NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-24-2025 4AM EST

Episode Date: February 24, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. There's been widespread confusion this weekend among federal government employees who received an email demanding they submit a summary of their work over the past week or face being fired. The email has prompted pushback over whether such a request is legal. NPR's Emily Feng has more. The Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, sent a government-wide email request to federal workers on Saturday.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has spearheaded much of the drastic cuts to the federal workforce, wrote on X, the social media platform he owns, that failure to respond was tantamount to resigning. But the OPM itself said earlier this month that responses to such mass emails are voluntary. And the U.S.'s largest union representing federal government employees criticized OPM for allowing, quote, the unelected and unhinged Elon Musk to dictate the office's actions. Some government agencies, like the Defense Department, have already told their employees they do not need to comply with the OPM's request for a summary of

their last week. Emily Fang and Peer News, Washington. Vivek Ramaswamy, who ran for president in 2024, is preparing to announce his campaign for Ohio governor later today. Most recently, Ramaswamy co-led the unit known as the Department of Government Efficiency with Elon Musk and PR's Luke Garrett has more. Ramaswamy, a 39-year-old Ohio native, is making his announcement in Cincinnati Monday night and then touring the Buckeye State. He ran for president in 2024 that endorsed Trump early on in the campaign and briefly co-led DOJ with Elon Musk.

Ramaswamy told NBC News he decided to leave DOJ in order to focus on his campaign for governor. But he said as governor, he would bring, quote, the principles of efficiency and spending and deregulation to our state. Current Republican Governor Mike DeWine is term limited and Ramoswami is set to face Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost who has already entered the race for governor. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington. Thirty-year-old Andrew Duarte was remembered Sunday by the people of York, Pennsylvania.

Duarte was killed on Saturday by a gunman who was holding hostages at a local hospital. Borough manager Sean Mock said Duarte believed in his department and in the community. The community loved him. He certainly had a dedication to keeping every single person here safe and for that we will always hold him in our hearts very deeply. The gunman was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police. Palestinian authorities say the movement of Israeli tanks into the occupied West Bank is a dangerous escalation

in the situation there. It's the first time in decades that Israel sent tanks into the territory. Israel launched an offensive in northern West Bank on January 21. The country's defense minister says Israeli troops will remain in parts of the territory for a year, and the tens of thousands of Palestinians

who have fled will not be allowed to return. Asian stocks closed mixed today after U.S. stocks fell sharply on Friday. Markets were closed in Tokyo for a holiday. You're listening to NPR News. Thousands of people rallied in Paris on Sunday. They were urging Europe to stay united behind Ukraine. Today is the three-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of that country. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports. People here say that Ukrainians have been fighting and dying for Europe and they can't be abandoned.

President Macron is going to Washington, D.C., where he will meet with President Trump tomorrow to try to reason to him. President Trump has done an about face in alliances, switched alliances. Now the U.S. is seen as supporting Russia and not Ukraine. Europeans have been shocked. And President Macron will try to change that this week,

as will British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. They will try to say that you cannot make a deal with Russia and throw Ukraine under the bus. That would be betraying principles that the U.S. has been founded on. And it will be letting a dictator like Vladimir Putin of Russia win. That's Ampere's Eleanor Beardsley reporting from Paris. An American Airlines flight on its way to New Dali was diverted to Rome on Sunday afternoon because of what the airline calls a security concern.

The plane had left from New York earlier in the day. Police checked out the plane and then cleared it to leave. The airline says that passengers and crew will stay overnight in Rome before continuing on their journey. Christopher Bell broke Toyota's 15-race windlass streak in Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday when he edged Carson Hosavar during an overtime caution. It was Bell's 10th cup race in 182 starts and it was his first NASCAR win since last June in New Hampshire. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.