NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-12-2025 7AM EST

Episode Date: February 12, 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 Korva Coleman. American teacher Mark Fogel has been released from a Russian prison and I'm Korva Coleman. American teacher Mark Fogle has been released from a Russian prison and returned to the United States. Fogle was arrested in 2021 and charged

with carrying medical marijuana into Russia. The State Department says he was wrongfully detained. Fogle's family is thrilled that he's been released. His sister, Anne Fogle, says it's not clear when she might see him. That's Mark's choice. It depends on how long he decides to stay in the post-isolation support system. He, I think, will be heading to San Antonio and he needs to stay for as long as he needs to be there. Fogel met President Trump at the White House yesterday. Trump says another prisoner will be released today. The president would not divulge more information. Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk are touting their work to carry out sweeping changes in

the federal government. And Piers Alain Amour reports Musk is heading the Doge Initiative to slash government spending. Musk said Trump had a mandate from the public to do this work. The people voted for major government reform and that's what people are going to get. They're going to get what they voted for. Trump declared that the Doge effort has already found billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse. When asked about some of the legal challenges the administration is facing over the effort,

Trump said he would comply with court rulings and then appeal. After taking questions, Trump signed an executive order further breaking down how government agencies will work with Doge to reduce the size of the federal workforce. Elena Moore, NPR News, Washington. The Senate is scheduled to hold a confirmation vote today on President Trump's choice to be director of national intelligence. Former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has won significant Republican support. Democrats have questioned her past statements that appear to support U.S. adversaries such

as Russia. They also say Gabbard does not have the expertise needed to lead the U.S. intelligence community. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to resume hostilities in Gaza unless Hamas releases hostages as scheduled this weekend. Hamas said earlier it would delay their release and accused Israel of violating the ceasefire. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reports from Tel Aviv. Netanyahu met with his security cabinet for many hours, a meeting that was moved up after Hamas announced the delay.

In a speech afterward, Netanyahu demanded that Hamas return the hostages as planned or, The ceasefire will end and the Israeli military will resume intense combat, he said. Earlier, President Trump had demanded that all the hostages be released by Saturday, a proposal very different from the current agreement, or quote, all hell is going to break out. A senior official with knowledge of the matter not authorized to speak publicly later clarified to NPR that Israel expects three hostages released Saturday, as previously scheduled. Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Tel Aviv.

You're listening to NPR News. Most countries have missed a key United Nations deadline to submit plans to fight climate change and Paris Julia Simon reports only a few countries made it on time. As part of the 2015 Paris climate agreement nearly 200 countries agreed to submit targets for reducing their climate pollution by 2035. The hope is that all these cuts combined will limit the world's warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit. Earlier this week was the deadline for countries to submit these targets. Only a dozen countries met the deadline. One of those countries was

the US. The US submitted a climate target right before Biden left office. Trump then pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement. The hard deadline is in September. Climate experts say they'll be especially looking to see how ambitious China and the European Union are with their cuts to climate pollution. Julia Simon, MPR News. The investment bank Goldman Sachs says it has ended its diversity pledge that is linked with part of the bank's business. A spokesman says this is associated with legal developments. Goldman Sachs made the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Pledge in 2020. This was an effort intended to help diversify boards of directors and companies with whom the bank was working.

The federal government is set to release its latest monthly report on consumer prices this morning. Economists suggest inflation probably remained elevated last month. They're forecasting the consumer price index rose 2.9% in January over what it was a year ago. Consumer prices are tracked by the Federal Reserve. The Fed uses these to make decisions on interest rates. This is NPR.