NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-04-2025 9AM EST

Episode Date: March 4, 2025

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Hey, it's Amartinez. 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 Upfirst podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman. President Trump has imposed 25% tariffs overnight on goods from Canada and Mexico. He imposed an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods. He says it's to stop illegal drug trafficking into the

U.S. But many manufacturers are bracing for higher costs they say they will pass on to American consumers. David Schaper reports from Chicago, it will cost more for items such as kitchenware. At the International Housewares Association's annual trade show here in Chicago, Jan Murtagh is showing off her company CDN's latest innovation, a Bluetooth-enabled meat thermometer. Temperatures will come to your phone, and so it's a convenient thing. The high-tech device is one of many made in China, Mexico, and Canada that will be heavily tariffed.

A cost Myrtos says will be passed on to consumers, who then may not want to shell out the higher price. It gets to the point you don't want to pay. It's just too expensive, and you can live without it. And housewares manufacturers in the U.S. fear retaliatory tariffs on their products could hurt their businesses. For NPR News, I'm David Schaper in Chicago. Israeli Finance Minister is in Washington this week to meet with U.S. Treasury officials.

NPR's Hadil Al-Shalchi reports this would be the first in-person talks between the finance minister and President Trump's administration. Israeli Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich said he will meet with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson to, quote, strengthen economic cooperation and deepen a strategic alliance between the two countries. Smotrich is an ardent advocate of Israeli settlements and has called for the Israeli reoccupation of Gaza. He welcomed President Trump's proposal of displacing Palestinians from Gaza to other

countries and rebuilding the strip under U.S. ownership. Smotrich said the Israeli government is still standing because he's been promised there will be a war against Hamas, threatening Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ability to stay in power. Hadeel Al-Shalchi, NPR News, Tel Aviv. Health officials in Texas say at least 146 people have the measles in that state and most of them are not vaccinated. One unvaccinated child has died. New U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a known vaccine skeptic. Over the weekend, he wrote an editorial for Fox News voicing

support for the measles vaccine. Dr. Preeti Malani is an infectious disease physician at the University of Michigan. Science and public health shouldn't be things that divide us. But the reality is, is there's an enormous amount of misinformation out there. And for the secretary to state that vaccination's important is helpful. And I am heartened by the fact that there are reports on the ground in Texas and other places is that families are coming with their children who haven't been vaccinated to be vaccinated. She spoke to NPR's morning edition.

This is NPR. The Vatican says Pope Francis slept through the night overnight and continues to rest in a Rome hospital. He is in stable condition. The pontiff continues to receive oxygen, although not with help from a machine. This came after he had new breathing problems. Francis had two procedures to clear away mucus. The winner of architecture's most prestigious award has been announced today. As NPR's Neda Ulibi reports, this year's Pritzker Prize has been awarded to an architect from China. NEDA ULABI

Liu Jiaoquan was born in 1956. He was one of the first architects to start a private firm in China. He's mostly worked there throughout his career designing museums, university buildings, even a maternity ward for pandas at a research institution in Chengdu. Liu told NPR through his translator, his 24-year-old son Martin, that after a deadly earthquake in 2008, his firm made bricks from the rubble. They became known as rebirth bricks because of what they were used for. Like a reconstruction of some buildings in villages and also some public buildings in the city. Each brick, he said, contained a visible memory of what

came before. Neda Ulibi, NPR News. Officials in South Carolina say a wildfire near the coastal city of Myrtle Beach has now grown to more than 2,000 acres. It is less than a third contained. Mardi Gras parades are rolling this morning in New Orleans, but some routes have been adjusted or shortened. There's a high wind threat today. Powerful storms could rake New Orleans later this afternoon.

I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News in Washington.