NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-01-2025 4PM EST

Episode Date: March 1, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Noor Rahm. Ukrainians are rallying around their president, Vladimir Kuzinsky, after he was publicly berated in the White House yesterday by President Trump and Vice President, Jaydee Vance. NPR's Joanna Kokissis reports from Kyiv. Ukrainians made TikTok videos and posted to social media to show their support for Zelensky. One prominent politician, Mustafa Nayim, wrote on social media that the Trump administration hates Zelensky and Ukraine and sees Ukrainians as quote, barriers to backroom deals. At the Kiev food market, soldier Denis Sokolov says Zelensky wants what's best for Ukraine. The main difference in that Ukraine won't make a peace, but Trump won't make a deal.

That's a huge difference in our politics, in our vision, to how we want to end the war. Making peace versus making a deal, he says, are two different goals. Joanna Kekesis, NPR News, Kyiv. British Prime Minister Keir Stormer is hosting a meeting of European leaders in London tomorrow to show support for Ukraine. Another email is being sent to federal employees telling them to provide a list of their accomplishments this week by Monday night and to expect a similar email every week. It's part of billionaire Eli Musk's efforts to trim the federal workforce. The Social

Security Administration announced yesterday it's eliminating thousands of positions. NPR's Ron Elving has more. At this point the cuts are to Social Security staff. The Administration announced Friday it plans to cut 7,000 jobs in response to an executive order from President Trump who has said he wants to slash the federal workforce even in what have been considered politically sensitive functions such as social security. NPR's Ron Elving reporting, social security advocates say that the agency is at its lowest

level in staffing in 50 years despite the growing number of recipients. A late-week rally on Wall Street left the Dow Jones Industrial Average in positive territory, but it was not enough to erase losses for the market's other major indexes. NPR's Scott Horsley reports. The Dow jumped more than 600 points on Friday after the Commerce Department reported a slowdown in inflation. According to the department's yardstick, which is closely watched by the Federal Reserve, consumer prices in January were up just 2.5 percent from a year ago. Many people are worried, though, that President Trump's threatened

tariffs could rekindle inflation. An index of consumer confidence showed the biggest one-month drop in three and a half years. It's not clear that drop in confidence will translate to a drop in spending, but investors are feeling jittery. While the Dow rose nearly 1 percent for the week, the S&P 500 index dropped nearly a percent, and the tech-heavy NASDAQ tumbled almost 3.5 percent. Scott Horsley in Pear News, Washington. This is NPR News.

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced today he's running for the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York. The Democrat is attempting a political comeback after resigning from the governor's office in 2021 because of sexual harassment allegations. David Johansson, the flamboyant frontman of the New York Dolls, died yesterday at his home in New York City at the age of 75. He had cancer. NPR's Chloe Veltman reports. The New York Dolls rose to fame in the early 1970s with their brash sound and cross-dressing ways. The Dolls' albums flopped, but they influenced a wave of more commercially successful bands including the Ramones, the Sex Pistols and the Smiths, David Johansson talked about the Dolls' origins on WHYY's Fresh Air in

2004. It was like us against the world and we were really trying to evolve music into something new. Johansson was born on Staten Island into a middle class family. After graduating high school he gravitated towards New York's experimental performance scene. After the dolls broke up in 1975, Johansson achieved acclaim with his martini-sipping, tuxedo-wearing alter-ego Buster Poindexter. Chloe Veltman, NPR News. The Vatican issued another update on Pope Francis today, who's been hospitalized for

two weeks with respiratory problems. It said his condition remains stable, he continues to eat on his own, and is alert and oriented. The 88-year-old pontiff is being treated with non-invasive mechanical ventilation and has had no new respiratory attacks. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News in Washington.