Federal Worker Confusion, European Leaders In DC, German Election, Greenpeace Lawsuit

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4.5 • 52.8K Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2025

⏱️ 15 minutes

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Summary

Federal workers are experiencing confusion after receiving an email demanding a list of their work accomplishments, the French President and British Prime Minister are meeting with President Trump this week in Washington to try to sway him on Ukraine, Germany is getting a new Chancellor, and the environmental group Greenpeace is is facing a multimillion dollar lawsuit for allegedly disrupting construction of an oil pipeline.

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Today's episode of Up First was edited by Ryland Barton, Kevin Drew, Neela Banerjee, Janaya Williams and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent. And our technical director is Stacey Abbott.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	An email to every federal employee asked, what did you do last week? And Elon Musk threatened they would lose their jobs if they didn't answer.
0:11.4	You can't interpret silence to be a resignation. Do labor laws protect these workers?
0:17.1	I'm Layla Faldon. That's A. Martinez. And this is up first from NPR News.
0:22.9	The leaders of France and Britain are visiting Washington this week on their agenda convincing
0:28.1	President Trump not to abandon Ukraine. Can they sway him? Plus, conservatives won the German
0:33.7	election and the country's far-right party made its strongest showing in decades.
0:38.6	And Greenpeace goes on trial today. They're being sued by a Texas energy company for disrupting
0:43.3	the construction of an oil pipeline. Everybody's afraid of these environmental groups and the fear
0:47.6	that it may look wrong if you fight back with these people. Stay with us. We've got all the news
0:51.9	you need to start your day.
1:03.0	This message comes from Wise, the app for doing things in other currencies.
1:09.1	Sending or spending money abroad, hidden fees may be taking a cut. With Wise, you can convert between up to 40 currencies at the mid-market exchange rate.
1:13.0	Visit wise.com. TNCs apply.
1:16.7	Support for NPR and the following message come from Bowling Branch. Change your sleep with
1:21.7	Bowen Branch's airy blankets, cloud-like duvays, and breathable sheets. Feel the difference with
1:26.6	15% off your first order at bolandbranch.com with code NPR.
1:31.0	Exclusions apply.
1:32.0	See site for details.
1:34.0	What did you accomplish last week?
1:36.4	Well, that's the question that hundreds of thousands of government employees have until tonight at 1159 p.m.
1:42.1	To be exact to answer or they could lose their jobs.
1:45.6	The deadline was laid out in a three-line email sent Saturday from the Office of Personnel Management.
	...

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