NPR News: 02-03-2025 7PM EST
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What topics does this NPR News episode cover?
Should you throw out your black plastic cooking utensils? Can we decode whale language? And how do you stop procrastinating? I'm Maiken Scott. Every week, The Pulse digs into health and science issues that matter to you and your life. Listen to The Pulse podcast from WHYY, part of the NPR Network.
Why did President Trump delay tariffs against Canada?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. President Donald Trump's agreeing to a 30-day delay on tariffs against Canada. They were said to take effect tomorrow. Emma Jacobs reports Prime Minister Justin Trudeau released a statement after a phone call today with Trump.
Trudeau spoke to Trump twice over the course of the day. He wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that Canada has committed more resources to border security and to fighting fentanyl trafficking, the ostensible reason for the proposed tariffs. In a post on his Truth Social site, Trump said the tariffs would be paused, quote, to see whether or not a final economic deal with Canada can be structured. Canada had promised retaliatory tariffs with the possibility of an escalating trade war. These will also be paused for 30 days. When President Trump was asked earlier what Trudeau could do to change his mind, he responded that he'd like to see Canada become the 51st state, which Canadians overwhelmingly oppose. For NPR News, I'm Emma Jacobs in Montreal.
What conversation did Elon Musk have with President Trump?
Elon Musk says he's spoken with President Donald Trump about the situation involving the international aid group USAID. Musk holds an unelected position and is an advisor to Trump overseeing Doge, an entity created by the administration to come up with ways to reduce government spending. NPR's Shannon Bond has more on both Musk and the group he now oversees.
White House Secretary Caroline Leavitt said today Elon Musk is what's known as a, quote, special government employee today. That's a temporary appointment to perform limited services. She said she does not have details about Musk's security clearance. And we don't know about the status of others working at Doge, like whether or not they're government employees, what clearances they may have. What we do know is that some of these folks are young engineers who have come in from Silicon Valley.
The Trump administration already has placed two top security chiefs at the U.S. Agency for International Development on leave after they refused to turn over classified material to Musk's inspection team. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington. He's set to meet with President Trump at the White House tomorrow.
What is the current status of the U.S.-Israel relations?
NPR's Jerome Sokolofsky reports talks on extending the ceasefire in Gaza resume.
Netanyahu is under pressure from some in his government to resume the war against Hamas, especially after its displays of force during recent hostage releases. Netanyahu spoke to reporters before boarding a plane to Washington. He talked about the peace treaties with Arab countries that the last Trump administration helped broker. And he said Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza and against Iran and its other proxies have redrawn the map of the Middle East.
I believe that working closely with President Trump, we can redraw it even further and for the better.
Netanyahu is meeting first with Trump's Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, and then will talk to the president himself on Tuesday. Jerome Sokolovsky, NPR News, Tel Aviv.
Stocks fell on Wall Street today. The Dow down 122 points. The Nasdaq fell more than 200 points. This is NPR. There's an ongoing outbreak of Ebola in Uganda. One person has died so far. Usually, the U.S. supports local efforts to contain the deadly virus. But as NPR's Gabrielle Emanuel reports, that's not happening this time because of the Trump administration's freeze on foreign aid.
Typically, Uganda uses money from the U.S. to securely transport samples from suspected Ebola cases to their national lab for testing. Similarly, they use U.S. funds to check travelers leaving the country to make sure they aren't carrying Ebola across borders. But that support is missing.
WHO will step in to provide resources for those functions.
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