Skin bleaching is terribly popular -- and takes a terrible toll

Susan Anderson began using skin lightening creams at age 12. Now 52, she has stopped using the products but her skin shows the damage they caused.

The government in Nigeria is warning about the health risks of skin lightening, where potent chemicals can thin and damage skin. It's a booming business in that country and others.

(Image credit: Yagazie Emezi for NPR)

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 5:56 PM

'Mad House' exposes Congressional disfunction, from petty feuds to physical threats

The 118th body of Congress was elected in 2022 and served from 2023 until 2025.

The MAGA-controlled 118th House passed only 27 bills that became law — the lowest number since the Great Depression. Journalists Annie Karni and Luke Broadwater examine the chaos in a new book.

(Image credit: Allison Bailey)

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 5:18 PM

Hamdan Ballal, a Palestinian director beaten by Israeli settlers, is now released

Hamdan Ballal, an Oscar-winning Palestinian co-director of No Other Land, is released from a police station in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba on Tuesday, a day after being detained by the Israeli army following an attack by Jewish settlers.

Hamdan Ballal, who won an Oscar for No Other Land about Palestinians under Israeli occupation, was attacked by Israeli settlers and later detained by the Israeli military, witnesses tell NPR.

(Image credit: Leo Correa)

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 5:09 PM

Ancient Greek and Roman statues often smelled like roses, a new study says

A sculpture of Aphrodite is displayed during an exhibition of ancient Greek art in 2007 in Beijing, China. The collection is from the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. Many ancient statues were scented, a researcher says.

Ancient Greek and Roman statues didn't originally look like they do now in museums. A new study says they didn't smell the same, either.

(Image credit: China Photos)

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 4:49 PM

A Pentagon-wide email recently went out warning about Signal's vulnerability

The Pentagon in Arlington, Va., is seen from above.

A Pentagon-wide advisory that went out one week ago warns against using the Signal, the messaging app, even for unclassified information.

(Image credit: Jen Golbeck)

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 4:24 PM

How to delete your 23andMe data after the company filed for bankruptcy

The genetic testing company 23andMe is filing for bankruptcy.

When the California biotech firm filed for bankruptcy, there was one looming question for customers: What's going to happen to my data?

(Image credit: Justin Sullivan)

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 4:18 PM

NASA website axes a pledge to land a woman and a person of color on the moon

NASA engineers work alongside the tip of a solid rocket booster for the Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) in NASA

In deference to President Trump's anti-DEI order, the space agency has removed a promise to send the "the first woman, first person of color" to walk on the moon aboard the Artemis III mission.

(Image credit: Gregg Newton)

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 3:30 PM

Why Israel's having some of its biggest protests since the war in Gaza began

People take part in a protest demanding the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday.

They're demanding a deal between Israel and Hamas to release all the remaining hostages, and also demonstrating against government attempts to weaken the judiciary.

(Image credit: Ohad Zwigenberg)

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 2:43 PM

Pete Marocco tried to upend USAID in 2020 -- and failed. In 2025, he dismantled it

Pete Marocco (center), who served as deputy administrator for USAID in the new Trump administration until last week, arrives at Capitol Hill on March 5 to meet with members of Congress to discuss foreign assistance. He was on staff at the agency during the first Trump administration — and both times sought to cut many of its programs.

This Trump administration official was a key figure in the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development — and will help set the agenda for the future of foreign aid.

(Image credit: Kent Nishimura/)

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 1:59 PM

China releases staff of an American due diligence firm in move to woo investors

China has been trying to woo back investors to help revive its sagging economy. Photographer: Na Bian/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The release of the employees from the firm, the Mintz Group, comes as China is trying to woo back foreign investors to help revive its sagging economy.

(Image credit: Na Bian)

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 1:16 PM

Intelligence leaders will testify before Congress, fresh off the group chat fiasco

CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard are set to appear before hearings in the Senate on Tuesday and the House on Wednesday.

Some of the nation's top intelligence officials are due to appear before Congress in a pair of hearings this week. Two were participants in a widely-criticized war plans group chat on Signal.

(Image credit: Andrew Harnik, Kevin Dietsc)

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 12:04 PM

Trump's back-to-office order will hurt veterans, VA docs and therapists say

Veterans marched in on the National Mall in D.C. on March 14 to protest President Trump and Elon Musk

The Department of Veterans Affairs embraced telehealth, especially for mental health care, in recent years. Now, staffers hired to give therapy and other health care remotely are ordered to do it from offices lacking privacy, VA clinicians told NPR.

(Image credit: Kayla Bartkowski)

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 11:00 AM

What happens when a Chicago hospital bows to federal pressure on trans care for teens

A 17-year-old transgender boy from the Chicago suburbs was in the process of scheduling surgery at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children

Patients and parents speak out after Lurie Children's in Chicago joined other hospitals in stopping gender-affirming surgeries. President Trump's executive order threatened their federal funding.

(Image credit: Manuel Martinez)

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 10:55 AM

How a journalist was sent the U.S. war plans. And, challenging the Alien Enemies Act

U.S. National Security Adviser Michael Waltz (L) and Deputy White House Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller (R) look on as U.S. Pres. Donald Trump speaks with reporters after signing two executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 04, 2025. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

A journalist at The Atlantic was unintentionally added to a group chat with top U.S. national security officials discussing war plans. And, the legal battle over the Alien Enemies Act continues.

(Image credit: Anna Moneymaker)

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 10:00 AM

Why Canada is holding an election that will be a first for its prime minister

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has set a snap election for April 28 — the first time he

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is running for elected public office for the first time, as the country is roiled by turbulence set in motion by President Trump.

