NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-08-2025 7AM EST

Episode Date: February 8, 2025

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Technologist Paul Garcia is using AI to create photos of people's most precious memories. How her mother was dressed, the haircut that she remembered. We generated tens of images and then she saw two images that was like, that was it. Ideas about the future of memory. That's on the TED Radio Hour podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Gile Snyder. Elon Musk's cost-cutting team has been blazing a wide path through government agencies since President Trump was inaugurated. NPR's Shannon Bond says there are more questions and answers about who's part of the effort and what they're doing.

Shannon Bond This effort really appears to be focusing on technology and personnel at federal agencies. So we're seeing staffers connected to DOJ gaining access to sensitive systems and information about things like government payments and employee information. Elon Musk, who's leading this effort, has been cheering on this work on his platform X. And so he's taking credit for its efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development. Marc Thiessen The federal judge in Washington, D.C., has temporarily blocked the Trump administration's plan to dismantle USAID, preventing some 2,200 staffers

from being put on paid leave last night and stopping a 30-day deadline for thousands of workers to return to the U.S. Separately, a different federal judge overnight blocked Mastim from accessing Treasury Department records that contained sensitive personal data, such as Social Security and bank account numbers for millions of Americans. The Panamanian government accusing the U.S. of spreading false claims that U.S. Navy ships can traverse the Panama Canal for free. The Imperialist Rolando Arrieta reports that the country's president calls the claims intolerable. President Jose Raul Molino said in a news conference Thursday he was surprised by the

State Department's message on the social media platform X. I want to make it very clear to the country, Molino says, my absolute rejection to the State Department's statement. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who met with Molino during a multi-day trip to several Central American countries this week, says he's not confused about Panama. We had conversations. I felt there were strong first steps. We have expectations. We made clear in those conversations. Panama's government said Friday a call between Molino and Trump had been postponed due to an unexpected change to Trump's agenda. Rolando Arrieta, NPR News.

The window to recover the bodies of 10 people killed in a plane crash near Nome, Alaska, is limited. The Alaska desk Jeremy Shea reports that the crash site sits on unstable sea ice and a winter storm is coming. Responding agencies had relatively safe conditions to work the search and rescue operation on Friday. They found the wrecked Cessna on sea ice about 34 miles southeast of Nome but couldn't recover the bodies or the plane. Jim West Jr., the local head of the incident response, said the ice isn't stable. It's a dynamic situation and there's it's slushy young ice. A winter storm is forecast to hit Sunday bringing a mix of snow, ice, rain, and 45 mile per hour wind gusts, further threatening the recovery effort.

West said the hope is to recover the bodies and collect wreckage for the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation before the storm. For NPR News, I'm Jeremy Shea in Anchorage, Alaska. This is NR News. Israel has begun releasing dozens of Palestinians and the latest prisoners for a hostages swap as part of the ceasefire deal with Hamas. A bus carrying Palestinian prisoners arrived in Ramallah after Hamas released three Israeli civilians it's been holding since the October 7th attack.

Hamas released the men at a ceremony in Gaza with armed Hamas fighters. Stocks ended the lower for the week with the Dow losing more than 200 points. NPR's Rafael Nam reports the trading was volatile because of fears about tariffs. President Trump has frequently said he would impose tariffs on a number of countries and trading partners. Investors in Wall Street were never sure if Trump was serious or whether he was using tariffs as a negotiating tactic. That uncertainty remains today. Stocks initially plunged on Monday after Trump announced tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada, although they recovered somewhat later that day after he put on hold the tariffs on the country's North American neighbors. But investors remain nervous. Widespread tariffs could spark more inflation at home and lead

to retaliation against American businesses. So the markets could remain volatile for a while. Raffaell Na, NPR News. The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is returning to New York's Madison Square Garden. The competition has not been held there since early 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic. The show starts today. Some 2,500 dogs from 201 breeds and varieties have signed up to compete for the Best in Show trophy, which will be awarded Tuesday night. I'm Giles Snyder, NPR News.

Want to know what it's like to play behind the tiny desk? If you've got the talent, we've got the desk. Tuesday night. I'm Giles Snyder, NPR News.