NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-22-2025 3PM EST

Episode Date: February 22, 2025

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Noor Aram, NPR News. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Noor Aram. 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 Hegset 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 Franketti 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 reporting. Stocks tumbled this week as Americans got more gloomy about the economic outlook. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.

The University of Michigan's index of consumer sentiment shows people are increasingly nervous about a rebound in inflation. Some worry that President Trump's threats to impose big tariffs could make it harder to bring prices under control. Minutes from the Federal Reserve's most recent meeting show that until there's more progress on inflation, Fed policymakers are unlikely to make further cuts to interest rates. High mortgage rates continue to weigh on the housing market, which also drags down demand for furniture and appliances. Stocks fell after retail giant Walmart warned of a possible slowdown in sales this year.

For the week, the S&P 500 index fell one-and-two-thirds percent, while both the Dow and the Nasdaq dropped two-and-a-half percent. Scott Horsley, MPR News, Washington. Hamas released six Israeli hostages today. In exchange, Israel has agreed to free more than 600 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Israeli officials have positively identified a body returned by Hamas yesterday as that of 32-year-old Shiri Babas. A body the militant group returned to Israel earlier

in the week that was supposed to be hers, was later found not to be by Israeli forensic examiners. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reports. Shiri Babas was taken hostage on the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, along with her husband, Yaradan, and their two young sons, Ariel and Kefir, ages four years and nine months at the time. The two boys were the youngest hostages held in Gaza, and together the family became a symbol of the hostage struggle in Israel. Hamas, Tashiri and the two children were killed by an Israeli airstrike early in the war. The militant group had claimed three bodies handed over

earlier this week were theirs, but the woman's body was found to not be by Israeli officials. Hamas then handed over a different body and that one was positively ID'd. Israeli forensic examiners say all three bodies were found to not be by Israeli officials. Hamas then handed over a different body, and that one was positively ID'd. Israeli forensic examiners say all three were, quote, murdered in Hamas' captivity, but did not elaborate on how they were killed. Kat Lanzdorf, NPR News, Tel Aviv.

This is NPR News. The Vatican issued an update on Pope Francis today. He's been hospitalized for the past week with respiratory problems. It said his condition continues to be critical, that he experienced an asthma-like respiratory crisis of prolonged intensity that required oxygen. A statement said the 88-year-old pontiff remains alert, but is more uncomfortable than he was yesterday. Germany holds a national election tomorrow.

A major issue is immigration. In recent months, there have been a number of attacks in which the suspects are from migrant backgrounds, including one yesterday when a Spanish tourist was badly injured in a stabbing outside the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. Major League Baseball is testing out a new automated challenge system in spring training.

Pitchers, catchers, and batters made challenge in umpires' calls. NPR's Becky Sullivan has more. On Thursday, during a spring game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs, an ordinary fastball in the first inning became history when Cubs pitcher Cody Petit tapped his head after the umpire called a ball. That triggered the Major League's first ever ABS challenge as it's called. The Jumbotron showed the computerized replay of the pitch and that it was in fact a strike after where the Dodgers Max Muncie had good humor about getting the short end

of the historic challenge. It was a pitch that I definitely thought was a strike. He balled it and I look out and the pitcher was seemed very excited to challenge that one and when he challenged it I knew it was gonna get overturned and I went oh man I'm gonna be the first one on this that's great. The soonest the challenge system could appear in the regular season is 2026. Becky Sullivan, NPR News, Phoenix. And I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News in Washington.