NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-07-2025 3AM EST

Episode Date: March 7, 2025

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On the embedded podcast. No, no. It's called denying a sweetened speech. It's misinformation. Like so many Americans, my dad has gotten swept up in conspiracy theories. These are not conspiracy theories. These are reality. I spent the year following him down the rabbit hole, trying to get him back. Listen to alternate realities on the embedded podcast from NPR. All episodes available now.

Live from NPR News in New York City, I'm Dwahlai Saikoutou. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt said Thursday on social media that President Trump was not signing an executive order on the Department of Education. But NPR obtained a draft of an executive action that instructs the newly confirmed Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, to quote, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education. NPR's Corey Turner reviewed the draft. The executive order mentions that all department funding should be subject to the Trump administration's new anti-diversity equity and inclusion rules. The problem is a huge focus of federal disability law for children is inclusion. You know, before those laws in the

1970s, kids with disabilities were regularly excluded. They were turned away from schools or they were warehoused or even institutionalized. And Piers Corey Turner, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to make some payments to foreign aid groups in a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court. And Piers Fetmitanis says more. Judge Amir Ali with the DC District Court said the government had until 6 p.m. on Monday to make some of the payments it owes to global health groups for work they did before the Administration's foreign aid freeze. This is the second deadline ordered by the judge last week The government blew through the first one imposed by the court and appealed to the Supreme Court to block the deadline

The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the government's request and said it had to abide by the lower courts ruling State rejected the government's request and said it had to abide by the lower court's ruling. The government owes some two billion dollars in back pay and Judge Ali said he would issue a more detailed order on when the government must pay all that it owes including to groups not involved in the lawsuit. Fatima Tanis, NPR News. European Union leaders met in an emergency session in Brussels and unanimously agreed to move forward on plans to dramatically scale up their defense investments. Terry Schultz reports Hungary refused to approve a joint statement supporting Ukraine.

Recognizing Russia's war against Ukraine as what they call an existential challenge for the EU, the 27 leaders agreed to move forward on ways to come up with as much as 800 billion more euros, 860 billion US dollars, to spend on their militaries. In a separate declaration on Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban maintained his tradition of opposing more support. Speaking after the meeting, Orban expressed skepticism about the entire plan. We just got information about huge, huge sum of money which is impossible to generate from the given circumstance of the European economy.

We are not able to fund that. More details on how exactly the EU executive plans to do that will be presented at another summit later this month. For NPR News, I'm Terry Schultz in Brussels. You're listening to NPR News from New York. Even before it makes landfall near Brisbane, Tropical Storm Alfred is already forcing thousands to evacuate along Australia's eastern coast, where wind gusts of up to 75 miles have been reported. Airports in the area have been forced to close.

For the first time since he was hospitalized at Rome's Gemelli Hospital three weeks ago, Pope Francis released an audio message speaking in Spanish, saying, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers, for my health from the square. I accompany you from here. May God bless you and the Virgin protect you. The 88-year-old pontiff participated in Ash Wednesday celebrations and continues his respiratory and other physical therapy. Butterfly numbers have fallen 22% since the year 2000, according to new research in the journal Science, and Piers Jonathan Lambert reports.

Monitoring insect populations over time can be tricky, since they're often small and hard to find. But for decades, butterfly enthusiasts and scientists alike have counted butterflies across the country. Now, a team of researchers analyzed butterfly counts from 2000 to 2020, finding declines in all parts of the US for all sorts of butterflies. The researchers found 13 times as many species

dropped in numbers as opposed to increased. Habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change are all likely to blame. Those forces harm other insects too, ones that are harder to study but play key roles in many ecosystems. Jonathan Lampert, NPR News. Asian shares are mostly lower at this hour. I'm Dwali Saikal Tal, NPR News. Neuroscientist Ethan Cross says, this hour. I'm Dwali PsyKalatel, NPR News.