NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-27-2025 3AM EST

Episode Date: February 27, 2025

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Hey, it's Amartinez. I work on a news show. And yeah, the news can feel like a lot on any given day. But you just can't ignore las noticias when important world-changing events are happening. So that is where the Up First podcast comes in. Every single morning in under 15 minutes, we take the news and boil it down to three essential stories so you can keep up without feeling stressed out. Listen to the Up First podcast from NPR. without feeling stressed out. Listen to the up-first podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens.

President Trump says Ukrainian leader Zelensky is prepared to sign an economic agreement when he visits Washington on Friday. During a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Trump said that a framework for a deal includes access to Ukraine's mineral resources as payment for past U.S. military aid. The deal we're making gets us, it brings us great wealth. We get back the money that we spent and we hope that we're going to be able to settle this up. Trump made no mention of the security guarantees that Zelensky says are necessary to make any

agreement work. The president says he'll revoke a special permit allowing Venezuela to export oil to the United States. As NPR's Carrie Kahn reports, Trump says the South American government wasn't taking back as many deportees as promised. Carrie Kahn, NPR Newsweek, Newsweek. Trump says he was reversing Biden's agreement with Venezuela's authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro, because he had not made progress on electoral reforms

and is not speeding up migrant returns. Former president Biden had tried to use the oil concessions to get Maduro to accept democratic reforms. Maduro's 2024 reelection was widely viewed as rigged, but the oil license was never pulled. Trump's revocation is an abrupt turnaround though. He recently sent an envoy to meet with Maduro and said regime change was not a priority.

Venezuela's VP said such failed decisions by the U.S. or what helped cause outmigration. A quarter of Venezuela's population has left as political oppression under Maduro increased and the economy tanked. Kari Kahn, NPR News. The FDA has canceled a planned meeting to discuss the next flu season. Details from Rob Stein. The FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee was scheduled for next month,

but the agency notified committee members that the meeting has been canceled. The meeting is considered crucial because independent FDA advisors select the strains of the flu that next year's vaccines will protect people against. Because of the long lag time in producing the flu vaccine, any delay could cause delays in the vaccine. No explanation was given for the cancellation, but Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who now runs the Health and Human Services Department, is an outspoken critic of vaccines. Rob Stein, in PR News. The Supreme Court has intervened in a dispute over the Trump administration's effort to

cancel grants for thousands of foreign aid projects. The justices have sided with the administration's argument that a lower court deadline to resume the funding was unrealistic and should be paused. The payments were frozen weeks ago after they had already been awarded. Thousands of other humanitarian aid grants have been canceled, and most of the workers at the agency that administered those grants have been laid off. This is NPR. The government is predicting that the cost of eggs, already near $5 a dozen, will rise more than 40 percent this year. Egg prices are higher because of a shortage triggered by a bird flu outbreak. U.S. poultry farmers have slaughtered more than 166 million birds

to stem the spread of the virus. The Department of Agriculture is looking into boosting imports of eggs from other countries. A rare planetary alignment will occur on Friday, and NPR's Chandelis Duster reports that people across the United States will get a chance to witness the phenomenon. NASA says all planets in the solar system will appear along an arc in the western sky. Four of the planets will be visible to the naked eye while Uranus and Neptune can be seen with a telescope. Saturn will also be difficult to see since it will be close to the horizon during sunset. Pamela Gay, senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute, says there will be a short window of time to see the event.

You really want to be outside as the sun sets and be ready as soon as it gets dark enough to start seeing these points of light popping out. It usually takes about half an hour before you can hope to see the brightest objects. The next planet parade will take place in August and four planets will appear in the sky before sunrise. Chandelis Duster, NPR News. U.S. futures are flat in after hours trading on Wall Street. On Asia Pacific market shares are mixed down a fraction in Hong Kong. This is NPR News.

It's Oscar season and we watched the nominated movies so you don't have to. Hong Kong. This is NPR News.