NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-22-2025 10AM EDT

Episode Date: March 22, 2025

NPR News: 03-22-2025 10AM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Singapore is one of the busiest cities in the world, but biologist Philip Johns is fascinated by a different inhabitant on the island, otters. At rush hour downtown, the otters would swim toward each other and there are literally tens of thousands of people who are on their way to work. How ideas, emotions, and creatures coexist. That's next time on the TED Radio Hour from NPR. coexist. That's next time on the Ted Radio Hour from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jyle Snyder.

President Trump is defending his administration's use of the 18th century Alien Enemies Act, a wartime law to deport more than 100 accused Venezuelan gang members to a prison in El Salvador. Because we want to get criminals out of our country, number one. And I don't know when it was signed because I didn't sign it. Other people handled it, but Marco Rubio has done a great job and he wanted them out and we go along with that. Although Trump says he did not sign the proclamation, the document appears in the federal register with his signature on it. Trump spoke to reporters yesterday after a federal judge expressed skepticism about the Trump administration's arguments, federal judge James Boesberg pledged to get to the bottom of whether the administration defied his order that temporarily blocked deportation flights under the law.

Montana Republican Senator Steve Daines met with officials in the Chinese capital today. Daines is a close ally of President Trump, now the first member of Congress to visit China under the second Trump administration. Here's Anthony Kuhn reports from Beijing. Senator Daines met with Vice Premier He Li-Feng who's in charge of the economy and finance. Daines told He that during his visits to China over the years he's always believed in constructive dialogue. Daines previously worked for consumer goods firm Procter & Gamble in southern China in the 1990s. Ahead of the trip, Daines said he'd be discussing curbing the flow from China of ingredients

for the drug fentanyl, as well as seeking better access to the China market for Montana's farm products. Daines is due to meet with Premier Li Qiang on Sunday, as foreign executives convene in Beijing for the annual China Development Forum. Anthony Kuhn in PR News, Beijing. To Gaza now where the Israeli military ordered thousands of Palestinians to evacuate their homes and neighborhoods this week as it resumed the war there.

Gaza health officials say more than 600 Palestinians have been killed since the war started up again on Tuesday, appears on Asbaba, reports from Gaza City. Hundreds of families fleeing the north of Gaza have set up tents in a landfill in Gaza City. The conditions are horrific. The air is thick with a stench of garbage and mosquitoes buzz around the waste. Yasser Sabah says he has little choice, either survive in this landfill of garbage or die under Israeli bombardments.

Sabuh says we are suffocated from the smell, disease, illness and displacement. Close by, Fida'a Humaid and her family have sought refuge in Gaza's Islamic University library where people are burning books to stay warm. She says, this war is an injustice to my children. Instead of learning, they are forced to burn the books. Anas Baba, NPR News, Gaza City. And from Washington, this is NPR News. Federal health officials say 18 states have now confirmed

measles infections this year, more than 350 cases, most of them stemming from an outbreak in Texas. Catherine Sweeney of Member Station WPLN reports on Tennessee's first case. As case numbers rise, top health officials, such as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have emphasized unproven treatment methods over increasing the vaccination rate. Chattanooga pediatrician John Heiss says that is damaging. They are not following any of the current recommendations. It's more their personal opinions. Infectious disease doctors recommend two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. For NPR News, I'm Kathryn Sweeney in Nashville.

With egg prices soaring, some people seem to be going chick crazy right now. Northwest Public Broadcasting's Susan Shane reports from southeast Washington state. This tractor supply store just opened, but there's already more than a dozen people huddled around silver tubs of baby chicks. Tina Dohr, the store manager, says the crowds are double what they've been in years past. Hundreds of chicks are selling out in under 30 minutes. It has been craziness. We have lines at the door.

On average, the American Farm Bureau Federation says that avian flu has wiped out more than 10 percent of the country's laying flock each year since 2022. That includes breeder hens and chicks. That's helped lead to a surge in egg prices and a shortage of chicks. Some online hatcheries say they're sold out until fall. For NPR News, I'm Susan Shane in Walla Walla, Washington. And I'm Giles Snyder. This is NPR News.