NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-04-2025 4PM EST

Episode Date: February 4, 2025

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This is Ira Glass with This American Life. Each week on our show, we choose a theme, tell different stories on that theme. All right, I'm just going to stop right there. You're listening to an NPR podcast, chances are you know our show. So instead, I'm going to tell you, we've just been on a run of really good shows lately. Some big epic emotional stories, some weird funny stuff too. Download us. This American Life. Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold talks at the White House soon. A short time ago Trump took reporters questions about post-war recovery for millions of people in Gaza. He says

Palestinians should relocate someplace nicer such as in Egypt or Jordan. I think they should get a good, fresh, beautiful piece of land and we get some people to put up the money to build it and make it nice and make it habitable and enjoyable and make it a home. Palestinians say they don't want to leave. Palestinians say they don't want to leave. I don't know how they could want to stay. It's a demolition site. When asked whether the U.S. would be willing to help pay for relocating Gazans, he says

that there are plenty of other people in the area who have a lot of money, apparently referencing nations such as Saudi Arabia and Iran. Trump signed new executive orders in the Oval Office this afternoon. One is focused on reimposing maximum pressure on Iran. The president indicated he was, quote, torn about signing it. He said, quote, hopefully we are not going to have to use it very much, end quote. Two groups of FBI agents are suing the Justice Department, the separate lawsuits seeking to block the Justice Department from making public the names of agents who worked on January 6 capital riot cases. Here's NPR's Ryan Lucas.

One of the lawsuits was filed by the FBI Agents Association and the other by a group of nine anonymous FBI agents. In recent days, the Justice Department has sought to obtain a list of FBI officials who worked on the capital riot investigation and or cases involving now President Trump. capital riot investigation and or cases involving now President Trump. Both lawsuits view this as a retaliatory measure and seek to block the Justice Department from making public any such list of FBI agents. The plaintiffs fear among other things is that if the list is released, it could open agents and their families to possible retribution by the 1,500 or so January 6th defendants who have been pardoned by President Trump. Ryan Lucas, NPR News at the Justice Department.

The Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson is denouncing what he describes as the worst mass shooting in his country's history. Local authorities believe as many as 10 people may have been killed and multiple people were injured during the attack at an adult education center in the central city of Örebro. Speaking through an interpreter heard on the BBC, Christersson called on Swedes to support each other. Many children are frightened, are scared, so we must comfort them, we must take care of them. We all have a role to play in overcoming this deep grief. In other news the remains of all 67 people have been recovered from an American Airlines plane and a

helicopter that collided into each other at Reagan National Airport outside Washington DC recently. An investigation into what led to the collision is still underway. This is NPR. 15.4 million. That is how many viewers the Grammy Awards ceremony on CBS drew Sunday night. According to the Nielsen ratings, there were about a million more viewers last year. However, the numbers only account for CBS viewers. The event was also streamed on subscription-based Paramount Plus with Showtime package. Also, marketing around the Los Angeles show was affected because of the LA fires. Fire recovery and resilience was a prominent theme in the 67th Grammy Awards. Polar bears constantly move between ice-cold water and frigid air, but their fur doesn't freeze. NPR's Jonathan Lambert explains a new study finds that specialized grease prevents ice

from forming. Most mammalian fur freezes when it gets wet in cold temperatures. Think human beards on a frosty winter day. But polar bear fur doesn't really freeze. That ability likely stems from high levels of ice-resistant compounds in their fur grease, according to recent research in the journal Science Advances. The study also found that polar bears' greasy fur lacked a compound called squalene, which sticks to ice and is found on most other marine mammals.

The researchers hope the work could lead to more environmentally friendly alternatives to some anti-ice materials and ski waxes, as well as new kinds of deicing fluid for aircraft. Jonathan Lambert, NPR News. U.S. stocks have ended the day higher than NASDAQ closed up 262 points or more than 1%. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News. Our long national nightmare is over. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.