NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-19-2025 10AM EST

Episode Date: January 19, 2025

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Every weekday, Up First gives you the news you need to start your day. On the Sunday story from Up First, we slow down. We bring you the best reporting from NPR journalists around the world, all in one major story, 30 minutes or less. Join me every Sunday on the Up First podcast to sit down with the biggest stories from NPR. Live from NPR. Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder. Israeli Foreign Minister Gidan Tsar is blaming Hamas for the nearly three hour delay in the

long-awaited ceasefire in Gaza. Hamas was obliged to provide the names of the first female hostages to be released at 4 p.m. yesterday. They didn't do so. They began violating the agreement before it even went into effect. Hamas said the delay in the handing over of the names of the three hostages it planned to release today was due to technical field reasons. The group has since released the names of three women. With the fighting halted after 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas, celebrations erupted in Gaza.

Some Palestinians have begun returning to their homes and aid trucks have been crossing into Gaza. President-elect Donald Trump will hold a rally tonight at Washington, D.C. on the eve of his inauguration. Trump arrived on Saturday to attend a series of events before the swearing-in ceremony tomorrow. Here's Amperos Franco-Ordonez with more. President-elect Trump was at his golf club in Sterling, Virginia for a reception with supporters, followed by a 15-minute fireworks display. Today Trump will visit Arlington National Cemetery for a wreath-laying ceremony at the tomb

of the Unknown Soldier. He'll later hold a rally at Capital One Arena in downtown Washington. But the cold weather forecast has scrambled Monday's plans. Instead of holding his inauguration outside in front of the U.S. Capitol, Trump decided to move the event indoors to the Capitol Rotunda. The scheduled parade down Pennsylvania Avenue is also moving inside to the Capitol Rotunda. The scheduled parade down Pennsylvania Avenue is also moving inside to the Capitol One Arena. It'll be the first time the inauguration is being moved indoors since Ronald Reagan's second inauguration in 1985. Franco Ordonez, NPR News, Sterling, Virginia.

The coldest air of the season and in many places in several years is descending from Canada and moving eastward. NPR's Amy Held reports on the Arctic blast affecting hundreds of millions of people in the U.S. Negative wind chills forecast early this week spurred the National Weather Service to issue extreme cold advisories. As far south as Texas, Alabama and Georgia, in North Dakota there's a windchill of 55 below possible. Widespread cold that's not just a nuisance, but can

be life-threatening, with frostbite and hypothermia possible. Multiple cities are opening warming centers. Along the East Coast, several inches of snow are set to fall before the bitter cold arrives by Monday. Some of the Arctic air mass also set to reach portions of the Western US. In Southern California, however, the concern is the return of fierce Santa Ana winds tomorrow. That plus low humidity create more critical fire weather risk. Amy Held, NPR News. This is NPR. Previously classified British government documents show Britain's MI5 kept information from the Queen and tried to curry favor with the FBI. These are some of the revelations from a trove of archives that have been declassified, as NPR's Lauren Freyer reports from London. In 1964, one of Queen Elizabeth's senior courtiers, her private art collector, confessed to being a Soviet spy.

But the monarch wasn't told for nine years. Aides apparently saw no advantage and didn't want to worry her. The man was later stripped of his knighthood. This is one of several tidbits and a trove of documents declassified ahead of an upcoming exhibition at Britain's National Archives. Other documents show how British secret agents lobbied for an honorary knighthood for J. Edgar Hoover, the notorious FBI director, and then tried to get him listed in a who's who almanac to boost his ego and US-British relations after another Cold War spy scandal.

Lauren Freyer and PR News, London. On the way to the NFL Super Bowl, the conference championships are taking shape this weekend. Two more games are on tap today after the Kansas City Chiefs and the Washington Commanders advanced. The Chiefs beat the Houston Texans last night and will play the winner of today's game between the Buffalo Bills and the Baltimore Ravens. The Commanders will play for the NFC title for the first time in more than 30 years. After beating the Super Bowl favorite Detroit Lions, Washington will play either the Los Angeles Rams or the Philadelphia Eagles.

I'm Triale Snyder, NPR News. For every headline, there's also another story about the people living those headlines. Philadelphia Eagles. I'm Triale Snyder, NPR News.