NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-17-2025 5PM EST

Episode Date: February 17, 2025

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There's been a lot of attention on loneliness lately. 16% of Americans report feeling lonely all or most of the time. The former Surgeon General even declared a loneliness epidemic. On It's Been a Minute, we're launching a new series called All the Lonely People, diving deep into how loneliness shows up in our lives and how our culture shapes it. That's on the It's Been a Minute podcast on NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. At least eight people are injured, one critically after a commuter plane crashed at Toronto's Pearson International Airport today.

The Delta Airlines plane arrived in Minneapolis with 80 people on board, flipped over as it landed. NR's Jackie Northam reports. Videos on social media show the Delta Airlines commuter plane upside down on the snowy tarmac shortly after landing in Toronto. Emergency crews worked to put out a fire while passengers and crew got off, according to Toronto police. The airport says arrivals and departures have been temporarily stopped. Since the flight took off from Minneapolis, national transportation safety boards in the U.S. and Canada

will work together to determine the cause of the crash. Winds were gusting about 40 miles an hour. There's been heavy snowfall in the area for the past three weeks, and a winter travel advisory was in effect. Jackie Northam, NPR News. The Energy Department is rescinding the firings of many workers responsible for overseeing the nation's nuclear weapons.

NPR's Jeff Bromfield reports the reversal came with an hours of mass terminations. Over the weekend, several employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration told NPR they'd been hastily rehired after being fired last Thursday. Sources inside the agency said hundreds were fired at first, but in a statement sent late Sunday night a Department of Energy spokesperson said that fewer than 50 employees ultimately lost their jobs. Those jobs were in quote, primarily administrative and clerical roles. Members of Congress were alarmed after learning of the mass layoffs at the agency, which oversees

America's nuclear warheads and combats nuclear terrorism. Jeff Brumfield, NPR News, Washington. According to the Kremlin, senior American and Russian officials are expected to hold talks on improving their ties and also regarding an end to the war in Ukraine. Those talks would be the most significant meeting between the two sides since Moscow's invasion of its neighbor nearly three years ago. U. US-Russia talks are scheduled to get underway tomorrow. The latest moves have set off a scramble by Kiev and key allies to get their own seat at the table. Forecasters say extreme cold temperatures are

gripping many parts of the US this week. NPR's Joe Hernandez reports some regions could be in for another round of snow. The high-pressure system is pushing Arctic air down from Canada and into the central U.S. beginning on Tuesday. According to the National Weather Service, some of the coldest conditions will hit parts of the Great Plains, where wind chills could reach negative 60. But the bitter cold will spread across much of the U.S., with freezing temperatures reaching as far south as the Gulf Coast. Potentially heavy snowfall is also in the forecast. Parts of Kansas and Missouri could receive something like 8 inches of snow through Wednesday, while

several inches could fall in nearby states including Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Virginia. Joe Hernandez, NPR News. US financial markets are closed today for the President's Day holiday. This is NPR. The controversy surrounding New York City Mayor Eric Adams is deepening with four top aides announcing they are resigning. The officials who were deputy mayors point to the extraordinary events in recent weeks. It comes after the Trump administration's Justice Department moved to drop corruption and bribery charges against Adams. Critics note the DOJ dropped the charges after Adams agreed to collaborate with President Trump's immigration crackdown.

Mayor faces growing calls to resign, though he's rejected that in a statement sent to NPR. Adams said he's, quote, disappointed by the resignations. Authorities in South Korea have suspended downloads of a Chinese artificial intelligence app. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports the app known as DeepSeq caused a global tech stock sell-off last month by offering AI functions at a fraction of its rivals costs. South Korea's privacy watchdog, the Personal Information Protection Commission, said the DeepSeq app downloads were suspended Saturday.

They'll remain that way until DeepSeq brings its app into line with South Korea's data privacy laws. That way until DeepSeek brings its app into line with South Korea's data privacy laws. DeepSeek says it'll cooperate with the Commission. The watchdog told users who have already downloaded the app to use it with caution, due to concerns about how users' data is managed. Australia and Taiwan have banned DeepSeek from government devices. The U.S. Congress is considering a similar bill. China's Foreign Ministry says it respects local privacy laws but opposes politicizing tech issues. Anthony Kuhn in PR News, Seoul.

While U.S. markets are closed for the holiday, oil continued to trade on international markets today gaining 65 cents a barrel to end the session at 71.39 a barrel in New York. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.