NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-23-2025 3AM EDT

Episode Date: March 23, 2025

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There's a lot of news happening. You want to understand it better, but let's be honest, you don't want it to be your entire life either. Well, that's sort of like our show, Here and Now Anytime. Every weekday on our podcast, we talk to people all over the country about everything from political analysis to climate resilience, video games. We even talk about dumpster diving on this show. Check out Here and Now Anytime, a daily podcast from NPR and WBUR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Ronan. The Israeli military ordered thousands of Palestinians to evacuate their homes and neighborhoods this week as it resumed the war in Gaza. Gaza health officials say more than 600 Palestinians have died since the war started again

on Tuesday. NPR's Anas Baha 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 Sobh says he has little choice, either survive in this landfill of garbage or die under Israeli bombardment. Sobh 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. The acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration is backing down from a threat to cease operations of the agency. This after a federal judge in Baltimore blocked Elon Musk's Department of Government efficiency from having access to sensitive data. The Trump administration is seeking to make significant changes to

Social Security, cutting thousands of jobs and requiring more in-person visits by people seeking to get benefits. 73-year-old Social Security recipient Veronica Taylor in West Virginia says she relies on telephone calls with Social Security officials because she does not know how to operate a computer. I don't know how to even go on the Internet. I don't even know how to hook it up. My grandkids got after me one time. They said, Grandma, you don't know how to turn it on.

I said, Grandma, I don't know how to turn it on. I said, Grandma, I don't know how to turn it on. Employees with the Voice of America and various unions representing federal workers and journalists are suing the government, NPR's Emily Fang reports. Since World War II, Voice of America, or VOA, has been broadcasting to foreign audiences, mostly in countries the U.S US considers repressive or authoritarian. It's had particular resonance in China, where for decades the broadcaster was seen as a reliable, uncensored source of news about China. But under the Trump administration and its federal cost-cutting drive, the US Agency

for Global Media, which oversees VOA, has taken it off air. The lawsuit filed in New York State Court this week says the agency overstepped and violated the First Amendment right to free speech and suspending VOA's operations. Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, another broadcaster the agency oversees, has filed a separate, similar lawsuit. Emily Fang, NPR News, Washington. And you're listening to NPR. Doctors in Rome say Pope Francis will need at least two months of rest and rehabilitation, but they will release him Sunday from Giamelli Hospital.

He spent 38 days there battling a life-threatening case of double pneumonia. The Vatican said the pope will appear Sunday morning from his hospital suite to bless Catholics who have been praying for his recovery. The Pope was admitted to the hospital February 14th after a bout of bronchitis nearly killed him. In a case that could have far-reaching consequences, a British mother who took Facebook's parent company Metta to court has won the right to opt out of its targeted online advertising. Vicki Barker reports from London. When Tanya O'Carroll became pregnant in 2017,

Facebook knew even before her closest friends did, bombarding her with baby-related ads. Her unsuccessful attempts to turn the ads off led to a three-year legal battle, which Meta finally settled on Friday, as O'Carroll told the BBC. Facebook, just on the eve of trial now, has agreed to do what I originally asked all along, which is cease using my personal data for direct marketing purposes, which in non-legalese means I've essentially been able to turn off all that creepy invasive targeted ads on Facebook.

O'Carroll had the backing of British regulators because British consumers, like their European counterparts, have the legal right to object to targeted ads. For NPR News, I'm Vicki Barker in London. The NCAA Women's Hockey Championship to be played Sunday in Minneapolis. The Wisconsin Badgers will play the Ohio State Buckeyes in the championship game. This is NPR. Following the news out of Washington, D.C. can be overwhelming.

I'm Scott Detro, and NPR has a podcast that can help. It's called Trump's Terms, stories about big changes the 47th president is pursuing on his own terms. Each episode is short, usually around five minutes or so. We keep it calm and factual. We help you follow what matters, and we leave out what doesn't. Listen to Trump's Terms from NPR.