NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-22-2025 11AM EST

Episode Date: February 22, 2025

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Noor Aram, NPR News. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Noor Aram. Hamas released six Israeli hostages today. In exchange, Israel released more than 600 Palestinians held in Israeli jails. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reports. This is the largest release of Palestinian prisoners and detainees at one time during the ceasefire. Among them are prisoners serving life sentences for deadly attacks on Israelis,

but also many who have been held in administrative detention without charge or sentences, including women and minors. More than 400 of them are Palestinians who had been detained in Gaza during the war, and they're going to be released back to Gaza. Others are being deported to Egypt. NPR's Kat Lansdorf, the Trump administration is refusing to sign on to a UN General Assembly resolution to mark the third anniversary of Russia's invasion. Instead, it's proposing its own text, which does not

criticize Russia at all. NPR's Michelle Kaliman reports a vote on the resolution is set for Monday. Secretary of State Marco Rubio calls it a simple historic resolution to support a path to peace. He says the UN should affirm that this conflict is awful and that the UN can help end it. Ukraine and the Europeans had proposed a much longer text that reminds the world that Russia is violating the UN charter by invading its neighbor.

It calls on Russia to withdraw and return all civilians, including children who were forcibly deported to Russia. The U.S. text simply acknowledges tragic losses, with no language saying Russia started the war and calls for a quick end to the conflict. Russia's ambassador to the U.N. called it a good move by the Trump administration to offer a rival text. Michelle Kelliman, NPR News, Washington. The Defense Department announced it's firing 5,400 probationary workers next week.

Yesterday, President Trump fired Charles Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the second black officer to hold that position. The Associated Press has sued the Trump administration for barring it from major presidential events over its refusal to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. As NPR's David Folkenflick reports, the AP says its ban represents an unconstitutional government retaliation against speech. Trump signed an order making the name change on his first day, but it doesn't carry any weight outside the U.S.

The AP serves audiences and news outlets across the globe. It recommends its journalists and clients call the body of water the Gulf of Mexico, but acknowledged Trump's preferred name. The AP's reporters have been barred from formal events and exchanges with Trump at the White House and his Florida state Mar-a-Lago and on Air Force One. Trump said earlier this week he would keep the ban unless the AP relented. In response to the lawsuit, White House spokesperson Steve Chung accused the AP's reporters of being ideologues and said its leaders had rotted peanut-sized brains.

David Folkenflick, NPR News. This is NPR News. Investigators in Germany say the suspect in a stabbing yesterday is a refugee from Syria who wanted to kill Jews. The stabbing took place at Berlin's Holocaust Memorial and badly injured a tourist from Spain. There have been several attacks in recent weeks in which the suspects were from migrant backgrounds. This has made migration a major issue in Germany's national election, which takes place tomorrow. Conservatives opposed to President Trump and his policies are gathering in Washington this weekend.

As NPR's Sarah McKammon reports, the Principals First summit overlaps with the larger, mostly pro-Trump gathering known as CPAC. Principals First bills itself as an organization for principled conservatives. Founder Heath Mayo says conservatives and centrists who oppose Trump are regrouping after the 2024 election and discussing how to move forward. I don't think we're under any illusions that the Republican party is changing anytime soon and so what we really want to do is engage in the conversation about where the country is going next. Speakers at this year's summit include billionaire Mark Cuban,

former United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, and former Trump national security adviser John Bolton. Sarah McCammon, NPR News, Washington. A federal judge has agreed to decide if the death penalty using nitrogen gas is cruel and unusual punishment. In 2022, U.S. District Judge Shelley Dick had dismissed a lawsuit challenging that method in Louisiana, since no executions had been planned.

Now there are two executions scheduled to take place next month. The judge said the new method must be reviewed. This is NPR News.