NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-24-2025 7AM EST

Episode Date: February 24, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman. French President Emmanuel Macron is in Washington to meet President Trump today. This is also the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Trump has been blaming Ukraine for starting that war. That is not true, but it's a view Russia supports. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley says Macron is expected to tell Trump Russian President Vladimir Putin is a threat to Europe. Macron is probably the closest to Trump of all the European leaders, with the exception of Hungary's Viktor Orbán. And he's going to appeal to Trump's ego and inner dealmaker.

Macron said he would also emphasize that Trump cannot help someone, i.e., Vladimir Putin, who's actually helping Iran develop the nuclear bomb. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reporting. Germany held national elections yesterday and the country will get a new chancellor. Germany's center-right Christian Democrats are poised to run the country's next government. NPR's Rob Schmitz reports the German party

is led by Friedrich Meretz. Election results show that Meretz will be able to form a new government with only one coalition partner, the center-left Social Democrats, returning Germany to a more stable two-party government that ran Germany for much of this century. Voter turnout was more than 83%, the highest since Germany's reunification in 1990. While the two parties in the center will likely end up governing Germany, the parties on the fringes made big gains from young voters. The far-right Alternative for Germany party ended up with a fifth of

the vote, its biggest showing since it was founded a decade ago. Friedrich Mertz says he wants to have a government in place by mid-April. Rob Schmitz, EnPir News, Berlin. The Trump administration is putting almost all employees of the US Agency for International Development on paid administrative leave. NPS Fatima Tanis reports the agency says hundreds of layoffs will follow. America's aid agency has around 4700 full-time employees.

In a memo distributed to agency staff on Sunday afternoon, the administration also announced that a reduction in force would follow with the termination of 1,600 positions. Some exceptions would be made for quote mission-critical functions, core leadership, or special designated programs. This is the latest development in the administration's effort to significantly downsize USAID. Before President Trump's inauguration, more than 10,000 people worked there, most of them contractors who've already lost their jobs. On Friday, a federal judge allowed the Trump administration to proceed with its plan to

dismantle the agency and put the bulk of USAID staff on leave. Fatima Tanis, NPR News. Federal government workers got an email over the weekend from the Office of Personnel Management. OPM is demanding all staffers submit a summary of their work in the last week. Elon Musk, leading the Doge effort, wrote online, failure to respond was tantamount to resigning. Several government agencies have told their workers to pause on their response.

This is NPR. Former Republican presidential candidate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is expected to declare his candidacy today for Ohio governor. Ramaswamy is from Cincinnati. He'll seek the state's GOP gubernatorial nomination. The entrepreneur was, until recently, the co-leader of the Doge government cost-cutting effort. The Vatican says Pope Francis remains hospitalized in Rome in critical condition. His condition worsened over the weekend. He's suffering from severe pneumonia and infection. And now doctors have detected signs of mild kidney failure. Doctors say that is being controlled. NPR's Joe Hernandez reports the Vatican says the Pope is in good spirits.

Pope Francis entered the hospital on February 14th after suffering a case of bronchitis. He had been in stable condition, but a polymicrobial infection required him to remain in the hospital. The 88-year-old later developed bilateral pneumonia, for which he's receiving supplemental oxygen. Francis has also gotten blood transfusions to treat a low platelet count. The Vatican announced that a new round of testing showed quote early mild renal insufficiency but that it was under control. Francis was elected pope in 2013. Joe Hernandez, NPR News. The National Weather Service says an atmospheric river event is pouring

precipitation over the Pacific Northwest. There are winter storm warnings up for parts of central Washington state. Forecasters say heavy rain and a risk of flooding will reach inland, possibly to Idaho. A separate system will move in later today with more storms. I'm Korva Kuhlman, NPR News.