GSA cuts; Hegseth at NATO; NASA Mars program : NPR

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Immediately’s prime tales

The Common Providers Administration, which manages federal actual property and contracts, plans to chop its funds in half. Staffers have been informed to expect deep job cuts and workplace closures, in response to two GSA officers knowledgeable of the plans by company management. The remaining staff have been informed they’re going to be intently watched whereas they’re on the clock.

• 🎧 On Up First, NPR’s Jenna McLaughlin compares the GSA to the federal authorities’s circulatory system. “With out GSA, federal businesses would have a very laborious time doing issues like shopping for something or undertaking their missions,” she says. McLaughlin provides that one of many most disturbing things sources were told was that staff would have keylogger software program put in on their computer systems to trace every thing they sort. Technical consultants say it may very well be a cybersecurity threat if passwords and different delicate data are retained or saved elsewhere. McLaughlin’s sources say these funds cuts and fixed surveillance would possibly quickly be deployed throughout the federal authorities.

High Trump officers are in Europe this week for talks with their counterparts that would make clear U.S. coverage on Ukraine, its dedication to NATO and extra. Vice President Vance spoke yesterday at a global summit on AI in Paris. He is set to hitch Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the most important annual international coverage gathering in Europe. Immediately, Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth is at NATO to hitch a gathering of some 50 international locations that help Ukraine.

• 🎧 Europeans are on edge and questioning if President Trump’s well-known animosity towards NATO will carry over to his second time period, NPR’s Teri Schultz says. In Germany, Hegseth gave a fairly reassuring preview of what he’ll say at NATO immediately, saying that the urgency of the second “requires buddies speaking to buddies.” Diplomats inform Schultz Trump’s threats to grab Greenland or make Canada the 51st state aren’t prone to come up, as they’re inflammatory and nobody desires to torpedo this primary assembly.

Is a mission to Mars within the U.S. area program’s future? In his inauguration tackle, Trump stated the U.S. would “pursue our Manifest Future into the celebs, launching American astronauts to plant the celebs and stripes on the planet Mars.” It is a dream shared by his shut ally and adviser Elon Musk, who has spent years working to get individuals on the pink planet. Trump picked one in every of Musk’s associates, Jared Isaacman, to steer NASA.

• 🎧 NPR’s Nell Greenfieldboyce says Musk’s involvement might carry alternative and peril to NASA’s probabilities of sending people to Mars. The company is concentrated on two moon missions coming within the subsequent two years. There’s a possibility for the administration to push NASA to get an area program straight focusing on Mars subsequent. But when these efforts are seen as a Musk program, NASA might get political pushback, potentially setting back the dream of sending people to Mars for an additional technology.

Immediately’s hear

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performs Sacred Songs, choreographed by interim creative director Matthew Speeding based mostly on materials featured within the authentic 1960 model of the corporate’s Revelations.

Danica Paulos Pictures

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Danica Paulos Pictures

Trendy dance choreographer Alvin Ailey was solely 29 when he created Revelations based mostly on his childhood reminiscences. Set to conventional Black spirituals, work songs and blues tunes, the dance efficiency displays the Black expertise by way of its story of religion and perseverance from the trials of slavery to freedom. When it was first carried out in 1960, it was about twice so long as the model that is now been seen by tens of millions of individuals worldwide. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is revisiting the work with a brand new piece set to contemporary interpretations of the songs that have been eliminated.

🎧 Take heed to snippets from the present and find out about how the newly resurrected songs purpose to resonate with a contemporary, young audience. Learn extra concerning the present and see pictures of the manufacturing here.

Dwell recommendation

At Life Equipment, we have heard lots of relationship recommendation over time. These seven items of recommendation from intercourse and relationship therapists caught with us.

MirageC/Getty Photos/Second RF

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MirageC/Getty Photos/Second RF

For those who’re celebrating a romantic relationship this week for Valentine’s Day, you in all probability know that whereas relationships could be magical, they may also be laborious work. Whether or not you simply began relationship otherwise you’re a long time into a wedding, take into account this recommendation relationship consultants shared with NPR for keeping the love flowing by way of life’s ups and downs.

• ❤️ How are you aware in the event that they’re “the one?” Search for somebody who desires to have a good time the stuff you discover necessary, says Mandy Len Catron, creator of the essay assortment Fall in Love with Anybody.
• ❤️ Preserve a ratio of 5 occasions as many constructive feelings to adverse feelings throughout a battle, says relationship researcher and scientific psychologist John Gottman. Expressing curiosity in a dialogue and making eye contact lubricate the wheels of communication.
• ❤️ Many individuals assume that after they meet their particular person, they’re going to be a lot happier. However that is not how happiness works, in response to scientific psychologist Jenny Taitz. Your relationship standing has nothing to do together with your value.

Learn extra skilled recommendation on love, together with how to create intimacy when you do not have time for intercourse and find out how to know when it is time to break up.

3 issues to know earlier than you go

Southern rap duo OutKast, consisting of André 3000 and Large Boi, are amongst the 14 artists being thought of for the 2025 class of inductees into the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame.

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Kevin Winter/Getty Photos/Getty Photos North America

1. The Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame announced the shortlist for its 2025 inductees immediately, which incorporates OutKast, Maná, Phish and Billy Idol.
2. When Melissa Barbanell’s younger son was hit by a pickup truck in 2010, the educated first responder felt frozen. A close-by jogger turned her unsung hero when she leaped in to help. Barbanell’s son, now 21, just lately graduated from his area people faculty.
3. In a strongly worded letter to U.S. Catholic bishops, Pope Francis criticized the Trump administration’s stance on migrants and refuted Vice President Vance’s theology and remarks about how individuals ought to care for his or her household, communities and nation earlier than caring for others.

This article was edited by Obed Manuel.