NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-07-2025 5AM EST

Episode Date: March 7, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dave Mattingly. A federal judge is ordering the Trump administration to make payments to foreign aid groups within the next few days in a case that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Here's NPR's Fatma Tanis. Judge Amer Ali with the D.C. District Court said the government had until 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 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. Fatma Tanis, NPR News. The House has voted to censure Democratic Congressman Al Green of Texas. Green was escorted from the House chamber on Tuesday night after disrupting President Trump's speech to a joint session of Congress.

Ten Democratic lawmakers joined Republicans in that censure vote. President Trump's special envoy to Ukraine and Russia says Kiev was given fair warning by the White House before Trump ordered a pause of U.S. military aid to Ukraine. Retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg was speaking yesterday to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. 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, as NPR's Jane Araf reports 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. SpaceX says its latest hour-long test flight of the company's large Starship rocket ended in an explosion yesterday. Controllers say they lost contact with the 403-foot crewless rocket minutes after launch from Texas. SpaceX says the rocket reached an altitude of 90 miles

when problems occurred, preventing the deployment of four mock satellites. Stock futures are higher this morning following yesterday's sell-off on Wall Street. This is NPR News from Washington. Pharmacy retailer Walgreens is being sold to a private equity firm. Sycamore Partners has agreed to pay $10 billion to acquire Walgreens Boots Alliance. Walgreens has seen falling sales and declining prescription reimbursements at its retail stores for years. Last October, Walgreens announced plans to close roughly 1,200 stores across the U.S. over the next three years.

The latest numbers on employment in the U.S. are due out this morning from the Labor Department. As NPR's Scott Horsley reports, they're expected to show a modest uptick in hiring in the month of February. Scott Horsley, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News,

NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News, NPR News,, when cold, snowy weather blanketed much of the country and discouraged a lot of outdoor work, the weather in February was somewhat warmer, and forecasters think today's report will show somewhat stronger hiring during the month. That won't reflect the chill that fell over the federal workforce last month. As the Trump administration began making widespread job cuts, most of those cuts came in the second half of the month after the jobs tally was conducted. Federal employees make up about one and a half percent of the overall US workforce. Business surveys suggest that uncertainty

surrounding trade policy could be a drag on private sector hiring going forward. Scott Horsley in PR News, Washington. Authorities in Oregon say a vehicle discovered in the Columbia River by a diver several months ago may have belonged to a family of five who disappeared in 1958. Salvage efforts were called off before dark yesterday. They're expected to resume today. I'm Dave Mattingly, NPR News in Washington.