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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Hamas has released U.S. Israeli hostage Idan Alexander, according to a statement by Hamas and an Israeli official who spoke to NPR on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly.
And Pierre-Sedil Al-Shalchi has details. Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander was released as part of what Hamas said was a step toward reaching a ceasefire agreement with Israel. Alexander is a 21-year-old Israeli soldier raised in New Jersey and believed to be the last remaining U.S. citizen captured by Hamas on October 7, 2023 and held in Gaza.
Hamas said the release would come as part of a ceasefire effort to open Gaza's border crossings and bring aid to Gaza. Israel said it had not agreed to a ceasefire. A statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said that Alexander's return, quote, without anything in return, is thanks to President Trump's diplomacy. Hadil Al-Shalchi, NPR News, Tel Aviv. In Washington, President Trump welcomed Alexander's release. He's the only American citizen that's captured.
and held hostage by Hamas since October 7th, 2023. And he's coming home to his parents. Trump is en route to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates on his first major overseas trip since he took office.
The U.S. and China have agreed to a temporary break from triple-digit tariffs, and U.S. stocks are trading higher. Here's NPR's Scott Horsley. The U.S. is slashing tariffs on imports from China from 145% to 30% for the next 90 days. In exchange, China is temporarily cutting its tax on imports from the U.S. to just 10%.
The move is a relief for many businesses that rely on Chinese imports. The earlier triple-digit tax had brought much of the cargo traffic between the two countries to a standstill. The remaining tariffs are still significantly higher than Americans were used to paying, however, and because the tariff relief has an expiration date while negotiations continue, there's still considerable uncertainty over what the trade landscape will look like in three months. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.
Dozens of white South Africans have landed in the U.S. Kay Bartlett has more from Johannesburg. The group of Afrikaners, the descendants of mainly Dutch colonists, left Johannesburg on a U.S. government charter flight on Sunday night. They were given refugee status after President Trump signed an executive order saying the minority group faced persecution at home.
The South African government firmly denies that. There are no legal or any factual basis for the executive order sanctioning this action. None of the provisions of international law on the definition of refugees are applicable in this case. That was Vincent Maguena, spokesman for the presidency. This is NPR News.
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