NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-21-2025 4AM EDT

Episode Date: March 21, 2025

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Shae Stevens Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shae Stevens. considered every Tuesday wherever you get podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shae Stevens. President Trump has signed an executive order calling for the shutdown of the Department of Education, a move that requires congressional approval. Trump says education policy belongs under the authority of states and local governments. It sounds strange, doesn't it? Department of Education, we're going to eliminate it. And everybody knows it's right.

And the Democrats know it's right, and I hope they're going to be voting for it, because ultimately it may come before them. But everybody knows it's right, and we have to get our children educated. Trump says Pell grants and funding for children with special needs will continue, but under the management of other federal agencies. Democrats on the House Science Committee have

released legislation to stop more mass firings at five federal science agencies. As NPR's Jonathan Lambert explains, the bills would halt reduction in force efforts until the agencies are funded through 2026. Hundreds and hundreds of federal science agency workers have been fired at the behest of the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOJ. While some staff are being rehired to comply with recent court orders, larger reduction in force plans still loom. For instance, staff at the National Science Foundation, or NSF, have been told to expect

cuts of 25 to 50 percent. The proposed bills would stop firings at agencies, including NSF, NASA, and NOAA, but face steep odds of passing the Republican-controlled House. Jonathan Lambert, NPR News. Jonathan Lambert, NPR News. Russia's task news agency says the nation's top security official, Sergei Shurgul, has arrived in North Korea. As NPR's Seyoon Gong reports from Seoul, that high-level exchanges between Russia and

the North are picking up as the United States pushes to end the war in Ukraine. Just in the past week, North Korea has sent economic and public health delegations to Moscow. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko visited Pyongyang and discussed plans for high-level and top-level exchange, according to DOS. Xiu Gu's trips to North Korea have preceded major developments in the bilateral relationship. Shortly after his visit in 2023, Kim Jong-un went to Russia for a summit with Vladimir Putin. Last year, about a month after a visit from Shoigoo, North Korea started sending its troops to Russia to join the war.

TASS says Shoigoo plans to meet with Kim Jong-un during his visit. Sehun Gong, NPR News, Seoul. London's Heathrow Airport has been closed due to a major power outage caused by a fire at an electrical substation. It's unclear how many flights were immediately affected by the incident. According to the tracking site, Flight Tray 24, around 120 inbound planes had to be diverted to other airports. Heathrow is expected to be closed until midnight tonight. This is NPR. tonight. This is NPR. There's some new research that hints at how the universe may end, and the reason involves dark energy. NPR's Shondalita Duster has more on the findings.

Scientists with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Group say when the universe formed, dark energy, the mysterious force behind its rapid expansion, was very strong. But scientists say dark energy is weakening and that will continue. Mustafa Ishak, co-chair of the group and astrophysics professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, says this could allow matter to get stronger, which could be the force that causes the universe to ultimately collapse. We thought before that the universe will keep just expanding and expanding faster and faster and faster and faster. Almost it becomes empty.

It is back to the table. The universe now also has the possibility that it will stop and re-collapse. He and other scientists also say there is no current evidence that the universe has stopped expanding. Chandelis Duster, NPR News. It has been a tough season for migrating fish in the central Dutch city of Utrecht, where some fish encounter a river lock during migration to shallow spawning grounds. Local authorities have installed an underwater camera that streams live footage to a website. Online viewers can then

click on a fish doorbell to alert water managers to open the lock so that the fish can pass through. Although most of the footage is uneventful, the live stream reportedly has attracted millions of viewers from around the world. This is NPR News. Hey, it's A. Martinez. A lot of short daily news podcasts focus on one story, but sometimes This is NPR News.