NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-16-2025 8AM EST

Episode Date: February 16, 2025

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Planet Money is there. From California's most expensive fires ever. That was my home home. Yeah. I grew up there. It's ashes. To the potentially largest deportation in U.S. history. They're going to come to the businesses. They're going to come to the restaurants. They're going to come here. Planet Money. We go to the places at the center of the story. The Planet Money podcast from NPR. Live from NPR.

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in Israel, his first trip there as a nation's top diplomat, as NPR's Hadil al-Shalchi reports. On the table, a plan for a post-war Gaza. Marco Rubio met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his first trip to the region as U.S. Secretary of State. And I also thank him for America's unequivocal blacking for Israel's policy in Gaza in moving forward.

President Donald Trump's proposal shocked the Arab world when he said he wanted to displace the population of Gaza to other countries and redeveloped the strip under U.S. ownership. Rubio is next traveling to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, where he says he's willing to hear alternative options to Trump's plan. This comes in the last stages of phase one of a shaky ceasefire that has seen 19 Hamas-held Israeli hostages freed and over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees released from Israeli jails. Hadil Al-Shalchi, NPR News, Tel Aviv.

The Russian Foreign Ministry says Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart spoke by phone this weekend amid fears among European leaders that they are being locked out of talks on ending the war in Ukraine. They're planning to hold an emergency summit meeting in Paris amid reports that the U.S. and Russia will hold talks in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is on Rubio's itinerary. As the Trump administration escalates efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce, thousands have been let go, including Joanna Hickman. She was dismissed from her job as a lawyer for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last week.

This is an attack on the CFPB, and it's an attack on the law that Congress passed to protect ordinary Americans after the financial crisis. week. This is an attack on the CFPB and it's an attack on the law that Congress passed to protect ordinary Americans after the financial crisis. The White House has halted the work of the CFPB and employees have been locked out of their building. President Trump has acknowledged that he wants to eliminate the CFPB. Separately, the Associated Press is reporting that the IRS could begin to lay off as soon as this week, thousands of probationary workers in the middle of tax season. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has given the go-ahead for the city to sue the Trump administration. Bruce Compiser reports that the city wants back millions of dollars

disbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Bruce Compiser City officials say legal papers are being drawn up to sue the Trump administration for $80 million in federal aid. The funding was approved by Congress and transferred to New York by FEMA to help cover temporary housing costs for migrants. But without warning, those funds suddenly disappeared from the city's coffers last week. The city's pending lawsuit against the administration comes during a tumultuous time for the scandal-plagued mayor. This past week, the Justice Department ordered federal prosecutors to drop corruption charges against Mayor Adams. At least six prosecutors in New York and Washington resigned rather than comply with an order they say appeared to be politically motivated.

For NPR News, I'm Bruce Convice, or in New York. And from Washington, you're listening to NPR News. Washington. You're listening to NPR News. In the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, it's not clear which side controls the city of Bukavu, but witnesses and the M23 rebel groups say rebel forces have reached the center of the city and have met little resistance from government troops. According to the United Nations, the M23 rebels are backed by Rwanda. They're the most prominent of the armed groups vying for control of East Congo. The conflict there has roots dating back to the 1990s Rwandan genocide. A South African man considered the world's first openly gay imam has been killed in a

suspected hit. Kate Bartlett reports that the imam, Rana Moss, had acted as a safe haven for the LGBTQ Muslim community. Moussin Hendrix was shot multiple times in his car on Saturday in the eastern Cape City of Kwebukha, South African police said. Officials say two masked men who opened fire fled the scene. Hendrix, who had received international press coverage and been the focus of a documentary, had previously alluded to threats against him. The website of its master said that it provides, quote, a safe space in which queer Muslims

and marginalized women can practice Islam. For NPR News, I'm Kate Butler in Johannesburg. The Vatican says doctors have ordered absolute rest for Pope Francis while he's being treated for a respiratory tract infection. Francis is 88 years old. He was admitted to a hospital in Rome on Friday, suffering from bronchitis for more than a week. In a short written message to Pilgrims in St. Peter's Square today, Francis apologized for not being able to deliver his regular Sunday prayer. I'm Trial Snyder. This is NPR News from Washington. On the Thru Line 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 Thru Line from NPR, wherever you