NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-21-2025 5AM EST

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dave Mattingly. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Hamas will pay a price for what he calls a cruel and malicious violation of their ceasefire agreement. In a statement, Netanyahu says one of the four bodies released to Israel by the militants yesterday was not that of an Israeli mother of two young boys. Instead, Israel says the body was that of a woman from Gaza who had not been a hostage taken by the militants in southern Israel 16 months ago. The Israeli Defense Forces say the bodies of the two children and an older man were

positively identified. The Senate has narrowly confirmed Cash Patel to serve as FBI director. The vote was 51 to 49, with two Republican senators joining Democrats in opposition to the president's nominee, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. Patel takes over the Bureau after more than half a dozen senior executives at the FBI were forced out in recent weeks, including the head of the Washington field office. As the Trump administration continues efforts to downsize government, Energy Secretary Chris Wright says it was a mistake for

the administration to fire more than 100 federal employees responsible for maintaining the nation's nuclear stockpile. NPR's Jeff Brumfield has more. In an interview with Scripps News, Wright said the decision to fire employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration was done in haste. I probably moved a little too quickly there, and when we made mistakes on layoffs in NNSA, we reversed them immediately, less than 24 hours. The NNSA maintains the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile and combats nuclear terrorism among its other duties. The Department of Energy says that, quote,

fewer than 50 workers were ultimately terminated at the agency. Jeff Brumfield, NPR News, Washington. President Trump's adviser who's overseeing the federal layoffs through Doge, billionaire Elon Musk, was celebrated yesterday as he addressed an annual gathering of political conservatives outside Washington. NPR's Stephen Fowler has more on Musk's appearance at CPAC. After Musk took the CPAC stage, Argentina's president Javier Malé

brought him a golden chainsaw to symbolize his work to slash the size, scope, and spending of the US government. Ha! chainsaw to symbolize his work to slash the size, scope and spending of the U.S. government. Musk hyped the idea of taking some of that savings identified by Doge and giving it back to taxpayers. It's money that's taken away from from things that are destructive to the country that and from organizations that hate you. But that idea is a long way from coming to fruition. An NPR review finds the Doge effort has overstated its savings claims so far by billions of dollars. Stephen Fowler, NPR News, Washington.

A federal judge is declining to temporarily block the administration's layoffs of federal workers. This is NPR News from Washington. The Financial Times is reporting a Japanese investment group wants Tesla to invest in Nissan after Nissan's merger talks with Honda collapsed. The group is being led by a former Japanese prime minister. Australia's foreign minister is warning commercial airlines about flying routes between her country and New Zealand.

As Christina Kukala reports from Melbourne, the warning comes as three Chinese naval ships conduct military exercises in the region. Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation it would be quote normal practice for vessels and commercial flights to be warned about areas where military exercises are being held. But Wong said she would raise concerns with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at the G20 Foreign Minister's meeting in South Africa. In relation to the notice given and the transparency that has been provided

in relation to these exercises, particularly the live-fire exercises. Australia says it is working with New Zealand to monitor the Chinese navy ships passing through international waters of the country's east coast. For NPR News, I'm Christina Kukala in Melbourne, Australia. Canada's hockey team is celebrating an overtime win over the US to capture the Four Nations face-off trophy. Connor McDavid scored the game winner more than eight minutes into the extra period last night in Boston Boston giving Canada a 3-2 win. It was a series underscored by political tensions over President Trump's call for the U.S. to make Canada the 51st state.

I'm Dave Mattingly, NPR News in Washington.