NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-20-2025 12PM EST

Episode Date: February 20, 2025

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Hey, it's Amartines. I work on a news show and yeah, the news can feel like a lot on any given day, but you just can't ignore las noticias when important world-changing events are happening. So that is where the Up First podcast comes in. Every single morning in under 15 minutes, we take the news and boil it down to three essential stories so you can keep up without feeling stressed out. Listen to the Up First podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. A large crowd gathers in Gaza. Heard here an online audio from the Associated Press. People witness as the Palestinian militant group Hamas handed over the bodies of four Israeli hostages taken in the deadly October 7, 2023 attacks.

The bodies include three members of the Bebas family who had become a symbol in Israel since they were taken hostage. NPR's Hadil Al-Shalchi has more. In a ceremony mask, Hamas gunman stood on a stage with four coffins draped in black. Behind them, a poster of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a fanged vampire. The bodies returned included Ariel and Kfir Bibas, who were ages four years and nine months at the time of their kidnapping, and their mother, 33, rolled Shiri Bibas.

Hamas said the Bibas family was killed in an Israeli airstrike in November 2023. Israeli officials are yet to confirm that. NPR's Gaza producer, Enes Baba, spoke to Um Ahmed, a mother and grandmother who was at the ceremony. An eye for an eye, she said. They killed their own children with their own hands. We didn't kill them. Hadil Al-Shalchi, NPR News, Jericho.

In a social media post yesterday, President Trump called Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky a, quote, dictator without elections. That prompted some of Zelensky's European allies to rush to his defense. And Piers Lauren Frere has more from London. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer phoned Zelensky to tell him Britain still considers him to be Ukraine's democratically elected leader. According to Starmer's office, he told Zelensky it's, quote, perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during wartime, just like the UK did during World War II. UK officials have been aghast at how the Trump administration

has held talks with Russia without Ukrainian or European officials at the table. That's Lauren Frere reporting. An executive order that would give the White House greater control over independent agencies is expected to encounter legal challenges. And Piers Windsor-Johnston reports the move is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to expand the powers of the presidency. The executive order would require independent agencies to make changes to their budgets that coincide with the Trump administration's agenda. Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, says

that could set up a showdown between the executive and legislative branches. Carl Tobias, Professor of Law, University of Richmond, Congress has always zealously and jealously protected that power of the purse. And the Constitution explicitly grants that to Congress. So there are questions in that way as well. The executive order would put agencies, including the Federal Communications Commission and other consumer protection departments, under greater White House control. Windsor-Johnston, NPR News, Washington.

This is NPR. Pope Francis is spending his seventh day in the hospital as he battles pneumonia. NPR's Ruth Sherlock reports the Vatican says the pontiff is alert and got out of bed to eat breakfast this morning. The Vatican says new blood tests showed a slight improvement for the 88-year-old pontiff, though his overall condition remains the same. After a recent visit, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Maloney said Pope Francis was alert and responsive, and that they joked around as usual. She noted, he hasn't lost his proverbial sense of humour.

The Vatican says the Pope is able to get out of bed and that he's continued with some of his work. The Pope has also previously admitted to not being a terribly cooperative patient. Ruth Sherlock, NPR News, Rome. Seven Chilean men are facing federal charges stemming from a string of burglaries at the homes of professional athletes in the US and Pierce Bill Chappell says those who were robbed include high-profile NFL players. Federal prosecutors alleged that the Chilean Nationals worked together to steal Rolex's designer luggage and jewelry from six NBA and NFL athletes since last October.

Court documents don't name the athletes, but some details align with burglaries targeting two NFL quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes of Kansas City and Joe Burrow of Cincinnati. In total, the theft snagged millions of dollars in goods and cash. The Chilean embassy says it's been sharing real-time criminal background data with the U.S. since last fall, and that more people are being denied travel access as a result. Bill Chappell, NPR News. The Dow is down 622 points, or 1.4 percent. The Nasdaq has fallen nearly 147 points.

This is NPR News.