NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-09-2025 9AM EST

Episode Date: February 9, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is sending a delegation to Qatar to continue Gaza ceasefire negotiations. But Netanyahu is also expressing anger at the treatment of the three Israeli hostages released by Hamas this weekend in an emaciated state. We have once again seen what monsters Hamas are. These are the same monsters who slaughtered our civilians and mistreated our hostages. And I say to them once again, they will pay for their actions. We will do everything to bring back all our hostages.

We will ensure their safety. That's the instruction I gave to the delegation. But Hamas will not be there. We will eliminate Hamas and return our hostages. Hamas has said it's ready for further talks, but it's accusing Israel of dragging its feet on the delivery of humanitarian relief as part of the ceasefire deal. Tensions have also been raised by President Trump's remarks about displacing Palestinians and turning

Gaza into what he called the Riviera, the Middle East. A new right-wing populist European political party meeting this weekend in Madrid, NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports that the Patriots for Europe party says it wants to be the new normal in the EU and across Europe. The Patriots for Europe party, founded last summer after the far-right made inroads in EU parliament elections, says it wants to reconquer Europe for Christian civilization. The Patriots will be the third largest party in the EU Parliament and includes heavyweights like France's Marine Le Pen, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán

and Dutch far-right leader Gert Wilders. Yes, we will make Europe great again because we are victors. We are victors because we are winning the elections and our people are demanding change. Marine Le Pen said the election of Donald Trump is evidence of a global turning point. Eleanor Beardsley in Pierre News, Paris. Snow is blanketing parts of the northeast this weekend, including New York and Boston. And with that storm moving offshore today, another is forming to the south, and it's set to dump snow and ice across a wide stretch of the U.S. Here's in Pierce,

Amy Heldt. More disruptive winter weather is on its way. We have overall a very active pattern across the country. We have storm after storm pushing from west to east. Forecaster Bob Oruvek says snow will fall starting in the central U.S. overnight into Tuesday from Kansas into Philadelphia Baltimore and Washington up to a half foot or so then there's also the risk of icing in parts Especially southward into Virginia and North Carolina Overall tree damage and power outages are possible roadways are gonna be dangerous to drive on and I'm sure it's like delays Tuesday into Wednesday. In Southern California, rain is forecast later this week, again bringing the risk of landslides

to burn scars. Amy Held, NPR News. And from Washington, you're listening to NPR News. Afrikaner groups are rejecting President Trump's offer of being given refugee status in the US. Kate Bartler reports the groups say they'd rather stay put in South Africa. Thanks, but no thanks. That was the response of Kelly Creel, who heads Afrikaner rights group Afroforum. We have to stay categorically. We don't want to move elsewhere. Creel made the remarks at a hastily organized press conference after Trump signed an executive

order cutting funding to South Africa and offering Afrikaners asylum. Afrikaners are descendants of Dutch and other European colonists. Afrikaner groups have long lobbied Washington for support, saying South African laws discriminate against them and that they are being persecuted as a white minority and even face, quote, genocide. For NPR News, I'm Kate Butlett in Johannesburg. A man known as Namibia's founding father has died. Sam Nujama was 95. The president's office says Nujama died this weekend and that the foundations of the country

have been shaken. Nujama was a guerrilla leader who spent decades in exile before becoming Namibia's first democratically elected president after it won independence from apartheid South Africa. Ndujoma was revered in Namibia but also criticized over his treatment of media coverage and his opposition to homosexuality. Sony's PlayStation Network is back online following a major global outage. Users started to report issues late Friday, and the network remained offline yesterday. Sony is apologizing for the outage but has not said what caused it.

I'm Giles Snyder. This is NPR News.