NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-09-2025 6AM EST

Episode Date: February 9, 2025

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Are you the greatest musician the world has never heard? Unsigned artists, now's your opportunity to play the Tiny Desk. Enter the 2025 Tiny Desk Contest, our nationwide search for the next undiscovered star. The winner will play a Tiny Desk concert and a U.S. tour. To learn more, visit npr.org.tinydeskcontest. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will not gloss over what he called shocking scenes in Gaza this weekend when Hamas released three more hostages as part

of the ceasefire deal. The three men appeared gaunt and weak when they were turned over to the Red Cross by Hamas gunmen. In Tel Aviv, the Ministry of Health's Dr. Hagar Misrahi made a statement after the arrival of one of the three hostages at a hospital. We are fully prepared to address any medical need, psychological or physical, continuing to support the returnees and ensuring they can live free and healthy lives which their rights fully deserve.

The condition of the hostages is complicating talks in Qatar in the next phase of the ceasefire, so is President Trump's remarks about displacing Palestinians and turning Gaza into the Riviera of the Middle East. As part of the ceasefire deal, Israeli forces began withdrawing from a key corridor in Gaza today. The Net-Sarim corridor is a strip of land that cuts off northern Gaza from the south. Israel used it as a military zone. Authorities in Alaska have been working this weekend to recover the wreckage of the small

commuter plane that crashed on Thursday before bad weather that's expected to move in today. All 10 people on board were killed. Ben Townsend of member station KNOM has the latest from NOAA. All 10 bodies aboard Bering Air Flight 445 were retrieved Saturday. Next of kin have been notified and the bodies will be transported to Anchorage for autopsies. National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy traveled to Alaska to oversee the investigation. She says it's too early to speculate on the cause of the accident. What we want to do is get that wreckage so that we can examine it ourselves.

Responders worked through the afternoon as bad weather approached to retrieve the wreckage. Sections of the aircraft were hoisted by helicopter to Nome, where the NTSB will conduct their investigation. For NPR News, I'm Ben Townsend in Nome. President Trump going to tonight's Super Bowl, the first sitting president to attend the game as Sanpires Franco-Ordonez reports. President Trump will be watching from a box when the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles at Caesar's Superdome in New Orleans.

Trump is a well-known professional football fan but has also had a controversial relationship with the NFL. He famously criticized both players and the NFL, accusing them of a lack of patriotism when some athletes began kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice. Trump has declined to name who he wants to win or who he thinks will win, but he has repeatedly complimented Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. declined to name who he wants to win or who he thinks will win, but he has repeatedly complimented Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Trump is also sitting down for an interview with Fox News' Brett Baer that will air as part of pre-game coverage. Franco Ordoñez,

NPR News, West Palm Beach. And this is NPR News. Voters in Ecuador are going to the polls today in a presidential election. Sixteen candidates are on the ballot, but the contest is shaping out to be a rematch of 2023 between President Daniel Noboa and leftist challenger Luisa Gonzalez. In Kosovo, voters are casting ballots in a parliamentary election today. The results will determine who will lead normalization talks with neighboring Serbia. Rescuers in China are searching for more than two dozen people who remain missing following a landslide in the southwestern Sichuan province. The slide buried multiple homes. Emergency officials have deployed hundreds of rescuers to the scene. State media

say one body has been recovered and two people have been rescued so far. The Canadian government has stripped Buffy St. Marie of one of the country's highest honors. Here's NPR's Chloe Veltman reporting. The news was shared by an official Canadian government publication just over a month after Canada's Governor-General Mary Simon signed off on it. The Governor-General's office says it does not comment on the specifics of terminations. St Marie received the Order of Canada in 1997 for her services to Indigenous Canadians, but a Canadian broadcasting corporation investigation in 2023 shed doubt on her claims of Indigenous ancestry. The reporting revealed evidence she was born Beverly Jean Santamaria of white parents. St Marie defended herself on social media at the time. My growing up mom who was proud to be part Mi'kmaq told me many things,

including that I was adopted and that I was native. Representatives for St. Marie did not immediately respond to NPR's requests for comment. Chloe Veltman, NPR News. And I'm Trial Snyder. This is NPR News. If you love NPR News.