NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-17-2025 2AM EDT

Episode Date: March 17, 2025

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Shortwave thinks of science as an invisible force, showing up in your everyday life, powering the food you eat, the medicine you use, the tech in your pocket. Science is approachable because it's already part of your life. Come explore these connections on the Shortwave podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. Defense Secretary Pete Hegsass says the U.S. attacks on Houthi targets in Yemen will continue until the rebels stop shooting at commercial ships off their coast. Speaking on Fox News Sunday, he also offered a warning to Houthi backer Iran.

This is about stopping the shooting at assets in that critical waterway to reopen freedom of navigation, which is a core national interest of the United States. And Iran has been enabling the Houthis for far too long. They better back off. Houthi health officials say at least 53 people were killed in the U.S. attacks. Houthi forces, meanwhile, launched 11 drones and a missile at U.S. ships on Sunday. The Pentagon says the drones were shot down and the missile fell into the sea. Military analysts say Ukrainian troops now hold just a small sliver of land in Russia's Kursk region. That's after fierce clashes with Russian troops trying to dislodge

them. As NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports, Ukraine's campaign to seize and occupy the Russian region seems to be nearing an end. Ukraine had wanted to use its Kursk conquest as a bargaining chip in any ceasefire negotiations. Its surprise invasion last August marked the biggest attack on Russia since the Nazi invasion of 1941. President Vladimir Putin used North Korean troops to try to get back the territory in a lightning offensive that has reduced the area under Ukrainian control from 500 to about 40 square miles.

In his nightly address Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Putin had ignored the U.S.-Ukrainian ceasefire proposal to, quote, steal another week of war. We will do everything to intensify diplomacy, said Zelensky, but we must also protect our independence, our state and our people. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Kyiv. The Federal Reserve will hold its latest policy meeting this week and as NPR's Rafael Nam reports, policymakers are gathering at a time of great turmoil in the markets.

After cutting interest rates three times last year, the Fed is widely expected to keep them on hold for a second consecutive meeting this year. The main reason is still inflation, which is still a little higher than what the Fed would like. And now there are rising concerns about how President Trump's tariffs will impact the economy. The US has introduced a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports, and the European Union and Canada have said they

will retaliate. Trump is threatening to impose more tariffs, which is all but certain to make things more expensive, potentially making it a lot harder for the Fed to bring down inflation. Rafael Nalm, NPR News. NASA officials say the two astronauts who have spent the last nine months at the International Space Station will be heading home Tuesday night. The pair had expected to spend just a week in space, but their Boeing space capsule had safety issues. The replacement astronauts for the two men arrived at the space station this weekend.

You're listening to NPR News. Residents of several central U.S. states are now assessing the damage left behind from an unusually powerful storm that passed through the region this weekend. At least 37 people were killed from a mix of tornadoes, dust storms, and rain. Forecasters say the storm could now bring damaging winds to the Carolinas, East Georgia, and northern Florida. Pope Francis was seen praying in a hospital chapel in a photo released by the Vatican on Sunday.

As NPS Joe Hernandez reports, it's the first time the pontiff has been seen since he was hospitalized in Rome more than a month ago. The image published online by the Holy See Press Office shows Francis sitting in a wheelchair inside the hospital's private chapel. The Vatican says Francis, who was wearing a white robe and purple vestment, was praying after having just finished con-celebrating Mass Sunday morning. The 88-year-old pope entered the hospital on February 14th for a case of bronchitis. While there, he developed several other medical issues, including a polymicrobial infection and pneumonia in both lungs. But doctors now say Francis is stable and responding well to his ongoing treatments. Joe Hernandez, NPR News. This

weekend may be the lowest grossing of the year so far at North American movie theaters. The Jack Quaid action comedy Novocaine took first place with eight point seven million dollars in ticket sales. Mickey 17 and the new Stephen Soderbergh spy thriller Black Bag are tied at second with 7.5 million dollars of sales each. And Captain America, Brave New World finished in fourth. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News. On Throughlight from NPR News.