NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-01-2025 10AM EST

Episode Date: February 1, 2025

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It's a new year, and according to Pew, 79% of resolutions are about one thing, health. But there are so many fads around how to keep ourselves healthy. On It's Been A Minute, I'm helping you understand why some of today's biggest wellness trends are, well, trending. Like why is there protein in everything? Join me as we uncover what's healthy and what's not on the It's Been A Minute podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder.

An American man was among three hostages at Hamas released in Gaza today in exchange for more than 180 Palestinian prisoners and detainees released from Israeli jails. It's the fourth exchange since a ceasefire took effect as MPR's Jerome Slockolowski reports from Tel Aviv. A crowd in Tel Aviv watched the release on a jumbotron as 65-year-old Keith Siegel was taken to Israel. Daniel Lifshitz is the grandson of a hostage who was released earlier in the war and says he got to know Siegel's wife Aviva. I think America should be so happy that the woman Jack Aviva got Kit Siegel, which is an American citizen. And we are so, so thankful to President Trump. Many Israelis believe Trump pressured Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu into accepting a ceasefire with Hamas. Lifshitz has one other grandparent still being held hostage. He's 84 years old. Jerome Sokolowski, NPR News, Tel Aviv. Now to Africa where the UN says at least 700 people have been killed in a week of heavy fighting between the army and a rebel militia in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Kate Bartlett reports that after taking Goma, the rebels are advancing towards another provincial capital. Hundreds have been killed in just a few days of fighting in eastern DRC, the World Health Organization said Friday. Several thousand others have been wounded. Around 300,000 people

have been sheltering in displacement sites on the outskirts of Goma, another UN body said. The Rwanda-backed M23 militia sent the region into crisis when they seized the city last Sunday. The group is now advancing towards Bukavu, another key town. The M23 is vowed to eventually take the capital, Kinshasa, on the other side of the country. For NPR News, I'm Kate Bartlett in Johannesburg. A major strike at Costco stores appears to have been averted for now after the powerful Teamsters Union announced a last-minute tentative agreement for a new contract without providing details. NPR's Amy Held reports that membership will now vote on it.

The announcement came just hours after the collective bargaining agreement expired, and the union said that roughly 8 percent of the company's workforce it represents would stop working. That's 18,000 Costco workers in six states, including New York, California, and Washington, where the company is based. Costco had recently announced raises for non-union entry-level workers of $20 an hour, and around $30 for clerks and assistants. The union workers were demanding a contract they say better reflects the company's sales and growth. In the last fiscal year, Costco's revenue grew 5 percent to more than $250 billion. It operates more than 600 U.S. stores. Amy Held, NPR News.

And you're listening to NPR News. It remains unclear if there were any fatalities on the ground following last night's fiery crash of a medical transport plane, but the office of Philadelphia Mayor Sherrell Parker says the crash left many people injured in parking lots and streets and their cars and homes. The plane came down in a heavily populated neighborhood. The six people on board the plane were all killed. They were bound for home in

Mexico after a child was treated in Philadelphia for a life-threatening illness. The crash came two days after the midair collision between a Blackhawk helicopter and a commercial jetliner in Washington, DC. 67 people were killed. Avian Flu, a disease that's being that is widespread and burge worldwide, being closely watched by the CDC. The disease has caused outbreaks in the US, poultry and dairy cows. Michael Braunf, member station WGCU, reports that experts now say it's claimed the lives of two American bald eagle chicks. Dr. Jessica Comely, with the clinic for the rehabilitation of wildlife, announced the diagnosis

and said the current strain of avian flu has caused devastating losses in birds. We received notification that the two eagles tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. Comely said birds like waterfowl can shed the virus while remaining asymptomatic. It can also be carried by contaminated objects. The eaglets in this nest were likely contracted the disease by eating an infected bird. It wasn't known if the eaglets' parents were infected, but observers were watching over the Southwest Florida Eagle Cam. For NPR News, I'm Michael Braun in Fort Myers.