NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-19-2025 6PM EST

Episode Date: January 19, 2025

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JANENE HERBST Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Herbst. Three Israeli women held hostage by Hamas in Gaza were freed today and they're now safely back in Israel. It's part of the ceasefire agreement intended to end the war. NPR's Greg Myrie has more. GREG MYRIE Hamas released the three Israeli women in a chaotic scene in Gaza City.

Masked Hamas gunmen drove a van carrying the women to a crowded square packed with Palestinians. The women were handed over to the Red Cross, which in turn delivered them to the Israeli military. They were then whisked back to Israel. Video footage showed the women ages 24 to 31 were all able to walk on their own, but there was no word on their overall condition. All three were seized by Hamas and the attack that ignited the war on October 7th, 2023. These exchanges of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners are set to carry on for weeks. Greg Myrie, MPR News, Tel Aviv. President-elect Trump is holding his last rally at an arena in Washington, D.C. tonight

before he is inaugurated tomorrow, telling the cheering crowd, we won. Starting tomorrow, I will act with historic speed and strength and fix every single crisis facing our country. We have to do it. We're not going to have a country like that. Trump touched on several themes, including the Gaza ceasefire. Perhaps most beautiful of all, this week we achieved an epic ceasefire agreement as a first step toward lasting peace in the Middle East. Earlier today, Trump laid a wreath at the tomb of

the unknown soldier in Arlington, Virginia. Meanwhile, his inauguration tomorrow is being held inside the Capitol for the first time since Ronald Reagan's second term in 1985 because of frigid weather in the nation's Capitol. This is the coldest air of the season and in many places in several years is descending from Canada and moving east. MPR's Amy Held has more on the Arctic blast affecting hundreds of millions. 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 wind chill 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 airmass also set to reach portions of the western U.S. 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. Wall Street is closed tomorrow in observance of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. You're listening to NPR News.

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 Frayer 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 U.S.-British relations after another Cold War spy scandal. Lauren Freyer and PR News London. In California, fire crews are reporting some progress against the wildfires that are in and around Los Angeles that have burned for almost two weeks now. The largest of the blazes, the Palisades Fire, is now around 52 percent contained and the

Eaton Fire, the second biggest, is about 81 percent contained. Together, the fires have burned more than 37,000 acres and destroyed more than 14,000 structures. The LA County Medical Examiner says at least 27 people died. The search for more remains continues. I'm Janene Herbst, NPR News in Washington.