NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-27-2025 5AM EST

Episode Date: January 27, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dave Mattingly. The Israeli military says it's allowing people to return to northern Gaza through an Israeli held corridor. This follows an announcement from Qatar that an agreement was reached to resolve a dispute over the release of Israeli hostages by Hamas. A statement from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicates Israel will receive three hostages held by Hamas since October of 2023 on Thursday. They include a soldier and a civilian, both women.

The identity of the third hostage was not made public. The president of Colombia has agreed to accept Colombian migrants deported from the U.S. after a series of threats from President Trump. Those threats included steep tariffs, as John Otis reports from Bogota. The Trump administration tried to send two military aircraft with 160 deportees back to Colombia, but Colombian President Gustavo Petro

revoked their landing rights, claiming the migrants were being mistreated. In response, Trump threatened to impose steep tariffs Gustavo Petro revoked their landing rights, claiming the migrants were being mistreated. In response, Trump threatened to impose steep tariffs on all Colombian imports and other sanctions. Petro then announced reciprocal tariffs on U.S. imports and said in a message to Trump, quote, your blockade doesn't scare me. But apparently Petro had second thoughts. Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo ended the impasse by saying his country would,

in fact, continue to receive deportation flights. For NPR News, I'm John Otis in Bogota, Colombia. More of President Trump's cabinet nominees are scheduled for Senate confirmation hearings this week. They include Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. That hearing takes place on Wednesday. Officials in Tennessee say they're making security changes at a high school in Nashville where a student was fatally shot by another student last week. Tony Gonzalez, with member station WPLN, says a new weapons detection system is being installed

at Antioch High School before students return to classes tomorrow. Cameras inside Antioch High School have software that should alert to guns, but administrators say the camera distance and angle prevented that as a 17-year-old opened fire in the cafeteria. One student died and another was grazed before the teen fatally shot himself. The school will now add a walk-through system that uses sensors and artificial intelligence to flag weapons. It's a technology already in use in other schools, stadiums, and venues. Safety fears have been high across Nashville.

Police arrested six students in two days on charges of making threats of mass violence. District attendance was down 10%. For NPR News, I'm Tony Gonzalez in Nashville. Police are still investigating a motive for that shooting. This is NPR News from Washington. Economists are predicting the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates steady at this week's policy meeting. The Fed remains concerned about elevated inflation in the U.S. economy.

Inflation is still running above the central bank's annual target of 2 percent. Despite those concerns, President Trump said last week he would call on the Fed to cut rates. Despite three rate reductions last year, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage remains at about 7%. That's according to bankrate.com. It'll be the Kansas City Chiefs against the Philadelphia Eagles in this year's Super Bowl. The Eagles won the NFC Championship yesterday,

routing the Washington Commanders 55 to 23. In Kansas City, the Chiefs beat the Buffalo Bills 32 to 29 to win the AFC title. NPR's Becky Sullivan reports. It was another playoffs classic between the Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills and their star quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. The Bills had the ball with a chance to take the lead in the final minutes but the Chiefs defense came up with a stop to seal the win. Here in Philly, the Eagles were flawless in a blowout of the Washington commanders. On the Eagles' very first play from scrimmage, star running back Saquon Barkley broke free

for a 60-yard touchdown. Next month's Super Bowl will be a rematch of the title game from two years ago, which the Chiefs won, then Kansas City won last year, too. Now they're aiming for what could be a third Super Bowl victory in a row. They would be the first team in NFL history to achieve that. Becky Sullivan, NPR News, Philadelphia. Wall Street futures are sharply lower this morning. I'm Dave Mattingly, NPR News in Washington.