(Image credit: Dave Chan)

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 10:00 AM

Doctors still seeking cure for brain cancer that struck former Utah Rep. Mia Love

Rep. Mia Love, R-Utah, speaks at a conference in National Harbor, Md., on Feb. 26, 2015. Love died on March 23, 2025, from an aggressive type of brain cancer called glioblastoma.

Mia Love, the first Black Republican woman elected to Congress, died three years after being diagnosed with glioblastoma, a brain cancer that is nearly always fatal.

(Image credit: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc.)

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 9:00 AM

Facing a silver tsunami, Nevada home health care workers demand a $20 minimum wage

Regina Brown-Ross, a home care worker and union organizer with SEIU Local 1107, looks at a union flier at her home in Las Vegas.

Home health care workers in Nevada are lobbying the state legislature to raise caregivers' minimum wage from $16 to $20 an hour.

(Image credit: Krystal Ramirez for NPR)

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 9:00 AM

New books this week: Yoko, Elphaba, Amanda Knox and lost connections

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This week's new releases include a memoir from Amanda Knox reflecting on her murder case and exoneration, a biography of Yoko Ono, new fiction from Column McCann, and the latest Wicked book Elphie.

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 9:00 AM

NCAA women's tournament reaches the Sweet 16 as one of its biggest stars falls

JuJu Watkins of the USC Trojans lies on the court after an injury against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the first half during the second round of the NCAA Women

Southern California All-American star JuJu Watkins crashed to the floor Monday night against Mississippi State and grabbed her knee. She had to be carried off the floor at the USC Galen Center.

(Image credit: Ronald Martinez)

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 9:00 AM

Feeling scatterbrained? 5 ways to focus your attention

What would you do if you had more hours in a day? Here

What would you do if you had more hours in a day? Here's how to carve out time for your interests and passions — even when you have a lot of responsibilities.

(Image credit: Pandagolik)

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 9:00 AM

These churches offer shelter and sanctuary to vulnerable migrants. Here's why

Bishop Joseph Tyson (left) and the Rev. Jesús Mariscal (right) of the Yakima Diocese worry about how their parishioners will cope with broad changes to immigration policy, which have had a chilling effect on many religious communities.

Some are offering sanctuary to immigrants, others are ministering to families in different ways.

(Image credit: Anna King)

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 5:00 AM

French actor Gérard Depardieu stands trial in Paris for alleged sexual assaults

Actor Gerard Depardieu arrives to face trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021 on Monday.

Depardieu's long and storied career has turned the trial into a post- #MeToo test of the willingness of France and its movie industry to confront sexual violence and hold influential men accountable.

(Image credit: Aurelien Morissard)

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 3:30 AM

Brazil apologizes to families of victims of military dictatorship's mass grave

Brazilian Minister of Human Rights Macae Evaristo speaks at a government ceremony to apologize to families of victims of the country

Brazil's government on Monday apologized to families of victims of the country's military dictatorship whose remains could be among those found in a clandestine mass grave 35 years ago.

(Image credit: Andre Penner)

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 1:30 AM

Oscar-winning Palestinian director attacked by Israeli settlers, detained by army

Hamdan Ballal, Palestinian co-director of Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, is detained by the Israeli military from his home in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Monday.

Israeli settlers beat up Hamdan Ballal, one of the Palestinian co-directors of the documentary film No Other Land, in the occupied West Bank, according to witnesses. He was then detained by the Israeli military.

(Image credit: Raviv Rose)

NPR NewsMar 25, 2025, 12:00 AM

23andMe is filing for bankruptcy. Here's what it means for your genetic data

This 2018 image shows a 23andMe saliva collection kit used for DNA testing. The California-based company announced this week that it was going into bankruptcy.

The California biotech firm said in a statement that it is hoping to find a buyer to address its ongoing financial struggles.

(Image credit: Eric Baradat)

NPR NewsMar 24, 2025, 11:19 PM

USPS head Louis DeJoy steps down as Trump officials consider Postal Service overhaul

Louis DeJoy, the outgoing U.S. Postmaster General, speaks to reporters on December 20, 2022 in Washington, DC. On Monday, he announced that he is stepping down.

The head of the U.S. Postal Service is stepping down. Louis DeJoy's exit comes after Trump officials floated controversial ideas for overhauling the agency.

(Image credit: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

NPR NewsMar 24, 2025, 10:27 PM

Lindsay Vonn sets a record straight out of retirement

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The decorated skier returned to the sport after six years away due to an injury and has already made a splash.

(Image credit: PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

NPR NewsMar 24, 2025, 10:10 PM

Supreme Court confronts another challenge to the Voting Rights Act

The Supreme Court heard arguments in a case Monday involving Louisiana

The case is nearly identical to a case the court ruled on two years ago from Alabama, though the outcome could make it more difficult for minorities to prevail in redistricting cases.

(Image credit: Win McNamee)

NPR NewsMar 24, 2025, 9:48 PM

The inside story of how a journalist was sent White House war plans

Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of The Atlantic, said he was mistakenly added to a group chat with U.S. national security leaders about imminent military strikes on Yemen.

(Image credit: Anna Moneymaker)

NPR NewsMar 24, 2025, 9:29 PM

Israel's Powerful Finance Minister and the Future of the Gaza Strip

Israeli Minister of finance and leader of National Zionism, Bezalel Smotrich, speaks to the press during a party meeting on February 5, 2024 in Jerusalem.

NPR has learned that Israel is considering a major ground invasion of Gaza to fully occupy the territory and establish a military rule over Palestinians there. We learn about this plan and hear about the influential minister who has repeatedly called for Israel to resettle the Gaza Strip. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has threated to collapse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government if the Gaza war ends. Our reporter talked to Smotrich and tells us about his rise to power.

(Image credit: Amir Levy)