NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-11-2025 7AM EST

Episode Date: February 11, 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 in Washington, I'm Korova Coleman. Jordan's King Abdullah will visit President Trump at the White House late this morning. Their meeting could be significant.

NPR's Jane Araf reports Trump wants to force Palestinians in Gaza to go to Jordan and Egypt. Jordan is a key ally and without any consultation. According to Jordanians and White House officials, Trump floated that plan last week during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the U.S. to take over Gaza and forcibly push two million Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan. Monday night, Trump doubled down, threatening Jordan if it didn't accept the plan. NPR's Jane Araf reporting, Jordanian officials say Trump's suggestion won't happen. Jordan's foreign minister says expelling Gaza residents to Jordan would break Jordan's peace

treaty with Israel and therefore would be seen as a declaration of war. Trump says the U.S. should take control of Gaza, saying the war-torn enclave is like a big real estate site. A federal judge is extending the hold on the Trump administration's resignation offers to federal employees. Yesterday was the deadline for some 2 million civilian workers to choose whether to resign

or stay in their jobs and risk being terminated. From Member Station WBUR, Walter Wothman has more. A group of unions representing thousands of federal workers say the offer is unlawful and aims to replace career civil servants with people ideologically aligned with Trump. Government attorneys reject those claims and say the unions lack standing to challenge

an administrative action. Union attorney Elena Goldstein praised the extension. We hope that this decision today will provide civil service workers with the assurance that the American people have their backs. And we will continue to pursue all legal options to ensure that they are protected and that the law is upheld. Federal Judge George O'Toole did not indicate when he will issue a final ruling.

For NPR News, I'm Walter Woffman in Boston. Ukraine's president says he's expecting Trump administration officials to visit his country this week. NPR's Joanna Kikissis reports President Trump says he has already talked with Russia's president about ending the war. Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv with the head of the European Investment Bank, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said people from Trump's team, important ones he says, will be in Ukraine this week for preliminary talks. There may be different opinions but we have a common vision of the main issues Zelensky said. How to stop Putin and how to guarantee security for Ukraine and

Ukrainians. He said he's also planning to meet with Vice President JD Vans at the Munich Security Conference, which is set to take place between February 14th and 16th in Germany. Joanna Kekesis, NPR News, Kiev. On Wall Street in pre-market trading, stock futures are lower. This is NPR. A powerful winter storm is headed for the central and eastern U.S. The National Weather Service says winter storm warnings and advisories spread from Colorado to Delaware. Some areas will get a lot of snow, others will get significant ice. Forecasters say parts of the Appalachians could get up to half an inch of ice accumulation.

Researchers are trying to understand how a man who was expected to develop early Alzheimer's has remained mentally sound into his mid-70s. And beers John Hamilton has more on a study in the journal Nature Neuroscience. The man has a rare gene mutation that caused family members to develop Alzheimer's in their 30s and 40s. Yet he still shows no sign of the disease at 75. Jorge Giebre of Washington University in St. Louis is part of a team that's been studying the man along with two earlier cases of people who defied their genetic destiny.

It's so important, right, because he's telling us that something is going on that is protecting these people. Giebre says the man's brain has high levels of proteins found in people exposed to high temperatures and other forms of stress. He says these proteins may help protect the brain from Alzheimer's. John Hamilton, NPR News. Municipal officials in Venice are boosting their entrance fees for some visitors who take day trips to see Italy's famous City of Canals.

That fee has been doubled from about five to ten dollars and it will be imposed on more days than it was last year. Venetian officials are trying to manage enormous crowds in the world-renowned city. Tens of thousands of tourists often enter on a single day. This is NPR.