NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-03-2025 4AM EST

Episode Date: March 3, 2025

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NPR informs and connects communities around the country, providing reliable information in times of crisis. Federal funding helps us fulfill our mission to create a more informed public, and ensures that public radio remains available to everyone. Learn more about safeguarding the future of public media. Visit ProtectMyPublicMedia.org. Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky received a warm welcome Sunday from British Prime Minister

Keir Starmer. They were joined by more than a dozen EU leaders to discuss a plan to provide additional help for Ukraine in its war with Russia. Afterward, they announced a four-step plan that includes a unified EU front. Terry Schultz says the conversation will continue later this week. On Thursday, the 27 EU leaders will come to Brussels for a meeting focused entirely on defense. And again, this was scheduled before things went so awry in the Oval Office.

And it was already unusual to hold such a high-level meeting on one subject only, defense and security. But that's how worried people already were even before this last deterioration. Terry Schultz reporting from Belgium. As European leaders pledge more support for Ukraine, pro-Ukrainian rallies continued across the U.S. on Sunday. Chuck Quirmbach, a member station WUWM, reports that about 250 people demonstrated in Milwaukee. A group sang the Ukraine national anthem as people gathered to lament Friday's failure

to reach a minerals deal between Ukraine and the United States, an agreement that may have helped end the war with Russia. That failure followed a heated argument in the White House between President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. Halina Salopata heads the nonprofit group Wisconsin Ukrainians. She says she's glad to hear some European leaders pledge to work on a ceasefire proposal involving Ukraine. — Europeans like no one else know what the war means in Europe.

— Some officials are also talking about a European military force to help keep the peace. For NPR News, I'm Chuck Quirmbach in Milwaukee. Most federal workers were sent another email this weekend asking them to respond by saying what they were working on last week. The first time the request was made, it caused confusion and a number of departments told employees not to respond. This time, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is telling civilian employees that it's a quick and easy process. Provide without any classified or sensitive information basic topics of what you did last week and that we will take that into consideration as we make sure we're being as focused and

as tailored as possible in looking at how we streamline our workforce. Israel has once again drawn criticism after stopping all food and other aid from moving into Gaza. The aid began flowing at the start of the first Gaza ceasefire in January and since then thousands of trucks carrying supplies have entered into the area. Stocks in Asia began Monday with solid gains before dropping for the day. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.2% while the Shanghai Composite slipped by 0.3%. The Nikkei 225 though advanced 1.7%. Observers say traders were jittery as sharply higher tariffs on U.S. imports of Chinese goods are set to take

effect on Tuesday. This is NPR News. A coalition of community and religious leaders is organizing a Mega March this month in downtown Dallas. KERA's Priscilla Rice reports it's to call for bipartisan immigration reform. Organizers came together at Dallas City Hall Tuesday to announce plans for the Mega March. They say it's to bring attention to what activists call a broken immigration system that is causing fear and tearing families apart. Domingo Garcia is a former president of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

And we believe it's time that we stand up against the hate, we stand up against the scapegoating and the fear-mongering, and we stand up for American values. The Mega March will take place March 30th in downtown Dallas. A similar march in 2006 drew an estimated half a million people. For NPR News, I'm Priscilla Rice in Dallas. The private lunar lander named Blue Ghost touched down on the moon Sunday. The landing took place on the near side. The lander delivered a drill and contained experiments from NASA.

The rocket and lander were developed by Firefly Aerospace. Lander's from two other companies are also on their way to the moon this year with one targeting a landing sometime later this week. Jake Knapp tried to become the first wire-to- wire winner in tournament history this weekend at the PGA National in Florida but he hit a triple bogey after going into the water on one hole in Sunday's round and that allowed room for Joe Highsmith to sneak in for the win. Highsmith shot two rounds of 64 on the weekend and rallied from four shots down on Sunday to win the tournament by two strokes. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.