NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-16-2025 10PM EST

Episode Date: February 17, 2025

NPR News: 02-16-2025 10PM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

JANINE HURST 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. GEN. live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Hurst. Several European leaders will meet in Paris tomorrow to try to come up with a response to U.S.-led negotiations on a peace plan for Ukraine. Terry Schultz has more.

French President Emmanuel Macron has invited leaders from Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, the U.K., NATO, and European Union institutions to brainstorm about their approach to the U. US-led peace process for Ukraine. Christine Brezina with the German Marshall Fund says there's a lot to assess. What is a spending plan and a capability plan that they can do for themselves? What is their recommendation to Ukraine? The US says European governments will be expected to monitor any potential ceasefire. So Brezina says they have reason to be displeased about being excluded.

For Washington to sideline Europe in this process is a deep insult. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also wants Europe involved in negotiations. For NPR News, I'm Terry Schultz in Brussels. The family of an Israeli-American taken hostage by Hamas on October 7th is thanking both the Trump administration and the Israeli government for securing his release this weekend. And Piers, Sarah McCammon has more. Sigi Dekelkhen, who has dual citizenship in the U.S. and Israel, was taken by Hamas from his kibbutz on October 7, 2023.

He was among three hostages released this weekend as part of a fragile ceasefire deal, which included the release of 369 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. In a statement, his family said Deq al-Quen was being reunited with his wife and three daughters, including one who was born while he was in captivity. They called for the release of the remaining hostages. Secretary of State Marco Rubio released a statement noting that Hamas is holding 73 hostages, including one American, Eon Alexander, and warned Hamas that they are quote, playing with fire by continuing to keep them captive. Sarah McCammon, NPR

News, Washington. Severe storms in the southeast last night with heavy rains, high winds and flooding left at least nine people dead, one in Georgia and eight in Kentucky. Karen Czar from member station WUKY has more. Kentucky has seen rain, snow and sleet causing flooding, mudslides and dangerous conditions in all of the state's 120 counties. Governor Andy Beshear says the emergency phase this state is in will last for several days. That's the type of event we're dealing with and we're going to be actively dealing with this flood for

for probably the next week in different parts of at least getting things cleaned up. There are 19 active Swift water rescue teams working around the clock, and more than 1000 rescues were done within the first 24 hours of this storm. Because of the disaster declaration, FEMA is already on the ground. For NPR News, I'm Karen Zarr in Frankfurt.

Well, street is closed tomorrow. In observance of the president's day holiday, you're listening to NPR News. The new world record has been set for the half marathon. Jacob Kiplamo from Uganda finished under 57 minutes today in Barcelona, becoming the first person to do so in a record eligible race. And here's Juliana Kim has more. This isn't the first time Jacob Kiplamo claimed the world record for a half marathon.

He earned the title back in 2021, but it was taken from him last year by a runner from Kenya who beat his record by just one second. On Sunday, Kiblamo ran with a vengeance and finished under 57 minutes. He beat the previous record by 48 seconds. World Athletics called it the greatest single improvement on the men's world half marathon record. To achieve such a feat, Kiblamo averaged about 4 minutes and 20 seconds per mile. On Instagram, he said the day was perfect. Now he'll be training for his full marathon debut, which will be in London this April. Juliana Kim, NPR News.

In Los Angeles, the jury and the trial of rapper A$AP Rocky start deliberations this week, considering two felony counts of assault with a semi-automatic firearm. The deliberations will start Tuesday because of the federal holiday, President's Day, tomorrow. Convictions on both counts could mean up to 24 years in prison for the hip-hop star, fashion mogul, and longtime partner, singing superstar Rihanna, with whom he has two young sons. He has pled not guilty and his lawyers say what he was carrying was a prop gun. I'm Janine Herbst and you're listening to NPR News from Washington. On the Throughline podcast, the myth linking autism and vaccines was decades in the making

and was a major moment for vaccine hesitancy in America Tapping into fears involving the pharmaceutical industry and the federal government no matter how many studies you do showing that this is not a problem It's very hard to unring the bell listen to through line from NPR wherever you get your podcast