On today’s show: Hamas says it will release hostages as scheduled this weekend. But the future of the ceasefire deal is still somewhat uncertain. NPR’s Kat Lonsdorf explains what’s going on. New reporting details frequent issues in the airspace near Reagan National Airport, where a helicopter collided with a passenger plane last month. The Washington Post’s Ian Duncan has the story. Luis Rubiales, the former Spanish Football Federation president, is on trial for alleged sexual assault and coercion after kissing soccer player Jenni Hermoso following a match. Dermot Corrigan, of The Athletic, has been in the courtroom and joins to discuss. Plus, the DOJ’s order to drop charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams prompts mass resignations, Trump announces reciprocal tariffs, and ‘Saturday Night Live’ turns 50. Today’s episode was hosted by Shumita Basu.
Full Episode
Good morning. It's Friday, February 14th, Valentine's Day. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, a complicated airspace around Reagan National Airport. The trial of Spain's former soccer chief ends. And in 50 years of Saturday Night Live, Lorne Michaels has never missed a show.
But first, to the Middle East, where Hamas has agreed to release three Israeli hostages on Saturday as scheduled in the planned ceasefire deal. Earlier in the week, Hamas threatened to postpone their release, accusing Israel of violating terms of the agreement related to humanitarian aid and allowing displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza.
Hamas also said some Palestinians are still being targeted by gunfire. Israel denied those claims and had threatened to resume attacks on Gaza if Hamas refused to release the hostages as planned.
Everyone here on both sides has just been kind of holding their breath for the last few days, waiting to see if this can be worked out.
Kat Lonsdorff is NPR's Middle East correspondent and spoke with us from Tel Aviv. She says although this recent dispute appears to be resolved, there are still questions about how phase two of the ceasefire deal might move forward. We know some of the big picture goals. More Israeli hostages and detained Palestinians could be released. Israeli troops could withdraw from Gaza.
And the terms of a permanent ceasefire could be explored. But we don't have many specifics.
That's what we're all really watching right now is to see if those talks about phase two do in fact start and what we can hear about what's happening in them.
President Trump made the precarious ceasefire deal even more delicate by saying last week, while hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, that the U.S. will take over Gaza, displacing millions of Palestinians so the U.S. could build on their land. And the president recently told Fox News' Brett Baier that Gazans would not be allowed to return home.
Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land. Would the Palestinians have the right to return? No, they wouldn't, because they're going to have much better housing, much better... In other words, I'm talking about building a permanent place for them, because if they have to return now, it'll be years before you could ever... It's not habitable.
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