NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-14-2025 8PM EST

Episode Date: February 15, 2025

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Donald Trump is back in the White House and making a lot of moves very quickly. Keep track of everything going on in Washington with the NPR Politics Podcast. Every day we break down the latest news and explain why it matters to you. The NPR Politics Podcast. Listen every day. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. President Donald Trump's cost-cutting assistant, Elon Musk, is moving fast and by his own admission may be breaking some things in the near term. But what is clear is that Musk's Doge group is putting in place deep cuts at federal agencies with the Pentagon also on the block. More from NPR's

Tom Bowman. Doge officials, I'm told, started showing up the Pentagon today and will work well into next week. And there's a memo circulating that's calling for 8% cuts at the Defense Department. Now we're not certain that's going to start at the Office of Secretary of Defense, which includes thousands of employees, or if that 8% is also for all the armed services. And that could include not only personnel but weapons systems and so forth. We're also hearing that the Navy could be in a position for more funding because Trump officials want to build more ships to keep up with China. Trump administration has already fired the top officer at the Coast Guard, Admiral Linda

Fagan, citing what they called leadership failures, including her focus on DEI initiatives. A D.C. federal judge says the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau cannot terminate any employees unless it's for cause related to specific employees' performance or conduct. It also said the agency cannot issue any notice of reduction in force. The order from Judge Amy Berman Jackson comes after members of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency team were apparently given access to key systems. Judge Jackson also says the agency cannot delete or remove data held by the CFPB. The order comes as CFPB staff were bracing for mass layoffs after the agency, under acting director Russell Vogt, fired more than 100 workers earlier this week. Hamas now says it will release three Israeli hostages tomorrow as part of its ceasefire agreement with Israel.

Three include an American citizen and a Russian citizen. In exchange, Israel will release hundreds more Palestinians. Impeers Daniel Estrin reports from Tel Aviv. American Sagid Dekelkhan is among the hostages to be released tomorrow. In exchange, Hamas expects Israel to release 36 Palestinians convicted for deadly attacks against Israelis and to release more than 300 Palestinians arrested in Gaza during the war. Earlier this week, Hamas had said it would delay the hostage release, alleging ceasefire violations by Israel, which Israel denied.

The dispute was resolved. Keith Siegel, an American hostage freed this month, credited President Trump with his release. President Trump, you are the reason I am home alive. Your leadership and strength will ensure the agreement is honored by all sides. Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Tel Aviv. The popular video sharing app TikTok has returned to app stores at Apple and Google. That's

after President Trump delayed enforcement of a ban on the app. It was taken down last month to comply with the law requiring Chinese company ByteDance to divest or see TikTok banned in the US. The app has sold 170 million US users. Trump has signed an executive order putting off the enforcement till April 5th. The Dow was down 165 points. This is NPR. According to the Vatican, preliminary tests have determined

that Pope Francis has a respiratory tract infection and is running a mild fever, though otherwise in good spirits. The pontiff was listed in fair condition at Rome's Germelli Hospital where he was taken earlier today. The 88-year-old pope was diagnosed with bronchitis last Thursday but had been continuing with his official duties. Vatican says it's cancelled all events for Francis through Monday. The president of Brazil says he's prepared to reciprocate if the U.S. behaves poorly towards his country. NPR's Carrie Conn reports the South American leader has been relatively quiet about President Trump's tariffs on Brazilian steel and now

new threats against ethanol exports. In a local radio interview, President Luisa Nácio Lula da Silva said Brazil does not want friction with anyone, but he added, quote, If Trump behaves like this toward Brazil, we will reciprocate in kind. Lula added that Trump is acting like he is sheriff of the world. So far, Brazil has not levied any new import tariffs. Trump slapped 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imported into the U.S. Brazil is the second largest supplier of steel to the U.S., Brazil is the second-largest supplier of steel to the U.S. Trump also announced reciprocal tariffs on all countries.

For Brazil, that would affect its large ethanol exports. Lula insists the U.S. and Brazil trade is in balance and does not need protectionist tariffs. Keri Kahn, NPR News, Rio de Janeiro. Crude oil futures prices closed lower today with some hopes global supply disruptions could ease if talks aimed at hammering out a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine move forward oil fell 55 cents a barrel to 70.74 a barrel. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.

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