NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-16-2025 6PM EDT

Episode Date: March 16, 2025

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Here on Shortwave, we believe that science is for everyone and that every question is worth asking, no matter your age. My name is Willie and my question is, is magic real? Our podcast is for the curious at heart. Come embrace your inner child when you listen now to ShoreWave from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Hurst. The U.S. and Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen are both following escalation. After Washington launched airstrikes yesterday to deter the rebels from attacking military

and commercial vessels on one of the world's busiest shopping corridors. More than 30 people were killed, dozens injured. The Houthis say they will meet escalation with escalation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the strikes will continue until the Houthis are no longer capable of controlling which ships go through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. And he says it's important that the U.S. warned Iran to stop supporting the group. What we can't ignore, and the reason why the president mentioned Iran, is because the Iranians have supported the Houthis. They provided them intelligence.

They provided them guidance. They provided them weaponry. I mean, there's no way the Houthis, okay, the Houthis would have the ability to do this kind of thing unless they had support from Iran. Speaking there on CBS's Face the Nation. A London-based charity has confirmed eight of its staff members were killed by back-to-back Israeli airstrikes in Gaza this weekend. The organization says they were carrying out humanitarian work for the Muslim holy month

of Ramadan. And Piers Katlonsdorf has more. In a video statement on the Al-Khair Foundation's Facebook page, founder Qasim Rashid Ahmed said the group had been using a drone to film and document how to add a thousand more tents for displaced Palestinians to the northern area of Beit Lehiya. They were filming for humanitarian purpose. They were not filming on military zone. They were purely on humanitarian area.

The area where the strikes happened is designated as a free movement area by the Israeli military. Israel says the strikes killed members from a quote terrorist cell, including individuals undercover as journalists and the drone was being used to carry out attacks against Israeli forces in Gaza. The Al-Khair Foundation denies that. Kat Lonsdorf, MPR News, Tel Aviv. President Trump and Elon Musk are continuing their efforts to shrink the federal workforce. And Piers Mara-Liason has more. Seven more agencies were targeted in an executive order Friday night, including the Agency for Global Media, which funds Voice of America, often the only nonpartisan source of news

for people living under authoritarian regimes. The deep cuts continue despite pushback from federal judges and from Republicans, including Vice President Vance, who told NBC News that there are quote, a lot of good people who work in the government. Vance also said that Musk had made mistakes with the mass firings, but Musk is sticking with his chainsaw approach. He disparages and even savages federal workers,

calling them corrupt and incompetent. He recently posted on X, his social media platform, that quote, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Mao Tse-Tung didn't murder millions of people, their public sector employees did. That post was later deleted. Mara Liason, NPR News. You're listening to NPR News. You're listening to NPR News. The Trump administration has ordered agencies to end programs related to diversity, equity,

and inclusion. As Eva Testify of Member Station WWNO reports, that order is hitting some unexpected targets, including a nationwide effort to plant trees in majority black neighborhoods. The US Forest Service terminated a 75 million dollar contract with the Arbor Day Foundation. The national organization was going to distribute that money to nonprofits, towns, and tribes across the country. Trees can reduce heat, take up stormwater, and improve air quality. A New Orleans nonprofit Sustaining Our Urban Landscape was supposed to use those funds to restore trees lost to Hurricane Katrina.

Executive Director Susanna Burley says it's absurd to cancel the money as an equity program. The word equity is pervasive in the grants that were funded by this, but in a totally different context. A USDA spokesperson said the agency was complying with Trump's executive orders. For NPR News, I'm Eva Tesfai in New Orleans. The two astronauts stuck on the International Space Station for nine months are finally

set to come home this week. This after a SpaceX capsule arrived at the station this morning, delivering their replacements. The four newcomers will spend the next four days learning the station's ins and outs from Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, and then those two head home. They were supposed to be gone for just a week last June when they took a Boeing Starliner capsule up there, but that craft had so many problems, NASA thought it wasn't safe enough to bring them home. I'm Janene Herbst, NPR News in Washington.