NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-28-2025 4PM EST

Episode Date: February 28, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Trump ordered his advisors to show Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his delegation the door after their meeting in the Oval Office devolved into a bitter exchange in front of the media. Anger boiled over when Vice President J.D. Vance jumped in with pointed criticism of diplomacy under the Biden administration. Zelensky pushed back with warnings about the impact the US is at risk of experiencing if Trump takes Russian President Vladimir Putin at his word that the attacks on Ukraine will end. Trump shot back that Zelensky is in no

position to tell him how he'll feel. You've allowed yourself to be in a very bad position and he happens to be right about it. From the very beginning of the war, Mr. Graham, I was understanding. You've allowed yourself to be in a very bad position, and it happens to be right about now. You're not in a good position. You don't have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards. Right now, you don't have your playing cards. You're gambling with the lives of millions of people.

You're gambling with World War III. You're gambling with World War III. Both leaders ended the meeting early without signing a minerals deal as previously planned. Trump and Vance also noted that Zelensky had not thanked the U.S. for its support in the meeting, though Zelensky has repeatedly thanked the U.S. for its support with appeals for more aid in its fight against Russian aggression. Support for Ukraine was front and center during far friendlier meetings in public when the leaders of France and Britain visited the White House this week. The UK was

expected to host a summit of European leaders Sunday on Ukraine. Attorney General Pam Bondi is promising to release more records related to Jeffrey Epstein after Thursday's document dump was criticized by prominent Republicans. NPR's Rachel Treisman has details. Bondi released 200 pages of documents related to Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died in federal custody in 2019, awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking. Many of the files were heavily redacted and already in the public domain, disappointing right-wing figures who had been hoping for a bombshell.

Bondi is now accusing the FBI of withholding thousands of pages of documents about Epstein from her office. She tasked FBI Director Kash Patel with delivering them and investigating what happened. Patel has said that, quote, if records have been hidden, we will uncover them. Rachel Triesman, NPR News. LESLIE KENDRICK Concerns continue to mount over a measles outbreak after medical officials in Washington state publicly confirmed a new case yesterday. Kentucky and New Jersey have also reported new cases.

None of the cases linked, though, to the outbreak in West Texas where an unvaccinated child died. The case was the first measles death in the U.S. since 2015. Turning to the Wall Street numbers, the Dow closes up more than 600 points or more than 1%, ending they at 43,000. It's NPR News. The Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins tonight. In Gaza, many Palestinians are trying to put together what little they have to prepare for festivities and mark the holiday. And in Israel, security officials have been preparing in a different way. Here's NPR's Kat Lonsdorf.

33-year-old Khalid Abu Sultan sits in the rubble of his destroyed family home in Jabalia, in northern Gaza. He has just been to the nearby market, asking the price of every item, trying to figure out what he can afford. Ramadan usually brings joy and delight, but this year it will be bleak, he tells NPR's producer in Gaza, Anas Baba. Meanwhile, Israel announced that security preparations for Ramadan have been completed, including reinforcements of border and district police in various locations. Specifically, police will be focused on the old city of Jerusalem, home to many holy sites,

including the Al-Aqsa Mosque, where Israel says it will implement, quote, safety restrictions throughout the holy month. Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Tel Aviv. Kirsten Khire, NPR News, Tel Aviv Skype is shutting down after 20 years of connecting callers through the Internet. Today, Microsoft announced it's shifting its focus to Teams, which it has integrated with other Office apps to appeal to more corporate users, once a key base for Skype. Microsoft outbid Google and Facebook to acquire Skype in 2011 for $8.5 billion. The Associated Press reports that at the time, the service had roughly

150 million monthly users. In recent years, that number had fallen to about 23 million. Microsoft says Skype's final call will be May 5th. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.