NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-22-2025 1PM EST

Episode Date: February 22, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rahm. President Trump has fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Charles Q. Brown. He also replaced the chief of naval operations. NPR's Tom Bowman has more. I've been covering the military for 27 years now. This is highly unusual that early into an administration you would remove the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and also the chief of naval operations. Clearly the Trump administration and Secretary Haig have long said the military is woke, it's all about DEI, and it's clearly important to note that this is the second

black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff after Colin Powell and Lisa Franke is the first woman to run the Navy. So it appears that what they're basically saying here is these folks got their jobs because of DEI. There's no question about that. NPR's Tom Bowman. President Trump briefly clashed with the governor of Maine over transgender athletes. NPR's Franco Ardoñez reports Trump singled out the governor over

whether should comply with his executive order. It was an unusual break of decorum during a gathering at the White House for Republican and Democratic governors. Trump went on to question Democratic Governor Janet Mills whether her state would comply with his executive order banning transgender women from women's sports. State officials have indicated that they won't comply with the order because it conflicts with the state anti-discrimination laws protecting transgender people. Mills told Trump she was complying with state and federal laws.

We are the federal law. Well, you better do it. You better do it because you're not going to get any federal funding at all if you don't. Her response? We'll see you in court. And Trump said he looked forward to that. Franco, Ordonez, NPR News, The White House. Hundreds of Israelis gathered in central Tel Aviv today to watch a livestream as Hamas released six more Israeli hostages.

The crowd cheered as each made it into the custody of the International Committee of the Red Cross. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf has more. The six hostages included four men taken in the 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel and two Israeli citizens who had been held in Gaza for around a decade. In exchange, more than 600 Palestinians are expected to be released from Israeli jails. Four more hostage bodies are set to be returned next week, as phase one of the fragile ceasefire deal comes to an end.

But there will still be dozens of hostages in Gaza. Polls show a majority of Israelis want the ceasefire to continue, like 57-year-old Youav Brodai. I hope that it will continue, it will not end. I hope that somehow they will reach an agreement because that's what we need to do. Several far-right lawmakers in Israel's government are pushing for the war to resume.

Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Tel Aviv. This is NPR News in Washington. Monday marks the third anniversary of Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine. The United Nations General Assembly is to vote Monday on a resolution to mark the day. Ukraine and Europeans want a version that says Russia violated the UN Charter by attacking Ukraine. The U.S. is offering its own version that acknowledges tragic losses but does not mention that Russia started the war. Apple is withdrawing its most secure cloud storage service from the United Kingdom

after the British government allegedly demanded access to customer data. NPR's Lauren Freer reports from London. In a statement emailed to NPR, Apple says it can no longer offer advanced data protection, or ADP, for iCloud in the UK. That's the system that ensures end-to-end encryption of users' data. Earlier this month, the UK government asked Apple for the right to see that data, which Apple says

it can't even access. It argues that giving governments backdoor access would eventually lead to hackers and others getting in. So it's decided to pull the security feature from the UK market altogether. Users will eventually have to disable it others getting in. So it's decided to pull the security feature from the UK market altogether. Users will eventually have to disable it from their iPhones. Apple says it's, quote, gravely disappointed, given the rise of threats to customer privacy.

The UK government did not immediately respond to NPR's request for comment. Lauren Freyer, NPR News, London. The Associated Press is suing the Trump administration for barring reporters from major presidential events. NPR News, London.