NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-09-2025 2PM EST

Episode Date: February 9, 2025

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Noor Aam, NPR News. Noor Aam, NPR News. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Noor Aam. Federal courts are pressing the brakes on Elon Musk's efforts to disrupt the federal government this weekend, limiting his access to Treasury Department records and the ability to shutter an aid agency. Despite this, President Trump wants the tech billionaire-turned-special-government employee to keep it up.

NPR's Luke Garrett reports. Luke Garrett, NPR News. President Trump is defending Musk and his efforts to shut down USAID, comb U.S. government data and slash federal spending. When asked by Fox News Channel's Brett Baer about his confidence in Musk, Trump said, he's not gaining anything. In fact, I wonder how he can devote the time to it. Musk's work for the White House is far from over, according to Trump, who is ordering him to... Go check the Department of Education. He's going to find the same thing.

Then I'm going to go to the military. Let's check the military. We're going to find billions, hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse. SpaceX, one of Musk's companies, has received billions of dollars in government contracts from the Department of Defense. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington. Senator Chris Murphy says Musk also does business with China, and that as he's been working

to virtually shut down the US Agency for International Development. USAD is a thorn in the side of the Chinese government. Elon Musk has many major business interests at stake inside Beijing, and so making Beijing happy is going to accrue to the financial benefit of Elon Musk and many billionaires who outsource work to China. The Connecticut Democrat also told ABC's This Week that President Trump is waging an assault on democracy and the Constitution by attempting to seize control of spending, to reward political friends and to punish political enemies. Egypt says it's calling an emergency meeting of Arab leaders later this month on the future

of Gaza. This comes in response to President Trump's comments that the U.S. take control of Gaza and the Palestinians are moved out. Arab nations have rejected that idea. A new right-wing populist European political party is meeting this weekend in Madrid. The Patriots for Europe party says it wants to be the new normal in the EU and across Europe. NPR's Elner Beardsley reports.

The Patriots for Europe party, founded last summer after the far-right made inroads in EU parliament elections, says it wants to reconquer Europe for Christian civilization. The Patriots will be the third-largest party in the EU Parliament and includes heavyweights like France's Marine Le Pen, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders. Yes, we will make Europe great again because we are victors. We are victors because we are winning the elections and our people are demanding change. Marine Le Pen said the election of Donald Trump is evidence of a global turning point.

Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris. This is NPR News in Washington. Leaders from around the world are gathering in Paris for a summit on artificial intelligence. The two-day meeting begins tomorrow and is being hosted jointly by French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Vice President J.D. Vance will represent the U.S. Along with the tech leaders, they'll discuss how to establish rules for A.I. so that it

benefits everyone while containing its risks. Macron says the technology can't be the Wild West. The Super Bowl kicks off later today between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs and their quarterback Patrick Mahomes are hoping to become the first team to ever win three Super Bowls in a row. NPR's Becky Sullivan has a preview. Mahomes and the Chiefs have become the NFL's newest dynasty. They've been to five of the last six Super Bowls, including today, and won three of them. Today would be their fourth and all and their third consecutive. This year's Chiefs have thrived in close games. They've won all 12 where the margin of

victory was within one score. The Eagles though are no pushover. Their acquisition of the star running back Saquon Barkley has turbocharged their offense and when their quarterback Jalen Hurts is healthy they haven't lost a game since September. President Trump is expected to be in attendance today at the Superdome in New Orleans and Kendrick Lamar will perform in the halftime show. Becky Sullivan in PR News. Another sort of competition is already underway at Madison Square Garden in New York. It's the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show with about 2,500 dogs from about 200 different breeds and varieties. It began yesterday. The title of Best in Show is to be announced Tuesday.

I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News in Washington.