NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-01-2025 12PM EST

Episode Date: February 1, 2025

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Nour Ram, NPR News. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nour Ram. Hamas released three hostages today who had been held captive since Hamas-led militants attacked Israel in October of 2023. Among the three was an Israeli-American. In exchange, Israel released 183 Palestinians who had been detained in Israel. The initial six-week truce, which called for the exchange, has mostly held.

The World Health Organization says 50 Palestinians, mostly children, crossed out of Gaza for medical treatment today. They left through the southern Ra'aqa crossing into Egypt the first time it's opened in nearly nine months. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reports. Until last May, when the Israeli military took it over, Ra'aqa was the main crossing for aid into Gaza in the war,

and also the only way Palestinians could leave, even if in limited numbers. Opening it for medical evacuation is part of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. Mohammed Abu Jalala was accompanying his 14-year-old nephew today. Jalala says his nephew needs treatment after an Israeli airstrike left him with a head wound

and burns all over his body. His injury happened in the last month of the war, thank God, or I don't think he would have made it, Jalala told NPR's producer in Gaza, Anas Baba. Medical evacuations like this are set to continue. Aid groups say thousands are in need. Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Tel Aviv. There are signs that President Donald Trump could hold talks with Vladimir Putin about the war in Ukraine. The EU's foreign policy chief, Kyah Kalas, says Ukraine's allies should pressure Russian

President Vladimir Putin because he's the one who started it. I can't see any option on the table where the Europeans are not part of any kind of agreement implementation because it's going on on the European soil, because it's not only about Ukraine, but it's also about the European security architecture. She was interviewed on the BBC. Members of the Democratic National Committee are scheduled to choose a new party chairperson today in Maryland.

Chuck Wermbach of Member Station WUWM reports two state party chairs from the Upper Midwest are thought to be leading candidates. Minnesota Democratic Party Chair Ken Martin and Wisconsin Party Chair Ben Wickler say they have the biggest number of committed supporters among voting members. But six other people are also competing to replace retiring DNC Chair Jamie Harrison. Mordecai Lee is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Lee says Democrats are trying to choose what he calls their chief political mechanic. First, in terms of grassroots organizing, knocking on doors at the ground game, and

secondly, in terms of fundraising. Lee says with Republicans in control of the White House and Congress, the next party chair may wind up for a time being the Democrats' main spokesperson. For NPR News, I'm Chuck Kornbach. This is NPR News. A medical transport plane crashed while taking off in Philadelphia last night. Officials say all six people aboard were killed, a child, her mother, and four crew members. The plane went down in a neighborhood and exploded in a fireball.

Mayor Sherrell Parker says one person on the ground was killed and 19 others injured. This week, the World Health Organization certified the elimination of two diseases. Niger has successfully ended river blindness and, in Guinea, sleeping sickness. NPR's Gabrielle Emanuel has more. Niger is the first country in Africa to successfully do away with river blindness, a parasitic infection transmitted by black flies. The disease was eliminated through a combination of insecticides and medications. It's very significant and very important. Daniel Adje Bwache is with the End Fund,

nonprofit that has worked on the initiative. He says the elimination won't just help those who avoid blindness. Children who were going to lead blind people not have the time to go to school. And in Guinea, sleeping sickness has been stamped out, the country's first official disease elimination. This is also a parasitic disease and in advanced stages can cause neurological problems. Gabriella Emanuel, NPR News. Marco Rubio leaves today for Central America on his first trip as secretary of state. His first stop is Panama, where he's expected to deliver the message that the U.S. wants

to reclaim control over the Panama Canal. I'm Nurah Ram, NPR News in Washington.