1A - The News Roundup For March 28, 2025

This week the Atlantic published messages shared between national security officials on a Signal group chat laying out plans for U.S airstrikes in Yemen. It appears that National Security Advisor Mike Waltz added The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg to the message thread. European leaders have been cautious in their comments on the scandal.

President Trump is threatening to suspend security clearances and access to federal buildings of lawyers he does not like.

Meanwhile, Israel continues its military campaign in Gaza after breaking the ceasefire agreement with Hamas earlier this month.

And five lions rescued from the frontlines of the war in Ukraine have now been resettled in England by the Wild Animals Rescue Center.

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State of the World from NPR - The Sounds of Ramadan in Gaza

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan is coming to an end. It is a holiday marked with fasting during the day and feasts with family in the evening. In Gaza, the month began with the hope of a continued peace but when the ceasefire with Israel collapsed, things changed. Our producer in Gaza brings us the sounds of this year's Ramadan in Gaza.

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Consider This from NPR - Why did Israel restart the war? One answer: Bezalel Smotrich.

Bezalel Smotrich's views were once fringe in Israel. He's an ultranationalist West Bank settler, who has repeatedly called for Israel to resettle the Gaza Strip.

Today, as finance minister, he's a key figure influencing the future of Israel's war against Hamas.

NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi has the story of Smotrich's rise to power in Israel politics.

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Consider This from NPR - Why did Israel restart the war? One answer: Bezalel Smotrich.

Bezalel Smotrich's views were once fringe in Israel. He's an ultranationalist West Bank settler, who has repeatedly called for Israel to resettle the Gaza Strip.

Today, as finance minister, he's a key figure influencing the future of Israel's war against Hamas.

NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi has the story of Smotrich's rise to power in Israel politics.

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

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Consider This from NPR - Why did Israel restart the war? One answer: Bezalel Smotrich.

Bezalel Smotrich's views were once fringe in Israel. He's an ultranationalist West Bank settler, who has repeatedly called for Israel to resettle the Gaza Strip.

Today, as finance minister, he's a key figure influencing the future of Israel's war against Hamas.

NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi has the story of Smotrich's rise to power in Israel politics.

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

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Up First from NPR - ICE Student Arrests, HHS Cuts, Stefanik Nomination Pulled, China Trade City

The Trump administration has revoked hundreds of visas of foreign students, including PhD student Rumeysa Ozturk who was detained on the street by ICE agents. The Trump administration plans to cut 20,000 jobs from the Department of Health and Human Services. President Trump pulls Elise Stefanik's nomination for UN Ambassador to keep her in the House, protecting the GOP's razor-thin majority. And, NPR looks at how U.S. tariffs are putting pressure on Chinese businesses, with some raising prices and others making trade-offs to stay competitive.

Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.

Today's episode of Up First was edited by Eric Westervelt, Jane Greenhalgh, Jason Breslow, Reena Advani, Arezou Rezvani and Mohamad ElBardicy.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Milton Guevara, Aowen Cao, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis, and our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
Our Executive Producer is Jay Shaylor.

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The Indicator from Planet Money - Missing taxes, spiking copper and Napster’s re-re-rebirth

On Indicators of the Week, we look at a huge projected tax shortfall, the price of copper and the afterlife of Napster, the peer-to-peer file-sharing service that refuses to die.

Related episodes:
A new-ish gold rush and other indicators (Apple / Spotify)
Can the Federal Reserve stay independent (Apple / Spotify)

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NPR's Book of the Day - John Himmelman, Reginald Dwayne Betts take a populist approach to poetry in new books

The authors of two new poetry collections aspire to reach broad audiences with their work. First, John Himmelman says he wanted to tell stories with as few words as possible. The Boy Who Lived in a Shell, a book of illustrated poems intended for children, is connected by a single narrator, Ivo, who lives in a giant moon snail shell. In today's episode, Himmelman speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about working at a New York library, writing to make himself laugh, and making poetry accessible to short attention spans. Then, lawyer, educator and author Reginald Dwayne Betts spent eight years in prison for a crime he committed at 16. While there, Betts began to write. His latest collection Doggerel plays with the idea of mediocre poetry and a recurring motif of dogs. In today's episode, he speaks with NPR's Michel Martin about his Jack Russell terrier, reading poetry to strangers, and an emotional encounter with the police.

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Short Wave - Rare Narwhal Footage Shows New Tusk Activities

What are the narwhals up to? Generally, we don't really know! They are mysterious creatures. NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce talks about new, rare drone footage scientists captured of arctic narwhals. The video sparked new ideas for how they use their tusks.

Read Nell's full piece.

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1A - ICYMI: The Consequences Of Slashing USAID Funding

The acting assistant administrator for global health at USAID, Nicholas Enrich, was placed on administrative leave in early March.

Before his departure, he had made a series of chilling predictions in memos concerning the consequences of the Trump administration's gutting of the agency.

These include some 18 million additional cases of malaria and 166,000 resulting deaths. One million children who will remain malnourished. And 200,000 additional children paralyzed by polio.

And he placed the blame squarely at the feet of USAID leadership, the State Department, and DOGE.

We discuss what the world will look like without American aid to help address global problems.

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