NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-10-2025 2PM EST

Episode Date: February 10, 2025

NPR News: 02-10-2025 2PM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Matt Wilson spent years doing rounds at children's hospitals in New York City. I had a clip-on tie. I wore Heelys, 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. Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. A federal judge in Rhode Island finds that the Trump administration has continued to

improperly freeze federal funds despite a temporary restraining order issued late last month that blocked the government's efforts to freeze payments for grants and other federal programs. Today's order to unfreeze those funds came in response to a lawsuit brought by 22 states and the District of Columbia. This hour, a federal judge in Boston is considering whether to keep the pause on the Trump administration's deferred resignation offer to federal employees. NPR's Andrea Shue reports labor unions have sued to block it, calling the deal unlawful. The Trump administration has presented federal workers a choice, remain in your jobs but

risk getting laid off or agree to resign now and keep your pay and benefits through the end of September. Unions have argued that the deal violates a law that prohibits agencies from obligating funds that Congress hasn't approved. They also accused the Trump administration of failing to consider potential adverse consequences should large swaths of the federal workforce resign. Attorneys general from 20 states and DC filed a brief in support of the unions, warning that the resignation offer, quote, would have a devastating impact on states' abilities to respond to natural disasters, support veterans, and deliver crucial

services to millions of Americans. Andrea Hsu, NPR News. Over the weekend, the administration ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to halt its work. The consumer watchdog was created to fight financial abuse. Former CFPB director Rohit Chopra described some of the most prominent companies the Bureau took on. The CFPB has taken the nation's biggest pawn lender to court, first cash for cheating military families. It recently sued JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo for its role in festering fraud on the payment service Zelle. Chopra speaking to NPR's Morning Edition. A prominent member of the Taliban's leadership has fled Afghanistan after he criticized the group's ban on girls studying beyond grade

six. NPR's Diya Hadid has more from Mumbai. Shira Mohammed Abbas Stuttangzai was the deputy foreign minister of the Afghan government. In late January, Stuttangzai gave a speech where he described the ban on girls' education as an injustice against half of the Afghan population. His speech was seen as a rare public criticism of the Taliban supreme leader, Hebutullah Akhundzada. The supreme leader is seen as the mastermind of the ban on women and girls studying, working, leaving their homes and even raising their voices. Following the speech, two senior government officials told NPR that the Taliban supreme

leader ordered Stenexai's arrest, but Stenexai was tipped off and fled Afghanistan. Dear Hadid, NPR News, Mumbai. From Washington, this is NPR News. The UK is stepping up immigration raids, the British government says. It arrested 73 percent more people last month compared to January 2024. NPR's Lauren Frayer has the latest from London. This footage released by the British government shows police raiding homes and arresting people for allegedly working without permits.

Many of the arrests last month were also at nail salons, car washes, and restaurants. The tactic of filming them, though, is being criticized by refugee groups and others as performative and political. This is being done by the center-left British government, which is led by a former human rights lawyer, Keir Starmer, after a recent poll showed him losing support to a far-right anti-immigrant party. Starmer's government has defended this footage, though,

saying it's important for people to see realities on the ground. Lauren Freyer, NPR News, London. In the U.S., millions of people across the mid-Atlantic and central plains are under winter storm advisories. The National Weather Service is projecting two storms that will begin to bring snow and wintery mix by midday tomorrow. For the mid-southern regions of the U.S., the National Weather Service is forecasting

heavy rains and flash flooding in mainly localized areas. After long periods of dry weather, fire ravaged areas of Southern California are bracing for heavy rains this week that could elevate the threat of mud and debris flows in heavily charred areas. U.S. stocks trading higher this hour. The NASDAQ is up 217 points or more than 1%.

It's NPR News.