NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-07-2025 1PM EST

Episode Date: March 7, 2025

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This message comes from Wondery. At 24 years old, Monika Lewinsky was in a scandal that defined who she was for the entire world. And now she's ready to draw from her own experience on what it means to redefine yourself on her new podcast, Reclaiming with Monika Lewinsky. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. podcasts. Lyle from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Trump says he may impose reciprocal tariffs on Canada as early as today. They have a tremendously high tariff, give you the exact numbers in a little while coming out, on lumber.

So they sell us number. They have a tremendous tariff. They make it impossible for us to sell lumber or dairy products into Canada. Trump taking reporters questions at the Oval Office a day after his administration announced a one-month reprieve from tariffs on certain Canadian and Mexican imports. He also addressed the jobs report out today. He says the labor market's going to be fantastic. Labor Department said that in February the economy gained 151,000 jobs falling short of the 160,000 to 170,000 job gains widely projected the unemployment

rate ticked up to 4.1 percent last month. Trump also addressed the need for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine on his social media platform, Truth Social. Trump appears to respond to attacks on Ukraine's energy facilities today. He said Russia is, quote, absolutely pounding Ukraine. He said he was seriously considering sanctions and tariffs on Russia until a ceasefire and a peace deal is reached. The president says he sent a letter to Iranian leadership saying he hoped to negotiate a nuclear deal.

NPR's Franco Ordonia reports Trump says the alternative is using the military. President Trump said he sent the letter Wednesday to Iran's supreme leader saying he wants to reach a deal on the country's nuclear program. In an interview with Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo, Trump said he hopes they negotiate because he doesn't want to have to use military options to try to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. There are two ways Iran can be handled, militarily or you make a deal. I would prefer to make a deal because I'm not looking to hurt Iran. Last month, Trump restored his maximum pressure campaign on Iran that he practiced throughout

his first term. That goal is to starve Tehran of cash and resources in order to stop the government from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Franco, Ordonez, NPR News. California Governor Gavin Newsom, a possible White House contender, has made comments suggesting he does not support

transgender female athletes playing on women's sports teams. Here's Cap Radius' Laura Fitzgerald. On the first episode of Newsom's new podcast, he spoke with conservative political activist, Charlie Kirk. But like, would you do something like that? Would you say no men in female sports? Well, I think it's an issue of fairness. I completely agree with you on that. LGBTQ plus advocates and democratic state lawmakers are strongly criticizing Newsom for the comments. Assembly member Chris Ward of San Diego chairs the legislative LGBTQ caucus. We were certainly caught off guard

and woke up incredibly sickened and disgusted about seeing somebody who's been an ally of our community use this language. A recent New York Times and Ipsos poll found 67% of Democrats nationally say transgender athletes should not be allowed to participate in women's sports. It's NPR.

In Syria, the government is imposing curfews in response to clashes between security forces and fighters linked to the former regime. Human rights monitors say more than a dozen police officers were killed in ambushes in a southern coastal city. NPR's Jane Arav has the latest from Damascus. The Syrian government has imposed a curfew on the port cities of Latakia and Tartus, warning people to stay home according to the Syrian state news agency. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the officers were killed in an ambush near

Latakia by what it said were forces loyal to deposed president Bashar al-Assad. The new interim government has been sending in fighters to do sweeps of cities, and this week it said it arrested a top intelligence officer in the former regime. Jane Araf, NPR News, Damascus. Changes coming to the TSA's workforce. The Department of Homeland Security said today it is ending collective bargaining for the Transportation Security Administration's officer saying it has constrained TSA's mission to safeguard the country's transportation systems.

Today's announcement affects tens of thousands of employees who are at the front lines of working to keep air travelers safe. U.S. stocks trading lower this hour. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 386 points at last check or roughly 1% at 42,192. The S&P was down 67 points. The Nasdaq was down 274 points. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News. 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 when 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.