NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-04-2025 4PM EST

Episode Date: January 4, 2025

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Noor Ram live from NPR News in Washington. I'm Noor Ram. Six days of observances for former president Jimmy Carter began today in Georgia. The funeral procession on its way to Atlanta passed by Carter's boyhood home where the old farm bell was rung 39 times for the 39th president. Carter's remains will lie in repose at the Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta around the clock from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday to allow the public to pay final respects. His grand-niece Cameron Carter says she'll miss him terribly. Things won't feel the same as they used to because you're just so used to him being a part of everything, seeing the Secret Service all the time.

And so it's going to be a lot different knowing that he's not around and you can't just call him up or ask if you can go see him. So it's going to be tough. Carter's remains will lie in state next week at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. His funeral will be held Thursday morning at the Washington National Cathedral. All the living former presidents are invited. President Biden is to deliver a eulogy. The 119th Congress convened yesterday.

Mike Johnson of Louisiana was reelected as the Speaker of the House. He said he intends to make border security a top priority. On the other side of the Capitol, John Thune of South Dakota is the new Senate Majority Leader. He says his top priority will be to confirm President-elect Trump's choices for his cabinet. NPR's Deidre Walsh has more. First, Thune is focused on getting Trump's cabinet

nominees confirmed in the Senate. So far, there's been no Republican senator who's come out publicly as a no for any nominee, but if any four Republicans did break, you know, one of Trump's nominees couldn't get confirmed. You know, there are some controversial nominees that we've talked about before, like Pete Hegseth to be the defense secretary, Tulsi Gabbard to serve as the Director of National Intelligence, and there's still some Republican senators who want more details. NPR's Deidre Walsh, authorities are learning more about the man who slammed a pickup truck

into a crowd in New Orleans on New Year's Day, killing at least 14 people before being shot dead by police. Shamsuddin Ajaabar was born in Texas and had served in the U.S. Army. NPR's Ryan Lucas reports the FBI now believes he was inspired by the Islamic State terrorist group. In a directed attack a terrorist organization is in contact with a person or a cell of people say in the United States and directs them for example to attack a specific target. In an inspired attack in contrast there doesn't need to be any direct contact. An individual instead can say, watch or read ISIS propaganda online, come to sympathize

with the group's ideology or its worldview, and then decide to carry out violence to act in the group's name on their own. This is NPR News. Negotiations to end the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas are underway again in Qatar. They've been stalled for weeks as both sides blame the other for lack of progress. A senior Hamas leader has posted a video statement in English calling for a permanent ceasefire now as cold weather sets in. Israeli officials have said that any ceasefire must be temporary as Hamas still has not released

a list of the hostages it's still holding in Gaza. Elon Musk's latest tweets about events overseas have created complications for one of his higher-profile supporters in the U.K. Vicki Barker reports from London. Nigel Farage, leader of the pro-Brexit anti-immigration Reform UK party, has been vocal in his support for Elon Musk. And he doesn't shy away from asking for any donations that could help reform

overtake Britain's conservatives at the next election. But now Farage has been forced to distance himself from Musk's own vocal support for the jailed, far-right anti-Islam activist known as Tommy Robinson, telling the BBC. I don't approve of somebody who's been to prison on five separate occasions for different things. Last month, top politicians in Germany rebuked Musk for writing an op-ed piece praising the German far-right AFD party. For NPR News, I'm Vicki Barker in London.

Evacuations are underway in northeastern Ethiopia as a long Norman volcano is showing signs of activity. Steam eruptions started Thursday and mud has caused huge cracks on major roads. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News.