white pregnant women in 2023. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released its latest report on the maternal mortality rate in the U.S. It reveals a similar gap between black and white women in 2022 as well. While maternal mortality rates fell for white, Asian, and Hispanic women comparing 2022 to 2023 figures, the rates slightly increased for black women in the

US. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.