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

Episode Date: February 6, 2025

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President Trump is back in Washington, pursuing major policy changes on his own terms. We know from the past that means challenging precedent, busting norms, and pushing against the status quo. NPR is covering it all with Trump's Terms, a podcast where we curate stories about the 47th president with a focus on how he is upending the way Washington works. Listen to Trump's Terms from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. Europe has completely rejected President Trump's proposal to take over Gaza. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports Europeans reiterated their support

for a two-state solution. President Trump's proposal to take over Gaza and displace two million Palestinians so America can rebuild the devastated enclave has been met in Europe with disbelief and criticism. Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbach said an expulsion of the Palestinian population would lead to new suffering and new hatred. The French Foreign Ministry said the forced transfer of Palestinians to enable the American supervision of Gaza would, quote, constitute a serious violation of international law. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Gazans must be allowed home and allowed to rebuild. Starmer said the most important thing is sustaining the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

That issue was not even evoked amidst the controversy. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris. West Point is disbanding a number of clubs where cadets related to race and gender. In a memo, the Military Academy says the decision was made in accordance with President Trump's executive order and Defense Department guidance. Steve Walsh reports. The memo dated February 4th disbanded 12 clubs including the Native American Heritage Forum, the Asian Pacific Forum, the National Society of Black Engineers, and the National Society of Women Engineers.

It goes on to say the clubs were barred from using government time, resources, or facilities to continue informal activities. In a statement, West Point says the clubs were disbanded because they were sponsored by the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which was disbanded last summer. The Military Academy says cadets can still participate in those groups during their off-duty time. For NPR News, I'm Steve Walsh. As the deadline looms tomorrow for federal workers to decide whether or not they want to accept an offer from the Trump administration to resign from their jobs early. Some workers are expressing fears they could be fired if

they say no. Federal workers unions are telling their members to say no, though, saying the fact the offer may not be legal, according to them. A UCLA report finds the LA area of wildfires have caused $95 to $164 billion in damage. Capredo's Milo Sekira has more. So far, the Eaton and Palisades fires have resulted in the loss of over 16,000 homes and other structures. Juyan Li is an economist with UCLA's Anderson School of Management and a co-author of the report. She says this could be California's most expensive series of wildfires to date, in large part because of where they happened. We see that the median home price in these two recent fires is much higher

than previous ones. Damage cost more loss. She says the damage could also cause a loss of $4.6 billion for Los Angeles County's GDP for 2025. You're listening to NPR. Another exchange of prisoners took place between Ukraine and Russia today. NPR's Hanna Polymarenko reports from Kyiv that with the support of the United Arab Emirates, 150 Ukrainian soldiers have returned home.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a video from the first minutes of the meeting of the exchanged Ukrainian soldiers. In his evening address, Zelenskyy posted a video from the first minutes of the meeting of the exchanged Ukrainian soldiers. In his evening address, Zelenskyy commented on the exchange, calling it a happy day. He added that some of the soldiers had been in captivity for more than two years. It is very, very difficult to return our people. But we are doing it, and we will continue to do it. We have to return everyone," he said.

This was the 61st prisoner exchange since the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion. In total, more than 4,000 Ukrainians have been returned from Russian captivity. Hanna Palamarenko, NPR News, Kyiv. Well, not necessarily as pricey as last year's game. It is still going to cost you quite a bit of money if you want tickets to this Sunday's Super Bowl game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans.

The average price for a ticket as of this week totaling just over $6,500. That holds it would be the third highest ticket price per game. On the site TickPick, average prices for last year's game between the Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers topped $9,100 apiece. Crude old futures prices fell lower today. Oil dropped more than 2% to $7,103 a barrel in New York. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.

Our long national nightmare is over. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.