From CNN, I'm Fez Jamil with the Five Things You Need To Know for Tuesday, August 20th. Day 2 of the Democratic National Convention gets underway in Chicago today, while yesterday featured some prominent Democrats like Hillary Clinton, President Joe Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris, there will also be some Republicans coming on to the stage this week. That includes a former Trump White House National Security official and a former congressman, as well as current and former GOP lawmakers from Arizona and Georgia, both key battleground states. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump's campaign is doing a blitz of the key swing states, as CNN still madingly tells us.
Pitting every single major battleground state, all seven of them, on Monday it was the economy. It was the critical battleground of Pennsylvania. They'll be heading over to Michigan, then North Carolina, then Arizona, then Nevada, all states, the Trump campaign wants to win, some of which it absolutely needs to win. The Israeli military says the bodies of six Israeli hostages have been retrieved from Gaza during an overnight operation.
CNN's Nick Robertson has more from Tel Aviv. These are all men, mostly elderly men. All of them, except one were already believed to have been dead. Now, the idea of saying that this was intelligence led, an operation that they had intelligence and therefore were able to follow up on it and recover the bodies.
Very significant, obviously, for the families of these loved ones, that they now have them back and will be able to give them proper burial. Meanwhile, Gaza officials say at least 12 people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a school west of Gaza City. This comes as negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal continue in the region. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Israel's Prime Minister agreed yesterday to a US bridging proposal for a deal, adding that it's now for Hamas to accept it.
A popular weight loss drug cuts the risk of diabetes by 94 percent, in adults with pre-diabetes, who have obesity or overweight. That's according to a study from drug maker Eli Lilly about Trizepatide, also known in the US as Monjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for weight loss. The company says the three-year study showed people who got a 15-milligram dose of the drug also had an average decrease in body weight of nearly 23 percent, compared with 2.1 percent in those who got a placebo. Eli Lilly says the study will be sent to a peer-reviewed journal.
Pre-diabetes affects about one in three adults in the US, or 84 million people, and about 70 percent of those will go on to be diagnosed with diabetes. More than a year after a trained derailment brought to East Palestine, Ohio, some residents say they need more time and information before agreeing to a settlement. In the Associated Press reports, the deadline is coming up this Thursday to accept part of a $600 million class action deal with Norfolk Southern over the derailment. The February 2023 derailment spilled toxic chemicals that caught fire, with some residents still dealing with health issues like respiratory problems, rashes, and headaches.
It's not clear whether the judge will rule on their motion before the Thursday deadline for people living within 20 miles of the crash to file a claim. Those who live in the area of the derailment also have to decide whether to take up to $70,000 for personal injuries and property damage depending how close they live to the crash site. But accepting the money means they can't sue later, in case more serious health problems like cancer emerge from the chemical exposure. Coming up, the record price of gold and what it could mean for the US economy.
For the first time, a bar of gold is worth a million dollars. Thanks to soaring prices for the precious metal, gold spot price reached a record high of more than $2,500 per Troy ounce this month. Now an average gold bar weighs 400 Troy ounces, so when you do the math, that hits the million dollar mark. Spot gold prices have shot up more than 20 percent in the past year to date, and that could be a sign for the US economy that investors expect the federal reserve to cut its benchmark interest rates soon.
Also, central banks led by China are buying up gold to ease their reliance on the US dollar. That's all for now, our next episode drops at noon eastern.