NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-28-2025 11AM EST

Episode Date: February 28, 2025

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On the Embedded Podcast. No, no. It's called denying a speech and mis-speech. It's misinformation. Like so many Americans, my dad has gotten swept up in conspiracy theories. These are not conspiracy theories. These are reality. I spent the year following him down the rabbit hole, trying to get him back. Listen to Alternate Realities on the Embedded Podcast from NPR, all episodes available now.

Live from NPR News, I'm Korva Coleman. President Trump welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House today. They are supposed to sign a preliminary agreement on sharing Ukrainian critical minerals with the United States. NPR's Franco Ordoñez reports Trump insists this is a major step toward reaching a peace deal with Russia. President Trump says the agreement will provide the U.S. access to minerals that are essential for aviation and defense technology. Trump also sees it as a chance for the U.S. to recoup some of the billions of dollars that U.S. taxpayers have spent helping Ukraine defend

itself against the Russian invasion. Trump also said he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin would respect the terms of any deal. Franco Ordoñez, NPR News. Aid programs for millions of people are collapsing worldwide. This comes after the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department announced this week the termination of contracts worth nearly 60 billion dollars. And Piers Gabriella Emanuele has more. Michaela Hilo is a program manager at the Ethiopian non-profit Organization for Social

Services Health and Development. He learned U.S. funding for his work with HIV positive children was terminated. This is just a disaster. The termination means his program is laying off all 135 workers and the 1600 children and adolescents they work with are without their HIV medication. He fears that without medicine to keep the virus in check, the kids will fall ill. His program is one of roughly 10,000 grants and contracts that were terminated. Others include clean water for refugee camps and food aid for malnourished children. Gabriella Emanuel, NPR News.

Egypt says talks to further the ceasefire agreement in Gaza between Israel and Hamas have opened in Cairo. That's as the current phase of the deal is set to expire this weekend and Piers Kath Lonsdorf has more from Tel Aviv. Egypt says that quote intensive discussions on the next stage of the ceasefire deal are underway. Israel confirmed it has sent a delegation to Cairo. Qatari officials are also present mediating for Hamas which says it remains committed to the deal. President Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Wittkopf is also expected in the region soon. The first phase of the ceasefire deal, which has lasted almost six weeks, ends this weekend,

although Israel has expressed interest in extending it while details of the next phase continue to be hammered out. Phase two would see more hostages and Palestinian detainees released, as well as further withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. detainees released, as well as further withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. More humanitarian aid would also be allowed into Gaza, which has been critical in recent weeks. Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Tel Aviv. On Wall Street, stocks are higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 282 points at 43,521. You're listening to NPR News.

A federal judge in California has ruled that the Trump administration's mass layoffs of tens of thousands of federal workers are likely illegal. He has ordered a halt to the firings at some agencies and says they should be rescinded. The temporary restraining order is in effect until March 13. That's when the judge will hold another hearing on the lawsuit. A former executive in the timber industry has been named the new head of the US Forest Service. NPS Kirk Siegler has more. Tom Schultz has most recently been VP of Government Affairs for an influential Coeur d'Alene, Idaho based timber company and he'll now be back in the public

sector managing close to 200 million acres of federal timberlands. Republicans are pledging to fast track more logging on public land as a means of restarting timber economies and addressing the wildfire threat. Some of this was already underway during the Biden administration. In his resignation letter, the agency's outgoing chief, Randy Moore, a Biden appointee, warned that the agency had no say in the recent job cuts that he said will hamper its ability to manage land and fires.

Kirk Sigler in PR News, Boise. A federal appeals court has ruled against President Trump's effort to overturn birthright citizenship to people whose parents are illegally in the U.S. Birthright citizenship is protected by the U.S. Constitutionright citizenship is protected by the U.S. Constitution. The decision by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is the second time a federal appellate court has reviewed Trump's executive order and denied it. The issue of birthright citizenship is expected to go to the U.S. Supreme Court. I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News. Supreme Court. I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News.