NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-09-2025 9PM EDT

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

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On Thru Line from NPR. The consequences for the country would have been enormous. It would have been a crisis. The man who saw a dangerous omission in the U.S. Constitution and took it upon himself to fix it. Find NPR's Thru Line wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Herbst. Canada has elected a new Prime Minister. Mark Carney won the ruling Liberal Party's leadership contest today and will now replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who stepped down earlier this year. NPR's Jackie Northam

reports Carney will focus on Canada's economic challenges and President Trump's economic warfare. 59-year-old Mark Carney is considered a political outsider. A Harvard and Oxford graduate, Carney comes from the world of finance, which includes stints on Wall Street and as head of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England. That expertise could be critical to tackle Canada's economic challenges. But Carney vows he will also be tough with President Trump and his corrosive trade policies against Canada. Trump helped energize the Liberal Party's leadership contest.

His taunts about turning Canada into a 51st state have sparked a wave of nationalism and gave the Liberals a large bounce in the polls. Carney is expected to be sworn in within a week. Jackie Northam, NPR News. In Selma, Alabama, tens of thousands commemorated the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday when law enforcement officers attacked a peaceful voting rights demonstration in 1965. And here's Debbie Elliott has more. A far cry from the violence back then, the crowd had police protection as they retraced

the footsteps of those who braved Edmund Pettus Bridge 60 years ago. Sheila Bonds made the pilgrimage with the Indianapolis Coalition of 100 Black Women. This is really important for us to remember, for our youth to take a stand and to make sure as the U.S. government is making huge changes that we are included in the change. Bonds and others say they fear a rollback of gains achieved by voting rights activists in 1965. Debbie Elliott, NPR News, Selma. France says it will use interest from Russian assets to fund $200 million worth of weapons for Ukraine. Empire's Eleanor Beardsley reports the announcement comes after Britain financed

nearly a billion dollars in military equipment using interest from frozen Russian assets. French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu says France will provide artillery shells and glide bombs for the French-made Mirage fighter jets it has already delivered. Europe is working to make up for U.S. cuts in aid to Ukraine. In a weekend interview with newspaper La Tribune, Lecornu said France also plans to hand over some of its older armored fighting vehicles. While the European confiscation of frozen Russian assets is still controversial, the interest income they generate is being used.

Eleanor Beardsley in Pierre News, Paris. US futures contracts are trading lower at this hour. Dow futures are down more than a half percent. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. In Nepal, thousands of supporters of the country's former king demonstrated in Kathmandu today, calling for the South Asian nation to return to a monarchy and for Hinduism to be brought back as a state religion. Protesters are angry at the federal parliamentary republic, blaming it for a struggling economy and widespread corruption.

Nepal has had 13 governments since the monarchy was abolished in 2008 after massive street protests forced the king to give up his authoritarian rule. The world's largest iceberg, which has been adrift for years, has finally stopped moving in the South Atlantic Ocean short of colliding into a remote island, where scientists feared it could hurt penguin and seal populations. And here's Kari Kahn has more. The giant iceberg known as A23A measures about 1,300 square miles. That's more than four times the size of Manhattan. It broke from the Antarctic shelf decades ago in a process known as calving, but remained

stuck until it headed towards South Georgia Island in 2020. British researchers on the island feared a direct hit could hurt breeding and feeding for millions of mammals and birds, but now believe the iceberg is far enough offshore, about 50 miles, that it may not cause damage and might even enhance nutrients and ocean productivity. Huge icebergs are normal, but scientists warn the world's ice shelves are experiencing massive losses due to global warming. Kari Kahn, NPR News, Rio de Janeiro. Both the Dow and S&P 500 futures down more than a half percent.

NASDAQ futures are down nearly nine-tenths of a percent. I'm Janene Herbst, NPR News in Washington. This message comes from NYU Langone. I'm Janene Herbst, NPR News in Washington.