NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-12-2025 6PM EST

Episode Date: February 12, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. Essentially upending US support of Ukraine in its war against Russia's invasion, President Donald Trump today said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to begin negotiations toward ending the conflict. Trump saying he and Putin will quote work together very close to the end the war and will eventually meet in person. I'll be dealing with President Putin largely on the phone and we ultimately expect to meet. In fact, we expect that he'll come here and I'll go there and we're going to meet also probably in Saudi Arabia the first time we'll meet in Saudi Arabia, see if we can get something done.

Trump said he's also spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. White House officials, however, declined to say whether Ukraine would be party to the negotiations, indicating a deal might be made by Washington and Moscow to try to end the fighting. Critics of Elon Musk say his push to shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could benefit one of his companies. As NPR's Bobby Allen explains, the agency was working to regulate digital wallets, and Musk's X platform is set to release a digital wallet service. It's called X Money. Musk announced last month that the service has partnered with Visa.

The plan is to launch a peer-to-peer money transfer service similar to Venmo or Apple Pay. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau began taking steps late last year to regulate digital wallets. Former CFPB head Richard Cordray says abolishing the agency would benefit X and Musk. He is now engaged in businesses or looking to engage in payment businesses that would be regulated by the CFPB. At the same time, he's trying to tear down the CFPB, just puts in sharp relief the conflicts of interest here. Musk and the White House did not return requests for

comment. President Trump says Musk will be removed from any government work that could help any one of his six businesses. Bobby Allen, NPR News. The Senate Finance Committee signed off on President Trump's choice to be the nation's top trade negotiator, members of the Senate Finance Committee approving the nomination of Jameson Greer. That clears the way for Greer's nomination to go to the full Senate. Consumer prices in January were higher than expected. NPR's Scott Horstley reports on the latest inflation data from the Labor Department.

Forecasters had expected to see some moderation in price hikes last month, but inflation remained stubbornly high. Consumer prices in January were up 3% from a year ago. Prices rose by half a percent between December and January alone. Egg prices jumped more than 15 percent last month after avian flu forced egg farmers to cull millions of laying hens in December. Overall grocery prices were up by half a percent. Stripping out food and energy prices, which bounce around a lot, core inflation was also

higher than forecasters had expected. Given the sticky price hikes, the Federal Reserve is expected to take its time before making any additional cuts to interest rates. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. Stocks closed mixed today after the release of the new inflation figures. The Dow was down 225 points. The NASDAQ closed up 6 points. The S&P was down 16 points. This is NPR. While Trump administration efforts to shutter the US agency for international development have led to problems with food aid overseas, other groups are also being affected. That includes Christian aid groups that partner with USAID.

Two of the twelve largest non-governmental recipients of USAID funds are faith-based Catholic Relief Services and World Vision. The Christian non-profits serve millions globally, providing food, water and medical care in conflict zones. Last month was officially the warmest January ever. That's according to new data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. What's worrying scientists, it wasn't expected to be that hot, appears Alhambra Burundi reports. Both 2023 and 2024 shattered global temperature records, primarily because of human-caused

climate change. But climate scientists had expected that unusual heat to fade slightly this winter because of a natural climate cycle. That expected cool-off didn't happen. Instead, the planet was warmer than ever in January. Bradley Horton is a climate scientist at Columbia University. There's a lot of concern that we may have underestimated just how hot the surface of the ocean can get or the lower atmosphere at these current levels of greenhouse gases.

Scientists around the world are trying to figure out whether the ongoing heat means something fundamental has changed in Earth's climate. Alejandro Burunda, NPR News. Well, February is the month of romance. It's also apparently time to be on guard for scams. Facebook and Instagram parent company MetaPlantforms warning users to be vigilant for so-called romance scams. Scammers often post as attractive single and successful individuals and seek to build trust before seeking money. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News.