NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-05-2025 9AM EST

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

NPR News: 02-05-2025 9AM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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 Windsor Johnston. World leaders are slamming President Trump's plan to take over the Gaza Strip. At a press conference at the White House on Tuesday, Trump said he would like to help

rebuild the war-torn region. He also suggested that Palestinians who have been displaced should be relocated. NPR's Jerome Sokolowski reports Trump's comments break with decades of U.S. foreign policy, which has long emphasized a two-state solution. The Saudi Foreign Ministry issued a statement that doesn't mention Trump's words. But it does say Palestinians will remain steadfast on their land and called the kingdom's position on that unwavering and non-negotiable. Leaders in exile of the Palestinian militant group Hamas did react directly to the comments. Azat al-Rashak, a member of Hamas's Politburo,

called them racist. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said they were ridiculous and absurd and capable of igniting the region. Here in Israel, government ministers warmly welcomed Trump's words. Others were more circumspect. Former Defense Minister Benny Gantz said they represent creative, original, and interesting thinking. Jerome Sokolowski, NPR News, Tel Aviv. The Senate has confirmed Pam Bondi as the nation's next Attorney General. NPR's Ryan Lucas reports Bondi

secured all Republican votes plus one Democrat, Pennsylvania Senator John Federman. Pam Bondi is a former Attorney General for the state of Florida and a Trump loyalist. Republicans view her as highly qualified to lead the Justice Department, while Democrats have concerns about whether she can be independent from Trump. Bondi was one of his personal attorneys during his first impeachment trial in the Senate. She's also echoed his claims that the justice system

has been weaponized against conservatives. Bondi now takes the helm at the Justice Department as it is reeling from a series of personnel moves imposed by the Trump administration that have pushed out senior career officials at both the DOJ and the FBI. Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington. President Trump's plan to house roughly 30,000 migrants at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba appears to be moving ahead.

NPR's Sasha Pfeiffer reports the first group arrived there this week. The U.S. has not released an official figure but it appears to be a small number, possibly just one flight with about a dozen migrants on board. The Department of Homeland Security says they're all members of a Venezuelan organized crime group called Tren de Aragua. That's NPR's Sasha Pfeiffer reporting. The Trump administration's plan is expected to face a number of legal challenges. Stocks across Asia close mixed today on Wall Street.

Dow futures are trading lower at this hour. This is NPR News in Washington. The United States Postal Service says it will continue to accept all international packages from China and Hong Kong. The agency had previously suspended incoming parcels. The reversal comes a day after the Trump administration imposed 10 percent tariffs on Chinese imports. Scientists studying images from a lunar orbiter say

it took only minutes for two large canyons to form on the surface of the moon. NPR's Nell Greenfield-Bois reports the canons are similar in size to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. David Kring is with the Lunar and Planetary Institute of the University's Space Research Association.

He and some colleagues just used images from a lunar orbiter to study two large canyons that radiate out from a big impact crater. The crater was made when an asteroid or comet hit the moon. This threw up a curtain of debris. Clusters of rock in that curtain hit the lunar surface in just a staccato series of impacts. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. This excavated a series of smaller craters that line up to form long deep canyons. In the journal Nature Communications, the researchers say making these canyons took about 10

minutes. Nell Greenfield, Boyce, NPR News. One of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen has died at the age of 100. Lieutenant Colonel Harry Stewart Jr. was a combat pilot who fought in World War II. I'm Windsor Johnston, NPR News in Washington.