NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-02-2025 8AM EST

Episode Date: March 2, 2025

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Hey, it's Amartines. 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. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. Britain's Prime Minister is hosting EU and Canadian leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a defense summit today. The meeting called before Friday's friary confrontation in the Oval Office. Vicki Barker reports from London that blow-up is adding

urgency to the event. European leaders were already waking up slowly to the possibility of a Europe stripped of the US security guarantees they've counted on for eight decades. But French President Emmanuel Macron's emergency summit last month failed to bring the strong action on Ukraine he had pushed for. Defense analyst Justin Crump telling the BBC today's could be the now or never summit. Does Europe pull together today or are they going to eventually do it in a few years, which could be much more expensive, or will Europe never pull together and actually we all sink into slight obscurity on the world stage? The leaders will reconvene in Brussels on Thursday.

For NPR News, I'm Vicki Barker in London. Israel has stopped all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza in a standoff with Hamas over the ceasefire deal. The first phase of it ended yesterday, and now Israel has announced support for a new proposal to extend the first phase. Hamas says it's an attempt to evade the original deal and is calling for immediate talks on the second phase. Three years after resigning in disgrace, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced

he's running for mayor of New York City. Here's Bruce Convice reporting. With wide name recognition in New York and backed by deep-pocketed supporters, Cuomo becomes the front-runner in a race that includes the incumbent Mayor Eric Adams. Cuomo grabbed national attention during the early days of the COVID pandemic, seeming to strike all the right notes during daily press briefings. But within months, his political career crashed and burned amid multiple sexual harassment allegations. In the run-up to the June primary, New York City is beset by sky-high housing prices and crime concerns. Cuomo will face a stiff challenge

from a class of political newcomers, as well as from the current mayor who is mired in his own political scandals. For NPR News, I'm Bruce Conviser in New York. More than 800 employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration among the federal workers who've been cut this past week, including staff from the National Weather Service. Weather data essential to fishermen's safety and their bottom line from Maine public. Molly Enking spoke to some commercial fishermen about how the cuts may impact them. At an annual conference for fishermen, Eric Hess of West Barnstable, Massachusetts says fishermen like him need access to more weather data, not less. All these things you know are structured and are part of our daily life on the water

and to suddenly lose part of that could really disrupt our fisheries. Details on who exactly was laid off are still emerging, although various reports say meteorologists, space weather forecasters, and computer modelers are some of those affected. For NPR News, I'm Mollie Anking. And this is NPR News. Officials in South Carolina calling on residents of the community of Carolina Forest to evacuate Carolina Forest about 10 miles northwest of Myrtle Beach, a wildfire is burning there. Local reports say the fire doubled in size overnight to around 1,200 acres.

The fire started yesterday. Its cause is not clear. The Federal Aviation Administration has approved the next test launch of a giant rocket built by Elon Musk. NPR's Jeff Brumfield reports it comes about a month after the last test of Starship ended with an explosion over the Caribbean. The FAA said that SpaceX had met all safety and environmental requirements for this next launch even as it continues to investigate what went wrong with the last one.

That previous launch, which took place on January 16th, resulted in an explosion that sent debris arcing across the Caribbean islands of Turks and Caicos. Well over a dozen commercial flights were diverted to avoid pieces of the falling rocket. SpaceX says the failure was caused by a propellant leak and that it's fixed the problem. Starship's next test launch could come as soon as Monday. Jeff Brumfield, NPR News. Elon Musk, electric car company Tesla is being targeted by demonstrators, angry about his efforts on behalf of President Trump to shrink the size of government.

There were protests at Tesla dealerships around the country this weekend. Hundreds turned out at a dealership in New York City. Police say nine people were arrested. A private company based outside Austin, Texas has put its blue ghost lander on the moon. The successful touchdown for Firefly Aerospace came early this morning. I'm Jai Hill Snyder, NPR News.