NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-02-2025 12AM EST

Episode Date: March 2, 2025

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When she teaches her students how to write a song, musician Scarlett Keys says they need to ask themselves certain questions. What is the thing that keeps you up at night? What's the thing you can't stop thinking about? As songwriters, we are repurposing human tropes and a new viewpoint with new words, with new music. The people and technology behind the soundtracks of our lives. That's on the TED Radio Hour podcast from NPR.

Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. Federal employees are again weighing how to respond to an email from Elon Musk asking them to detail what they accomplished during the past week. As NPR's Bobby Allen reports, it's part of Musk's White House initiative to root out government inefficiencies. Federal employees have begun receiving an email with the subject line, What did you do last week, part two? The message, like one sent a week ago, instructs government employees

to offer five bullet points highlighting their work. President Trump is supporting Musk's push to try to remove low performing or what they deem unnecessary federal employees. Trump and Musk have also claimed, without evidence, that some federal workers receiving paychecks are dead or non-existent. Critics of Musk's strong-arm tactics say it's a mostly performative gesture to put civil servants on notice that their jobs are now vulnerable. Meanwhile, leadership at agencies have provided mixed guidance on whether workers should reply

or not to the emails. Bobby Allen in PR News. The Pentagon is deploying as many as 3,000 additional troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. It's all part of President Trump's efforts to prevent illegal crossings. MP Scott Newman has more on that story. The Pentagon says the active-duty troops being sent are part of a Stryker Brigade combat team and a general support aviation battalion. They will join others sent shortly after Trump took office in January

and some 2,500 National Guard troops already there since the Biden administration. The latest deployment comes despite a sharp drop in border crossings. Meanwhile, a U.S. official who spoke to NPR in condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to talk about troop movements said site inspections have wrapped up at Fort Bliss, Texas, where thousands of migrants are expected to be detained. Scott Newman, NPR News, Washington. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer offered a warm welcome to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today. The two met just one day after Zelensky had a heated meeting at the White House.

Zelensky thanked Starmer for the welcome. Thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister, happy to be here. And really, I saw a lot of people and I want to thank you, people of the United Kingdom, such big support from the very beginning of this war. Thank you, your team. Starmer told Zelensky that his country had the full backing of the UK and said Britain will stand with his country as long as it takes to end the war with Russia. Israel's government says it supports a proposal to extend the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire

through Ramadan and Passover. Hamas, however, has so far said it instead wants to negotiate that truce's second phase – the first phase officially ended early Sunday morning, Israeli time. Talks are already underway to negotiate a second phase that would lead to the end of the war and bring all remaining hostages in Gaza home. You're listening to NPR News. The US, Canada and several Western countries say they're worried about rising violence in South Sudan so they're urging the warring parties there to de-escalate. Fighting between the South

Sudanese army and local militants in the northeast part of the country has worsened in recent weeks. A fragile peace is held in the world's youngest nation since a brutal civil war ended in 2020, but tensions have continued, as NPR's Emmanuel Akinwatu reports. A joint statement from the U.S. Embassy in South Sudan, as well as the embassies of Canada, France and other European countries, said they are deeply concerned over clashes and the risk of increased violence in Upper Nowe State. Human Rights Watch says violence there has already reached alarming levels, threatening to plunge the region into deeper crisis, a peace deal to end the civil war, called for

a unification process of various armed groups into the army in response to ethnic violence against marginalized communities. But the existing national defense troops have deployed in the region, fueling tensions. Emmanuel Akinwotu, NPR News, Lagos. Pope Francis remained in stable condition today. He suffered a respiratory crisis on Friday. He's been in a Rome hospital where he's dealing with double pneumonia. Doctors say he spent long periods off the mechanical ventilation he initially needed. They say that's a sign that his lung infection is improving. Angie Stone was killed early this morning in a car crash. The Grammy-nominated R&B singer and songwriter was 63 years old.

Stone was a member of the all-female hip-hop trio The Sequence. She was perhaps best known for the hit song, Wish I Didn't Miss You. Her producer says she was in a van heading back to Atlanta when it flipped and was hit by a semi truck. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.