NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-27-2025 10AM EST

Episode Date: February 27, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. President Trump is reversing course. In a post on social media this morning, the president says 25 percent tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports will take effect next Tuesday. The president had said that he would hold off on implementing the taxes until April 2. The pause was to give Canada and Mexico time to prove that they were working to curb shipments of fentanyl into the United States.

The Supreme Court has paused a lower court ruling that requires the Trump administration to pay nearly $2 billion in foreign assistance to the U.S. Agency for International Development. NPR's Frank Langford reports the White House has eliminated nearly 5,800 foreign assistance grants and awards, effectively gutting USAID. The government still owes USAID grantees more than $1 billion. A federal district judge ordered USAID to restart payments by Wednesday night. But the Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court, which paused the order. Officials said USAID eliminated about 92 percent worth of the agency's grants, while the State

Department eliminated 28 percent worth. The government claimed a total savings of nearly $60 billion. Upon taking office, Trump ordered a pause in all USAID funding pending a comprehensive review. He called the agency, quote, in many cases, antithetical to American values. Frank Lankford, NPR News. Stocks on Wall Street opened higher this morning as the Labor Department reported a jump in the number of people applying for unemployment benefits.

NPR's Scott Horsley reports the Dow rose about 100 points in early trading. Some 242,000 people applied for unemployment benefits last week. That's 22,000 more than the week before. Analysts say the widespread job cuts in the federal government won't begin to show up in the unemployment data for another couple of weeks. Orders for long-lasting manufactured goods rose more than 3 percent last month, better than forecasters had expected. Most of the jump reflects a rebound in commercial aircraft orders, after a slump at the end of last year.

Computership maker Nvidia delivered another dazzling earnings report, suggesting no letup in demand for the hardware behind artificial intelligence. Nvidia's sales jumped 12 percent from the previous quarter and 78 percent from the same period a year ago. Scott Horsley, in Pear News, Washington. Legendary actor Gene Hackman has died at the age of 95. His roles in Unforgiven and The French Connection earned him two Academy Awards. Hackman was also recognized as the supervillain in the Superman franchise.

Superman franchise. Lacks Luther, the greatest criminal mind of our time. Of our time? I hear my self notice. Ackman was found dead alongside his wife in their home in New Mexico. Authorities don't believe foul play was involved. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. More than 20 people are hospitalized in West Texas amid an outbreak of measles that has left one child dead.

The CDC says 124 confirmed cases of measles, mostly among teens and children, have been confirmed in the U.S. so far this year. The uptick comes as vaccination rates continue to fall in the United States. Two probes are headed for the moon today atop a SpaceX rocket. Joe Palko reports both are looking for evidence of water on the moon, one from lunar orbit and one from the lunar surface. The probe that will land on the moon is called Athena. It's built by the Houston company Intuitive Machines.

Athena carries a drill that is designed to burrow three feet into the rocks that make up the lunar surface searching for underground water. The lander carries several other instruments, including a rover that will test a lunar communication system built by Nokia. The orbiter is called Lunar Trailblazer. It has instruments designed to not only pinpoint

the location of water deposits, but also identify their form. Are they frozen ice? Are they water vapor? Are they water molecules bound to rocks? Knowing the nature of the water will be important if future astronauts hope to use the water as a resource that will allow prolonged visits to the Moon. For NPR News, I'm Joe Palca.

Stocks on Wall Street are trading mixed at this hour. prolonged visits to the moon. For NPR News, I'm Joe Palca.