NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-18-2025 12PM EDT

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

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When you take a shower or get ready in the morning, how many products are you using? Everything from your shampoo to your lotion. In our study, we found that the average woman used about 19 products every day and the average man used about seven. These products might come at a cost. The ingredients they contain can be harmful to our health. Listen to the Life Kit podcast from NPR to learn more about the risks of personal care products. to learn more about the risks of personal care products.

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Gaza's health ministry is reporting more than 400 deaths and hundreds more people injured since Israel launched aerial attacks overnight and shattered a two-month-old ceasefire with Hamas. The Associated Press capturing images of people of all ages being rushed into a medical facility in Khan Younis. Israel says it's still striking terrorist targets belonging to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations across the Gaza Strip.

NPR's Hadil Al-Shalchi reports on whether the latest assault means the ceasefire is over. It might be a little too early to tell if the war is fully back on or what these strikes mean exactly for the ceasefire. You know, in recent weeks, Israel has been steadily increasing strikes in Gaza. Hamas hasn't yet responded with its own strikes. But today's assault is, of course, a pressure tactic by Israel to get Hamas to accept that extension. And they're a huge step back.

And Piers Hadil Alshalchi reporting. A potential ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine is at the center of talks this hour between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Department of Justice must comply today with a court ruling ordering it to provide details on a series of deportation flights carrying alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a US-designated foreign terror organization. A federal judge said the DOJ ignored multiple rulings to turn around the flights. Here's NPR's Sergio Martinez Beltrán.

Federal Judge James Boasberg issued oral and written rulings on Saturday, ordering the Trump administration to stop using the Alien Enemies Act to remove people to El Salvador. But the DOJ suggested in a hearing Monday that a verbal ruling was not strong enough to stop them from flying more than 260 people to the Central American country. The Justice Department claims it did not fly additional migrants once Bosberg issued a written order. Bosberg ordered the DOJ to provide a sworn declaration that no one on any flight departing Saturday evening was removed under the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used wartime law. The judge is also asking for flight details and DOJ's estimates

of how many people it views as subject to the Alien Enemies Act remain in the US and in custody. Sergio Martinez Beltran, NPR News. The Federal Reserve's policymakers are meeting over the next two days. The gathering underway is being held against the backdrop of the Trump administration's sweeping cuts across the federal government, as well as tariffs due to take effect next month. The uncertainty raising fears of a recession this year, which has roiled US markets at last check on Wall Street We see the Dow is down 354 points or more than half a percent at 41,487 the SMP is now down more than 1% the Nasdaq is down

1.6 percent. This is NPR news This is NPR News. Civil rights scholars are expressing concern that the Civil Rights Act is being rapidly undone by the administration. Here's NPR's Sandhya Dirks. Civil rights scholars are warning of the consequences of closing civil rights offices and the firing of civil rights investigators and lawyers alongside attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Victor Ray is a professor of sociology and American studies at the University of Iowa. Civil rights law might still be on the books, but if you don't have anyone doing audits,

if you don't have anyone firing people who are systematically discriminating, it doesn't matter because there's no enforcement of the law. The Trump administration argues for colorblind enforcement of civil rights law and says DEI is anti-white racism. Sunthea Dirks, NPR News. New research examines how iguanas made it to the island of Fiji. NPR's Jonathan Lambert with details. How iguanas got to Fiji from the Americas

has long been a mystery. The lizards could have walked, over many generations, across ancient land bridges, or they could have floated there on a raft of tangled vegetation. New genetic analyses published in the journal PNAS point to the raft idea. The study says Fijian iguanas are likely too young, evolutionarily speaking, to have crossed the ancient land bridges.

And that suggests that these lizards floated around 5,000 miles to reach the island. Jonathan Lambert, NPR News. The Nasdaq is down more than 300 points or 1.7 percent. This is NPR News.