NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-10-2025 1PM EST

Episode Date: February 10, 2025

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At the Super Bowl halftime show, Kendrick Lamar indeed performed his smash diss track Not Like Us and brought out Samuel L. Jackson, Serena Williams, and SZA. We're recapping the Super Bowl, including why we saw so many celebrities in commercials this year. Listen to the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The head of the independent federal office of special counsel is suing the Trump administration for allegedly firing him unlawfully. Hampton-Dolinger, a Biden appointee, said in his lawsuit filed today that he can only

be removed by the president for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office. The lawsuit was first reported by Politico. Elon Musk and his oversight of President Trump's entity known as the Department of Government Efficiency are hitting their first legal roadblocks. Saturday, a federal judge temporarily barred Musk's team from accessing Treasury Department records, including social security numbers.

Musk is now calling for the judge's impeachment. Here's NPR's Luke Garrett. The tech magnet turned special government employee is calling a New York federal judge corrupt, forgetting in his way. Musk says the Treasury Department agreed to let Doge access their taxpayer data to look out for waste and fraud. The federal judge temporarily blocked the sharing agreement saying it risks quote irreparable harm. In a

social media post shared by Musk, Vice President JD Vance said quote, judges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power, end quote. The Constitution establishes three separate, but co-equal branches of government, the legislative, executive, and judicial. This judicial branch is responsible for deciding whether actions taken by people or the government are legal. A hearing on Doge's access to treasury data

is set for this Friday. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington. Now to the Middle East, where aid allowed into Gaza has increased since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect last month. But aid officials say it's not nearly enough. Jordan has begun flying in medical supplies, not just dropping it as in previous airlifts but actually landing helicopters in Gaza. NPR's Jane Araf was on one of the flights. We've just landed in Gaza, not very far into Gaza, just a few hundred feet beyond the fence. Israel does not allow foreign journalism, but we've come in on this Jordanian Royal

Air Force flight that's delivering aid. It's an airlift they've been doing for more than a week because there are so many obstacles to driving and aid by land, even though there's now a ceasefire coming into land. There are a lot of destroyed buildings, rubble, skeletons of buildings. Just down the road, we can see trucks that are presumably waiting to load up with these supplies. Jaina Raff and PR News, Gaza. When it comes to the Israel Hamas ceasefire, new complications are arising.

A spokesperson for the Milton Group, Hamas, said that it would delay the release of the next group of Israeli hostages scheduled for this Saturday, accusing Israel of violating the terms of the deal. In a statement, Israel's defense minister said that Hamas' announcement was a complete violation of the ceasefire agreement and the hostage release deal. US stocks are trading higher this hour. The Dow is up 119 points, the S&P has risen 39, and the Nasdaq is now up 220 points or more than 1%. This is NPR News. Wall Street's bracing this week for the latest data on inflation.

NPR's Rafael Nam tells us the report comes as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is set to testify before Congress. Although inflation has come down significantly since last year, it still remains higher than many Americans or the Fed would like. We'll get the latest data on consumer prices on Wednesday. Bringing inflation down some more will be one of the key objectives for the Fed this year. That job could become more difficult, however, if President Trump follows through on his economic promises. So investors and lawmakers will be keen to hear from Fed Chair Powell this week when he testifies before

the Senate and the House. Rafael Nam, NPR News. In China, fewer people are opting to get married. Last year, marriages fell by 20 percent, the biggest decline ever recorded in the country. NPR's Awen Tao reports the government is encouraging young people to marry and have children. Just over 6.1 million couples married last year, down from 7.68 million the year before. The lowest since 1980, figures from Ministry of Civil Affairs showed. Many young people say marriage and starting a family are too expensive. The high cost of childcare and education,

combined with a tough economy, makes financial stability hard to achieve. For Chinese authorities, reversing the decline in marriage and birth rates is critical. In the next decade, around 300 million people that's roughly the size of the U.S. population are expected to retire, putting more pressure on an aging population. Alvin Tsau, NPR News, Beijing.

I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News. Matt Wilson spent years doing rounds at children's hospitals in New York City. I had a clip-on tie. I wore Heely's size 11. Matt was a medical clown. The whole of a medical clown is to reintroduce the sense of play and joy and hope and light into a space that doesn't normally inhabit. Ideas about navigating uncertainty. That's on the TED Radio Hour podcast from NPR.