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What is the current status of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas?
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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Noor Ram. The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza appears to be holding in its second day. The first phase includes a partial Israeli withdrawal and an exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees. Shibley Telhami is a professor at the University of Maryland.
He says this is not a peace deal, but essentially a hostage release deal, that there's no movement towards a permanent two-state solution.
I think the main issue remains the same, which is the position of the American government. What we have is an increasing international recognition of two states, including in Europe. But the U.S.
is the main party here preventing it from happening, preventing it from happening by not allowing the Security Council to admit a state of Palestine and recognizing it, but also essentially in enabling Israeli action.
He says President Trump acted to end the war because half the American people now believe what's happening in Gaza is genocide, and his own supporters are divided on the issue. The government shutdown, now on its 11th day, is making a bad situation worse for Midwest farmers. Frank Morris of member station KCUR reports.
Most corn, wheat, and soybean farmers are losing money. Shortages and tariffs have jacked up the price of fertilizer and farm equipment they have to buy, while trade wars are depressing the price of the grain they have to sell. Normally in hard times, Missouri farmer Richard Oswald would look to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a short-term loan.
I've literally done this for 55 years. It's been something that has always been there.
Not this year. The USDA is mostly shut down. President Trump has promised farmers a bailout, but that's delayed. And it's unclear how any assistance program would work absent a functioning USDA. Economists expect farm foreclosures to rise. For NPR News, I'm Frank Morris in Kansas City.
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