NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-23-2025 8PM EST

Episode Date: February 24, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Hurst. The U.S. Agency for International Development says it's firing 1,600 people in the U.S. as part of a reduction in force and putting nearly all of the rest of its workers around the globe on administrative leave at midnight tonight. In a memo, the agency says the exceptions are those working on mission-critical programs, core leadership, and employees supporting specially designated programs. This after a federal judge Friday ruled that the Trump administration could proceed with

layoffs and administrative leave and close down operations overseas, forcing employees based abroad to come back to the U.S. The agency, though, says those coming back from overseas can expect their travel to be paid for by the government. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier this month that he is the new acting head of the agency. And employees across the federal government got an email this weekend asking them to describe their work over the past week.

But now, as NPR's Joe Hernandez reports, some other Trump administration officials are telling employees not to reply. The email Saturday came from the Office of Personnel Management and arrived hours after Trump adviser Elon Musk said on social media that workers who didn't respond would lose their jobs. The email itself didn't say that. Musk has been tasked with cutting the federal government and so far the administration has fired some 20,000 federal workers. But the email caused confusion in many parts of the government after other Trump administration officials told workers they didn't have to reply.

New FBI Director Kash Patel told the agency's workforce that it would review its own processes and to hold off on replying to the email. The Defense Department also told employees not to respond, and the State Department said it would reply on workers' behalf. Jo Hernandez, NPR News. In Lebanon, the former leader of Hezbollah, the militant Iran-backed group, has

been laid to rest five months after being killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut. Tens of thousands turned out for his funeral. And Pierce Jane Araf hasrike in Beirut. Tens of thousands turned out for his funeral. And Pierce Jane Arraff has more from Beirut. The funeral was held at Beirut's biggest sports stadium, the only venue large enough to accommodate mourners. Nasrallah is one of the founders of Hisbollah, created to counter the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. His killing last September deeply shocked his followers

and severely weakened the organization. But at the funeral, mourners and officials said he was more influential as what they consider a martyr than he was alive. They vowed to continue his path of resistance against Israel and the United States. Senior Iranian and Iraqi officials attended the funeral, along with what Hezbollah said were mourners from dozens of countries. Jane Araf, NPR News, Beirut.

You're listening to NPR News from Washington. Scientists say that for centuries people have collected water from fog. But this practice has only recently been closely examined. And Pierce Regina Barber has more on a study that attempts to harness fog to supply water for a lot more people. Alto Especial lies in the Atacama Desert, and it's perfectly situated to collect fog. At about 2,000 feet in Chile, Alto Espacio is the only city which is inside of the cloud. That's geographer Virginia Carter.

She led a study that gathered data at various fog collection sites around the city for a year. In the past, fog collection has only been studied and used in small villages. But for the first time, Carter and her team used computer modeling to map how much water could be collected from fog all over the region. They found that fog could supply hundreds of thousands of liters of drinking water per week, enough to supplement the water demands of under-resourced parts of the city. Regina Barber, NPR News.

At the weekend box office, Captain America, Brave New World, took the top spot for the second weekend in a row with 28 million dollars in ticket sales. The Anthony Mackie led installment in the Marvel franchise has been slammed by critics though and audiences have also graded it poorly with a B- Cinema score but the movie has grossed 289 million dollars around the world. In second place the horror film The Monkey, adapted from a Stephen King short story with $14 million, cost a reported $10 million to make. I'm Janene Herbst, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington.