NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-01-2025 8AM EST

Episode Date: February 1, 2025

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This is Tanya Mosley, co-host of Fresh Air, and I just talked to Pamela Anderson about her big career comeback after years in the tabloids and not being taken seriously. She's entered a new era on stage and screen. Suzanne Summers had a great line. She said, You can't play a dumb blonde and be a dumb blonde. Find this interview with Pamela Anderson wherever you listen to Fresh Air. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Joel Snyder. A U.S. dual citizen is among the three Israeli hostages released by Hamas today

after more than 15 months in captivity in Gaza. In exchange, more than 180 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are being released. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf is in Tel Aviv. Family and friends of 65-year-old Keith Siegel gathered to watch his release live streamed on TV. NPR's Daniel Estrin was with them. Cheering erupted when Siegel first appeared on screen. He was paraded on stage by Masked Hamas gunmen in Gaza City

before being handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross and finally to Israeli forces. In a separate handover, 35-year-old Yohden Bevis and 54-year-old Ofer Kaldaron were also released and brought back to Israel. Kaldaron is a dual French national. This is the fourth hostage release as part of a six-week ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Seventy-nine hostages remain in Gaza.

Many are believed to be dead. Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Tel Aviv. To Philadelphia now, where Mayor Sheryl Parker is calling on city residents to come together, following last night's crash of a medical transport jet in a Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood. If there was ever a time when we needed to affirm what the one Philly philosophy means, the time is now. The plane was carrying six people and was returning to Mexico after a child on board was treated in Philadelphia for a life-threatening condition.

The air ambulance company based in Mexico says there were no survivors on board. It remains unclear if there were any fatalities on the ground, but officials say six people were hospitalized as several homes and cars were engulfed in flames. The crash came two days after a Black Hawk helicopter collided with a commercial jetliner near Washington, D.C., killing all 67 people. Syrian authorities have arrested a former senior security officer affiliated with the Al-Stu regime led by Bashar al-Assad. The officer was allegedly behind the arrest and torture of children, which was an atrocity that kicked off an anti-regime revolution in Syria in 2011. Here's NPR's Emily Fang reporting. Authorities said they found Attaf Najib in the

Syrian city of Latakia. He's believed to have ordered the arrest of a group of Syrian boys back in 2011. They had been caught painting anti-regime slogans in the city of Daraa. Moawiyah Sayasna was one of the adolescents arrested. He says justice has not yet been completely served. He says he wants Bashar al-Assad to be hanged in Syria and for every criminal to be held accountable. He says thank God that we are now arresting them like they arrested us. Attaf Najib is one of the most senior regime officials found

and arrested so far since the Assad regime was toppled last December. Emily Fang, NPR News, Hama, Syria. And you're listening to NPR News. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reports that warring parties in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo are using rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war. Lisa Schlein reports from Geneva. Lisa Schlein, The Increase in Rape and Sexual Violence follows the takeover of the city of Goma by M23 rebels earlier this week.

But human rights spokesman Jeremy Lauren says the number of women who've been sexually abused is likely much higher than the reported figures of more than 200 in the past week. As we know in past conflicts, often for reasons of stigmatization, many women may not report instances of this. The UN accuses both the M23 rebels, allegedly backed by Rwanda and Congolese troops of sexually abusing women. For NPR News, I'm Lisa Schlein in Geneva. Thousands of union Costco workers remain on the job. The Teamsters Union says it has reached a tentative agreement for a new contract.

The union posted a message on social media early this morning and hours after the midnight deadline passed. President Trump says he'll make good on his promise to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China. Trump says 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and 10 percent on goods from China will go into effect today. Trump has been threatening to impose a tariff saying they are intended to ensure greater cooperation on stopping illegal immigration and the smuggling of chemicals used to make fentanyl.

Canada and Mexico say they are prepared to impose retaliatory tariffs if necessary. I'm Giles Snyder, NPR News.