NPR News Now - NPR News: 03-24-2025 8PM EDT

Episode Date: March 25, 2025

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This message comes from Wondery. Kiki Palmer is that girl, and she's diving into the brains of entertainment's best and brightest to have real conversations on her podcast, Baby, This is Kiki Palmer. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. The Trump administration accidentally texted top secret war plans to a journalist. The mistake is causing an uproar.

MPR's Moral Eisson reports hours after it came out, President Trump said he didn't know anything about it. The editor in chief of the Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, says he was included in a signal group chat where Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared war plans, including precise information about weapons and targets hours before the US attacked the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Goldberg said at first he thought it was disinformation, maybe generated by

AI. But then when the bomb started falling, he knew it was real. Members of Congress and former defense secretary said the breach was amateurish and incompetent. A spokesman for the National Security Council said the message thread appears to be authentic and that the White House is reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain. When asked, President Trump said he didn't know anything about the disclosure, but that he isn't a big fan of the Atlantic magazine. Mara Liason, NPR News, The White House. Marc Thiessen, NPR News, The White House. Marc Thiessen, NPR News, The White House.

Marc Thiessen, NPR News, The White House. Marc Thiessen, NPR News, The White House. Marc Thiessen, NPR News, The White House. Marc Thiessen, NPR News, The White House. Marc Thiessen, NPR News, The White House. Marc Thiessen, NPR News, The White House. Marc Thiessen, NPR News, The White House. Marc Thiessen, NPR News, The White House plans and disparaged Goldberg. Today, the Department of Education is nearly half the size it was on Friday. That's because of agency-wide cuts to the workforce there, Junkie Method reports. Lyle Kroemer At the end of the workday Friday, nearly half

the workforce of the Department of Education began paid administrative leave. The layoffs hit every division of the department. Among the hardest hit was the National Center for Education Sciences, or NCES. In part, those experts were responsible for crunching the numbers that determine which school districts qualify for certain federal grants. Without them, it's unclear whether schools and low-income communities will receive key grants like Title I, which sets aside billions of dollars for 90% of school districts across the nation. NCES employees told NPR they were confident districts would get the money they expect for next school year, but the fate of federal grants for future years hangs in the balance. Janaki Mehta, NPR News.

The UN is pulling some international staff out of Gaza after an Israeli tank hit a UN compound last week. More from NPR's Michelle Kellerman. According to spokesman Stefan DeGiaric, the U.N. will be pulling out about a third of its 100 international staffers currently in Gaza. He says this is because of devastating Israeli airstrikes that have claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians in Gaza, including U.N. personnel. As a result, the secretary general has taken the difficult decision to reduce the United Nations footprint in Gaza, even as humanitarian needs soar and our concern over the protection

of civilians intensifies. He says the U.N. is not leaving Gaza and is determined to continue to help Palestinians there, but Israel has cut off aid for more than three weeks now. Michelle Kelliman, NPR News, Washington. The Dow was up 597 points. This is NPR. President Trump appears to be doubling down on his assertion that Greenland should agree to be acquired by the U.S. After a meeting with cabinet members, Trump says Greenland is important for U.S. security and said his administration cabinet members, Trump says Greenland is important for US security.

He said his administration is working with people in Greenland, though he did not elaborate. Greenland's outgoing prime minister, meanwhile, called an upcoming visit to Greenland by a US delegation that includes the wife of President JD Vance, Oushtha Vance, a provocation. He said his government will not meet with the group. French actor Gerard Depardieu arrived at a Paris courthouse today.

He's facing trial and multiple sexual assault charges, which he denies. Rebecca Rossman reports two women say the 76 year old assaulted them on a film set in 2021. Depardieu walked into court without saying a word, but his silence won't last long. After years of sexual assault and rape allegations from over a dozen women,

this marks the first time the famed French actor will take the witness stand, a moment many are calling pivotal for France's stalled MeToo movement. The trial was originally set to take place in October, but was delayed due to Depardieu's ill health. Depardieu's accusers, whose names have not been made public, alleged that he groped them on set of the 2022 film Les Vols et Verts. If convicted, Depardieu could face up to five years in prison and an $80,000 fine. Rebecca Rossman, NPR News, Paris. Critical futures prices followed stocks higher today. Oil up 1% after the Trump administration proposed imposing a 25% tariff

on countries that buy oil from Venezuela. Oil rose by 83 cents a barrel to settle at 69.11 a barrel in New York. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Sending or spending money abroad? Hidden fees may be taking a cut. With WISE, you can convert between up to 40 currencies at the mid-market exchange rate. Visit WISE.com. TNCs apply.