NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-17-2025 12PM EST

Episode Date: February 17, 2025

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Public media counts on your support to ensure that the reporting and programs you depend on thrive. Make a recurring donation today to get special access to more than 20 NPR podcasts, perks like sponsor-free listening, bonus episodes, early access, and more. So start supporting what you love today at plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has arrived in Saudi Arabia for a series of high-level talks with Russian officials about ending the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he didn't know about the talks and says Ukraine is not taking part

in them. NPR's Joanna Kikissus reports these talks include how to end Russia's invasion. Speaking to Ukrainian reporters via video link from Abu Dhabi, Zelensky said his visit to the region was planned before the U.S.-Russia talks materialized. This is an official visit, Zelensky said, and it has nothing to do with what's happening in Saudi Arabia with the representatives of the U.S. and Russia. He said Ukraine feels any negotiations that do not involve Ukraine will have no results and that Ukrainians cannot recognize those agreements.

He also said he wants Europeans at the negotiating table, something Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has rejected. Zelensky is planning to travel to Saudi Arabia later this week. Joanna Kakissis, NPR News, Kiev. It's been nearly a month since President Trump began his second term in office. Since then, he signed a record number of executive orders and actions mainly aimed at overhauling the federal workforce. NPR's Tamara Keith reports many of Trump's actions are being met with legal challenges. Tamara Keith, NPR's MPR, is taking a very expansive view of his executive authority.

He is blowing past statutes like the law requiring 30 days notice to Congress before firing inspectors general and running straight into significant constitutional questions. He's freezing federal funds and trying to erase agencies that were created by Congress without going back to Congress for the authority to do it. That's NPR's Tamara Keith reporting. The union that represents some workers at the Federal Aviation Administration says the White House has started firing employees at the agency. The move comes less than three weeks after a deadly midair collision between a jetliner and military helicopter in Washington, D.C. It also comes as the FAA struggles with shortages of air traffic controllers and a series of close calls between

planes at U.S. airports. Wall Street is closed for the President's Day holiday today. NPR's Scott Horsley reports on the week ahead. Investors will get some updates this week on the health of the housing market. The Commerce Department reports Wednesday on new home construction. That will be followed on Friday by a Realtors report on sales of existing homes. High prices and high mortgage rates have been a drag on the housing market, which has knock-on effects for appliance and furniture sales. Mortgage rates dipped a little bit last week but are still hovering just under 6.9 percent. Scott

Horsley, NPR News, Washington. This is NPR News, Washington. This is NPR. A powerful storm system has brought severe flooding across parts of the south. In Kentucky, Governor Andy Beshear says emergency crews worked around the clock all weekend. We are still in the search and rescue phase of this emergency. We are still, we still have multiple different missions that are underway. There are still people that are in harm's way. Beshear says at least 11 people have died in Kentucky. Officials have reported another death in Georgia. Two films, Conclave and The Brutalist, each won four awards at last night's BAFTAs. They're the British equivalent of the Oscars.

NPR's Lauren Frayer has more on the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards. The BAFTA goes to Conclave. The award for Best Film went to Conclave, a movie about Vatican intrigue as Cardinals elect a new pope. Mikey Madison won the Leading Actress Award for her performance in Anora, a comedy about a sex worker whose fortunes change when she marries the son of a Russian oligarch. Madison beat out more famous names, including Demi Moore. Adrian Brody won as leading actor in the architecture epic The Brutalist. The film that did not do as

well was A Complete Unknown, in which Timothee Chalamet plays a young Bob Dylan. It was nominated for six BAFTAs but didn't end up winning any. Lauren Freyer, NPR News, London. Stocks closed mixed across Asia today. Markets in Japan and China traded higher. This is NPR.