NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-19-2025 3PM EDT

Episode Date: March 19, 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, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The Federal Reserve is keeping interest

rates where they are for now, reporting on the Fed's two-day meeting that concluded this afternoon. NPR's Scott Horsley says policymakers want to take their time to assess how President Trump's policies are affecting the course of the US economy. Fed policymakers voted to hold interest rates steady. Their benchmark rate helps determine borrowing costs for a wide range of credit, including car loans, business financing, and personal credit cards. Updated forecasts show members of the Fed's rate-setting committee still expect to lower interest rates by an average of half a percent later this year if inflation continues to

ease. President Trump's tariffs could interrupt that progress on inflation though. Trump's already imposed taxes on goods from China and all imported steel and aluminum. He's also promised to impose more tariffs next month. In addition to raising prices those tariffs could slow economic growth. Fed policymakers lowered their forecast for GDP growth this year while raising their forecast for unemployment. Scott Horsley in Pear News, Washington.

Major market indices are up more than 1 percent to 1.8 percent. President Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today was the subject of a flurry of questions at this afternoon's White House press briefing. Press Secretary Caroline Levitt read a statement from National Security Advisor Mike Walton, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, highlights including... President Zelensky asked for additional air defense systems to protect his civilians, particularly Patriot missile systems. And President Trump agreed to work with him to find what was available, particularly in

Europe. Trump says he fully briefed Zelensky on his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday. At today's briefing, Levitt was repeatedly asked about discrepancies between each government's readouts on the specifics of the ceasefire Putin agreed to. She pointed reporters to the White House readout that said steps toward an end to the Russia-Ukraine war will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, but the Kremlin readout only specified one focus, the energy infrastructure. The Israeli military says it launched a new ground offensive into Gaza, sending troops

back in the areas they had retreated from during a nearly two-month-long ceasefire, coming a day after Israel broke the ceasefire with a series of airstrikes. We have more from NPR's Kat Lonsdorf. In a statement, the Israeli military called it a, quote, targeted ground operation, saying the aim is to expand what it calls the security perimeter separating the enclave from southern Israel. The actions come as Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz released a video statement addressed to, quote, Gaza residents. Speaking in Hebrew with Arabic subtitles, Katz said the video was the, quote, final

warning to return all the hostages and remove Hamas from power. What comes next will be much harsher and you will bear the full consequences," he said, warning of more evacuation orders. He said that Israel will, quote, act with force beyond anything you have ever seen. Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Tel Aviv. This is NPR News. A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration's ban on transgender troops serving in the U.S. military.

NPR's Quill Lawrence has details. U.S. District Judge Anna Reyes said the Trump administration's attempt to prevent trans Americans from serving in the military violates their constitutional rights, which she called a cruel irony since, quote, thousands of transgender service members have sacrificed, some risking their lives, to ensure for others the very equal protection rights the military ban seeks to deny them. The judge's order temporarily blocks the Pentagon's policy from going into effect. The ban stems from a White House executive order that denies any difference

between gender and sex and calls trans people dishonest for claiming otherwise. Of the nearly 1.3 million active duty U.S. troops, 1% or less identify as trans. Quill Lawrence, NPR News. Some doctors say they will keep mailing abortion pills over state lines despite January's historic indictment of a New York physician. That doctor is wanted in Louisiana for prescribing the abortion pills a Louisiana woman allegedly gave her underage daughter. Despite the threat of criminal prosecution, the head of Maine Family Planning, Dr. Kohar Der Simonian, says, and other staff members plan to keep

assisting out-of-state patients. According to hashtag We Count, at nearly 60% Louisiana has the highest rate of telemedicine abortion, abortions that is among states with strict bans. The Dow is up 483 points or more than 1%. This is NPR News.