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People walk past a damaged building during the funeral of Hezbollah's top military official, Haytham Ali Tabtabai, and of other people who were killed by an Israeli airstrike on Sunday, despite a U.S.-brokered truce a year ago, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon November 24, 2025.
Hard Numbers: Israel assassinates Hezbollah commander, DOGE gets DOGE’d, Ethiopian volcano erupts, Not much to show for COP30
8: DOGE has been DOGE’d, with a White House official declaring that the Department of Government Efficiency – which, under Tesla owner Elon Musk, tried to slash government spending – no longer exists. The department still had eight months left before the end of its charter.
12,000: A long-dormant Ethiopian volcano, Hayli Gubbi, erupted for the first time in nearly 12,000 years, sending ash 9 miles high and drifting across the Red Sea. No casualties were reported, but ash is strangling the local vegetation and threatening local herders’ livelihoods.
1.5: As COP30 comes to a close, the conference concludes with an agreement projecting that the world will likely exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming in the next five years, with few promises made to stop it. The agreement did not mention fossil fuel curtailment, and instead focused on climate change adaptation, in a sign that countries are prioritizing energy security over climate commitments.
NPR's Katherine Maher and PBS's Paula Kerger are sworn in at a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency in Washington, DC, on March 26, 2025.
Congress grills NPR and PBS over alleged bias
On Wednesday, NPR’s CEO and President Katherine Maher, along with PBS CEO and President Paula Kerger, testified before the House Oversight Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, where they faced accusations of left-wing bias. At stake: the $535 million they receive from Congress through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
This subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, was established as a counterpart to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. The public media outlets were accused of spreading misinformation, focusing too much on stories about transgender people, and being biased against the president.
The outlets tried to shift the focus to their non-political content. PBS highlighted much of its programming geared toward education, in particular at preparing preschool-aged children who may not be able to afford daycare to enter school. NPR pointed to the critical role local radio plays during natural disasters – particularly in rural and remote areas – and argued that it was key to keeping local news alive since it is the only news outlet with a network of nearly 3,000 local journalists. Maher also said she regretted past tweets disparaging Trump and that the station made mistakes covering the Hunter Biden laptop story.
But their arguments didn’t seem to convince Republicans, with many saying that the rise of podcasts makes NPR less vital for getting news to rural areas than it was in the past. “I don’t think they should get a penny of federal funds,” said Congressman James Comer. We will be watching whether public media maintains its funding in the budget Republicans are working on over the coming weeks.Trump makes a speech from the Oval Office.
Are Trump’s massive government layoffs permanent?
The outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported on Thursday that US employer layoffs surged by 245% last month — the largest spike since the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. In February alone, 172,017 jobs were cut, with over a third stemming from the Department of Government Efficiency, which slashed 62,242 positions across 17 agencies.
However, whether all these firings will be permanent remains uncertain. While DOGE continues its job cuts, many agencies have begun reversing course, reinstating employees — sometimes just days after their dismissal. On Tuesday, the Office of Personnel Management revised its previous directive, which had instructed agencies to terminate probationary employees (those with less than two years in their roles). The update clarified that individual agencies would have the final say on personnel decisions. Meanwhile, independent review boards, judges, and lawmakers from districts with large government workforces are challenging the layoffs. It is unclear how many more employees might ultimately be reinstated.
Regardless, the first two months of the year saw a total of 221,812 job cuts — the highest since the 2009 financial crisis. The report comes amid growing concerns about the labor market and broader economy, as Trump pushes forward with plans for tariffs, government downsizing, and stricter immigration policies.