NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-07-2025 11AM EST

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

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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 News in Washington, I'm Janene Herbst. Unions representing federal workers are suing the Trump administration for its efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Aid. USAID says nearly all of its staff will be put on leave, except around 300 workers deemed essential. Russia, meanwhile, is welcoming the decision to sharply curtail

American foreign aid projects, as NPR's Charles Maynes reports. The Kremlin has long claimed USAID is merely a front for American efforts to overthrow Moscow-friendly governments in the former Soviet space. And it was in that context that Russia's foreign ministry celebrated USAID's cutbacks. Speaking to journalist, spokesperson Maria Zakharova said USAID was quote anything but an aid and development agency, instead calling it a machine for promoting regime change. Critics of the Trump administration's decision say USAID's demise would be a gift to autocrats everywhere. The Kremlin banned USAID's work inside Russia way back in 2012. It went on to pass a so

called foreign agents law used to persecute human rights groups and other critical voices that received outside funding. Charles Maines, NPR News. Panama has told China that it will withdraw from Beijing's Belt and Road Infrastructure Initiative amid pressure from the U.S. to curb China's influence over the Panama Canal. NPR's John Rewich has more. Panama's President Jose Raul Molino says his ambassador in Beijing has already given the Chinese government 90 days notice of his country's intent to leave the Belt and Road Initiative.

Panama was the first Latin American country to join the plan after it switched diplomatic recognition to China from Taiwan in 2017. Molino said it was his decision to withdraw. But the announcement comes after a visit to the Central American country by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who pressured Panama to decrease China's influence over the strategically important Panama Canal. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said Beijing deeply regrets Panama's decision and China opposes US pressure and coercion

to smear and sabotage the Belt and Road Initiative. John Ruch, NPR News, Beijing. And President Trump will talk with Panama's president by phone later today. He's about to meet with the Japanese prime minister in Washington in about a half an hour. More large companies in the U.S. are eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. And here's Maria Aspin reports companies scrubbed some or all of their DEI language from annual reports.

A few of these companies referred specifically to President Trump's new executive orders ending DEI in the federal government. These orders also threaten to sanction private companies that are federal contractors that have what Trump called illegal DEI programs. And Google, for example, is a federal contractor. A spokesperson this week told me that Google is evaluating the changes required by Trump's executive orders, and Google, I should note, is one of NPR's funders. AMT. JANNIDES-SCHEINMANN NPR's Maria Aspin reporting. You're listening to NPR News from

Washington. Scientists and public health leaders are taking stock of the Trump administration's abrupt decision to pull down web pages, data sets, and selected information from federal health websites. Some of the pages on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website that went offline last week, though, have since reappeared. But as NPR's Will Stone reports, the full impact isn't yet clear. Some websites with data on infectious diseases or guidelines for clinicians have reappeared, but researchers are busy trying to figure out what has changed or disappeared. In some cases, links are broken or words have been scrubbed.

The purge of the website and data was prompted by President Trump's executive orders on gender and diversity, equity and inclusion. Dr. Nirav Shah sits on a CDC advisory committee that is seeking answers from the agency's acting director. This is completely unprecedented. These data sets are more than statistics. They're our early warning system. Opposition to the website changes has come from across the medical and scientific community, and a progressive group representing physicians is now suing some federal health agencies. Will Stone, NPR News. The U.S. economy added fewer jobs than expected last month.

The Labor Department says 143,000 jobs were created in January. That's slower than the previous two months. The unemployment rate fell to 4 percent. Hiring last month was concentrated in health care, retail and government jobs while factory and construction companies added relatively few new jobs in January. Average wages, though, last month were up 4.1 percent from a year ago. I'm Janene Herbst, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington.