NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-18-2025 1PM 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. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakhshmi Singh.

The Chief Justice of the United States, John Roberts, is rejecting the idea of impeaching judges for their decisions. He says if there's disagreement over a judicial decision, quote, the normal appellate review process exists for that purpose. As the head of the federal judiciary, Roberts issued a statement from the court today after President Trump called for the impeachment of a judge presiding over a deportations case. And Piers Jimenez-Bustillo says Trump posted on his social media website, Truth Social, the judges were standing in the way of him curbing illegal immigration.

The post appears to be directed at Judge James Boesberg, a federal judge in D.C. It was made the morning after Boesberg grilled the Justice Department about whether the government had ignored his order to not deport people using the Alien Enemies Act. The act is a wartime power that allows a streamlined deportation process. But DOJ lawyers were unable to answer questions about the flights that carried over 200 people to El Salvador around the time Boasberg issued his order. Trump officials said they did not violate the order, but they have also argued the judge is standing in their way.

Hima Nabustia, NPR News. President Trump has concluded talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Both spoke by phone today as Trump seeks to secure Putin's commitment to a 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine. United Nations officials are expressing alarm over the Israeli airstrikes that have resumed in Gaza. The Associated Press capturing video of the injured streaming into a medical facility in Khan Yunis.

The Gaza Health Ministry says more than 400 people have been killed since the attacks began overnight. And Piers Michelle Kellerman reports that the UN Secretary General and the top UN aid official are calling for resumption of a ceasefire. UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher puts it bluntly. Overnight our worst fears materialized. Air strikes resumed across the entire Gaza Strip. Unconfirmed reports of hundreds of people killed.

He tells the Security Council that Palestinians in Gaza are living in quote, abject fear and humanitarian aid is being blocked. Fletcher and the UN Secretary General are calling on Israel to allow in aid and get back to a ceasefire that had been working for a couple of months. Israel says it resumed airstrikes because Hamas refused to release more of the hostages who were abducted from Israel on October 7th of 2023. Michelle Kelliman, NPR News, the State Department.

And again, the Gaza Health Ministry says more than 400 people were killed and more than 500 others were injured. At last check on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 340 points at 41,500. The S&P 500 down more than 1 percent and the NASDAQ is now off 1.5 percent. From Washington, this is NPR News. Rwandan-backed M23 rebels have pulled out of peace talks with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

They were supposed to take place today. Here's Kate Bartlett. M23 rebels withdrew from the peace talks one day after the European Union imposed sanctions on Rwandan army commanders and the group's leader. The M23 spokesman Lawrence Kanuka wrote on X that international institutions were deliberately working to sabotage peace, making talks impossible. Rwanda has given Belgian diplomats 48 hours to leave the country after cutting diplomatic ties. Kigali said Belgium had taken sides against the country in the conflict.

Since the beginning of the year, the M23, which the Rwandan government has denied backing, has taken control of two key cities in mineral rich eastern DRC. For NPR News, I'm Kate Bartlett in Johannesburg. Two astronauts who had an unexpectedly long stay aboard the International Space Station are now on their way back home. Splashdown expected later today. Here's NPR's Jelle Snyder. Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams got more than they bargained for when they took a Boeing capsule on a test flight to the orbiting outpost. That Boeing capsule had tech issues so NASA made the decision to have it returned to Earth empty, leaving

Wilmore and Williams aboard the station for nine months. They're returning on a SpaceX capsule. Splashdown as set in the waters off Florida. NPR's Giles Snyder reporting. The Dow Jones industrial average down 355 points or more than three-quarters of a percent at 41,486. The Nasdaq is down more than one and a half percent or 278 points. SMP is off more than 1%. It's NPR.