NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-21-2025 3AM EDT

Episode Date: March 21, 2025

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Making time for the news is important, but when you need a break, we've got you covered on All Songs Considered, NPR's music podcast. Think of it like a music discovery show, a well-deserved escape with friends, and yeah, some serious music insight. I'm going to keep it real. I have no idea what this story is about. Hear new episodes of All Songs Considered every Tuesday, wherever you get podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens.

Two high-profile progressives in Congress are holding rallies across the nation to protest President Trump's agenda. As NPR Stephen Fowler reports from a stop in Arizona, the pair are also calling for stronger pushback by the Democratic Party. At a packed hockey arena on Arizona State University's campus, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders denounced Trump. Sanders painted Trump's Department of Government efficiency effort to fire federal workers and slash government agencies as morally wrong and illegal. Every single day, Trump and his friends are ignoring the Constitution joined the growing chorus of voters who say the

Democratic Party needs to do more to defend those institutions and have stronger plans to counter Trump's agenda. Stephen Fowler, NPR News, Tempe, Arizona. The Pentagon has restored some of its website, highlighting the contributions of Black, Asian, and Native American veterans during World War II. Defense officials tell NPR the sites were taken down in compliance with the Trump administration's DEI guidance. An article on baseball great Jackie Robinson was among the material that had been removed, as NPR's Tom Buhman reports.

Pentagon spokesman John Elliott sent out a memo saying, everyone at the Defense Department loves Jackie Robinson, as well as the Navajo Code Talkers, the Tuskegee Airmen, and the Marines at Iwo Jima, and so many others. We salute them for their strong, and in many cases, heroic service to our country, but we do not view or highlight them through the prism of immutable characteristics such as race, ethnicity, or sex. We do so only by recognizing their patriotism and dedication to the warfighting mission like every other American who has worn the uniform. And Paris Tom Bowman. A

federal jury in Manhattan has convicted two men of plotting to assassinate an Iranian-American journalist and activist in New York City. Details from NPR's Ryan Lucas. The two defendants, Polat Omarov and Rafat Amarov, are both members of the Russian mob. The jury convicted them on all five counts, including murder-for-hire and attempted murder in aid of racketeering. The target of the foiled plot was Masih Alinajad, an Iranian-born U.S. citizen who's a vocal critic of Iran's government.

Prosecutors said Iranian officials orchestrated the murder-for-hire scheme in 2022 after earlier efforts to kidnap Elinajad had failed. The two-week trial featured testimony from Elinajad herself, as well as a former mobster who told the jury that he was the hitman hired to kill her. Sentencing is scheduled for September. Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington. North Korea says it test-fired new anti-aircraft missiles today in response to joint military drills between South Korea and the U.S. Its defense ministry says the drills involve simulations. This is NPR.

regulations. This is NPR. A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to not deport a Georgetown University research fellow arrested earlier in the week. But Arkhan Suri is accused of posting Hamas propaganda and promoting anti-Semitism online. His attorney says the Department of Homeland Security is confusing his client with an in-law who was once affiliated with Hamas. Surya Zoraz came days after the administration sought to deport a Columbia University graduate student who had participated in protests against the war in Gaza.

Zimbabwean Olympic swimmer Christy Coventry is the new president of the International Olympic Committee. As Kate Bartlett reports, the two-time gold medalist is marking a whole new set of firsts. It's the trifecta of superlatives for an IOC president. First woman, youngest person, first African. She decisively beats six male candidates for the position in the vote for the body's new president. Glass ceilings have been shattered today, she said in a speech afterwards. As a nine-year-old girl, I never thought that I would be standing up here one day, getting

to give back to this incredible movement of ours. Forty-one-year-old Coventry was born and raised in post-independence Zimbabwe. She went on to win seven Olympic medals in swimming including gold in the 200 meter backstroke in 2004 and 2008. For NPR News, I'm Kate Butler in Johannesburg. US futures are flat and after hours trading on Asia-Pacific markets, shares are mixed. This is NPR News.