NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-06-2025 4AM EST

Episode Date: March 6, 2025

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At this year's Oscars, Anorah took home the award for Best Picture, Zoe Saldana and Kieran Culkin also picked up wins, and Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo delivered a show-stopping opening number. For a recap of all the highlights, listen to the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in New York City, I'm Dwahilisa Ikaotow. The United States has put on hold intelligence sharing with Ukraine. This comes in the wake of the Trump administration saying it's also pausing all future shipments of security assistance.

NPR's Tom Bowman reports the U.S. had provided Ukraine with key information about Russian troop locations since the start of the full-scale war. U.S. officials, including National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, they've indicated that a pause might be short-lived if President Trump determines Ukraine is serious about moving forward with peace talks. But the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, said cutting off intelligence support

to our Ukrainian partners will cost lives. NPR's Tom Bowman reporting. During President Trump's hiring freeze, some people are still getting jobs in national security, immigration enforcement, and healthcare. But as NPR's Jenna McLaughlin reports, many agencies are hitting a new roadblock in onboarding

staff exempt from the freeze. Gwen Fryermood is a registered nurse and union member at a VA hospital in Albany. She says she was confused a few weeks ago when her team couldn't seem to hire desperately needed bedside nurses and nursing assistants. Just in passing, I was talking to someone and they're like, yeah, we've been locked out for 10 days. The Office of Personnel Management, now run by allies of billionaire Elon Musk, is making it difficult for agencies to use the software program many federal offices rely on to onboard

new hires. They claim it's an attempt to make sure jobs are exempt from Trump's freeze. However, it's already preventing hospitals from hiring vital staff to care for veterans. Jenna McLaughlin, NPR News. hospitals from hiring vital staff to care for veterans. Jenna McLaughlin, NPR News. French President Emmanuel Macron is warning that Europe can no longer rely on the US for its security. Macron is calling for stronger European defense and economic resilience amid uncertainty over US support for Ukraine, as NPR's Rebecca Rossman reports. In a televised address, Macron said Europe is entering a new era, where it must take

full responsibility for its own defense. He pointed to Russia's aggression as an ongoing threat, but warned that European nations can no longer assume Washington will always back them up. I want to believe the United States will stay by our side, but we must be ready if that is not the case," he said. Macron's speech marks one of his strongest calls yet for European strategic autonomy. He and other European leaders will meet at a security summit in Brussels Thursday to discuss continued support for Ukraine and wider European security. Rebecca Ronsman, NPR News, Paris. President Trump is expected to issue an executive action as early as today to close the Department

of Education. This is according to a draft of the action obtained by NPR. You are listening to NPR from New York. Opposition lawmakers in Taiwan are criticizing the decision to invest $100 billion in the United States. President Trump announced it earlier this week, but as NPR's Emily Fang reports, some in Taiwan are concerned the island is giving away its best technology. After President Trump threatened up to 100% tariffs on Taiwan-made semiconductors, Taiwan's foremost chip company, TSMC, said it would build another factory in Arizona.

And unlike its three other Arizona factories TSMC agreed to during the Biden administration, TSMC would eventually start making its most advanced line of chips there. Lawmakers with Taiwan's opposition Kuomintang parties said this was diminishing Taiwan's so-called Silicon Shield, the idea that Taiwan's irreplaceable chip technology might protect it from a Chinese invasion, because now the US would have the same technology. And while Taiwan's president's office said it supported the investment, it appeared to contradict TSMC's claim, saying Taiwan would not be producing its most advanced chips in the U.S. in, quote, the next year.

Emily Fang and Pure News. Texas Representative Sylvester Turner has died at the age of 70. A statement released by Turner's congressional office said the longtime Democrat and former Houston mayor died peacefully just hours after attending President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called Turner a powerful, profound, principled public servant. I'm Dwahili Saikoutal, NPR News in New York City.

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