NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-18-2025 5AM EDT

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

NPR News: 03-18-2025 5AM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Public media counts on your support to ensure that the reporting and programs you depend on thrive. Make a recurring donation today to get special access to more than 20 NPR podcasts, perks like sponsor-free listening, bonus episodes, early access, and more. So start supporting what you love today at plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dave Mattingly. The Israeli military has carried out airstrikes in Gaza overnight, targeting officials with Hamas. More than 320 people were killed, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. The strikes come as mediated talks to extend the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have stalled.

At the same time, Israel has launched airstrikes in Lebanon and Syria, as NPR's Lauren Frayer reports from Beirut. The Israeli military has already seized territory in southern Syria. A spokesman says these airstrikes targeted weapons and vehicles that used to belong to ousted President Bashar al-Assad's military. Syria's new transitional government is in charge of that equipment now and has not expressed any threats to Israel. Casualties were taken to multiple hospitals in the southern province of Daraa. The Israeli attacks hit as people prepared to gather there for the 14th anniversary of protests over student arrests that fueled a movement for Assad's ouster. Israel also struck what it says were Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon despite a ceasefire

there. Lauren Freyer and PR News Beirut. President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to speak by phone today about a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine. The plan was agreed to by Kiev last week following talks with a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine. The plan was agreed to by Kiev last week following talks with a U.S. delegation in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday he believes there's a very good chance Putin will agree to a halt in the fighting. For his part, Putin has said he wants certain preconditions

as a part of a ceasefire. The Pentagon says the U.S. military will continue to attack Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen as long as the Houthis target American naval vessels and commercial ship traffic in the region. NPR's Tom Bowman says the U.S. carried out dozens of airstrikes in recent days. The targets included radar sites, training camps, drone storage and manufacturing locations, a broader set of targets than in recent days. The targets included radar sites, training camps, drone storage and manufacturing locations, a broader set of targets than in previous years. Officials say there were dozens of military casualties, but none among civilians.

The Houthis say 53 people have been killed, including five children and two women. One U.S. official tells NPR the strikes could continue for days, if not weeks. The Houthis say they'll continue targeting ships in the Red Sea until Israel lifts its blockade of Gaza. Tom Bowman, NPR News. NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are on their way back to Earth. The two boarded a SpaceX capsule early this morning and undocked from the International Space Station, having spent more than nine months in space, they're joined by fellow

NASA astronaut Nick Hegg as well as Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov. If the weather cooperates, the four will splash down off the coast of Florida this evening. This is NPR News from Washington. Damage assessments and cleanup are continuing in areas of the south NPR News from Washington. Damage assessments and cleanup are continuing in areas of the south and midwest following severe weather that left at least 42 people dead. Fatalities were reported in eight states from Texas to Kansas to North Carolina. Strong storms unleashed tornadoes and fanned wildfires.

Hundreds of homes were destroyed by flames in Oklahoma. Hundreds of people from Ethiopia's northern region of Tigray have been fleeing to the country's capital, Addis Ababa, as fears grow over a resumption of civil war. Thousands of people were killed during war between 2020 and 22. It pitted Ethiopia's federal army against forces from the Tigray People's Liberation Front. Emmanuel Igunza has more from Nairobi. Tigrians are stocking up on emergency supplies

while some are fleeing the northern region as tensions escalate between leaders of the ruling party, Tigray's People's Liberation Front, TPLF. Flights from Tigray to Addis Ababa, the capital, are sold out. The leadership rangos have threatened a fragile peace deal that ended a two-year civil war in 2022. The conflict pitted Ethiopia's national army, its allies and neighboring Eritrea on one side, and Tigray's regional forces on the other. It comes as reports of growing tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea, which have both heavily deployed troops to the border regions.

The two Horn of African nations signed a historic peace agreement in 2018 after years of war and diplomatic tensions. For NPR News, I'm Emmanuel Igunza in Nairobi, Kenya. I'm Dave Mattingly, NPR News in Washington. On the embedded podcast. No, it's called denying a freedom of speech. NPR News in Washington.