NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-02-2025 1PM EST

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Louise Schiavone. In New Orleans, the death toll stands at 14 in an early New Year's Day truck attack in the city's French Quarter. The suspect, 42-year-old American-born Chamche-Din Jabbar of Houston, was killed in a shootout with police and today the FBI is reiterating its conclusion. This was an act of terrorism. It was premeditated and an evil act. Deputy Assistant FBI Director

Christopher Reyes says investigators now believe there was only one actor. We do not assess at this point that anyone else involved in this attack is involved in this attack except for Shamsa Dinn-Jabbar. Reyes told reporters in New Orleans that while it's still early in the investigation, there appears to be no definitive link between yesterday's attack in New Orleans and the Tesla cyber

truck that exploded in front of a Trump hotel in Las Vegas hours later. The Sugar Bowl college football playoff game is set to kick off this afternoon in New Orleans. The game between Notre Dame and Georgia had been postponed after the nearby attack. NPR's Becky Sullivan has more. The Sugar Bowl was originally scheduled to kick off last night at the Superdome in downtown New Orleans. But the attack on Bourbon Street took place less than a mile from the stadium that put the facilities on lockdown as authorities conducted a security sweep. Postponing the game, organizers said, was in the best interest of public safety. Thousands of fans had traveled to New Orleans for the game. A Georgia student was critically injured in the attack and is receiving medical treatment,

a university official said. And among the dead is a former college football player, Tiger Besh, a Louisiana native who played at Princeton from 2016 to 2021. Both Notre Dame and Georgia said their teams and personnel were safe and accounted for. Becky Sullivan, NPR News. Becky Sullivan, NPR News. The former Soviet Republic of Moldova appears to be the country most affected by the end of a gas transit deal that provided Russian natural gas to Europe via Ukraine. NPR's Charles Maines reports the agreement between Kiev and Moscow collapsed January 1st after Ukraine refused to renew the agreement amid

Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine has celebrated the end of the gas transit deal as a way to cut into Russia's war chest and most of Europe has pivoted away from Russian energy or found temporary alternatives. Yet Moldova, Ukraine's post-soviet neighbor, remains vulnerable. Moldova, Ukraine's post-Soviet neighbor, remains vulnerable. Moldova's breakaway region of Transnistria abruptly caught off heat and hot water for residents. Local authorities also said a key regional hydroelectric station, once fueled by Russian gas, would now switch to coal. Separately, Russia's Gazprom announced it was suspending all deliveries to Moldova over unpaid arrears that Moldova contests. That has led Moldova's

pro-Western government to accuse Moscow of weaponizing energy resources ahead of key parliamentary elections later this year. Charles Maynes, NPR News. On Wall Street, the Dow is down 256. The Nasdaq is off 160. This is NPR News. A shipwreck off the coast of the Sicilian island of Lampedusa on New Year's Eve has left 20 people missing, seven survivors, including an eight-year-old girl whose mother is missing.

Last month, the lone survivor of a migrant boat from Tunisia was an 11-year-old girl who was found floating in waters off the island. UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, is calling on governments to prioritize the safety of migrant children. Police in South Korea have raided the offices of the airline and airport at the center of Sunday's plane crash that killed 179 people. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports the first crash victims have now been laid to rest. Police raided the Muon International Airport, the offices of low-cost carrier Jeju Air, and other sites.

Police had a search warrant issued on charges of professional negligence resulting in death. Attention is focused on a concrete barrier housing landing navigation equipment, which the Jeju Air flight collided with after overshooting the runway. Authorities have launched a nationwide inspection of all aviation safety equipment near airport runways. Identification of all 179 victims' remains was completed Wednesday and so far at least two dozen have been returned to their families. Two flight attendants were the only ones to survive the worst aviation disaster ever on Korean soil. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Seoul. In San Juan, Puerto Rico, Jennifer

Gonzalez-Colon has been sworn in as governor, giving her pro-statehood new progressive party a historic third consecutive term there. I'm Louise Chiavone, NPR News, Washington.