NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-10-2024 10AM EST

Episode Date: December 10, 2024

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After the election, the economy feels like one big, huh? Good thing there's the Indicator from Planet Money podcast. We take a different economic topic from the news every day and break it down in under 10 minutes. Topics like the home building shortage or the post-election crypto rally. Listen to the Indicator from Planet Money podcast from NPR and turn that, huh, into an ah. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Herbst.

It's been a night of intense Israeli bombardments in the Syrian capital Damascus and the surrounding region following the fall of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. MPR's Ruth Sherlock is on the Syrian side of the Lebanese-Syrian border and has more. Here at the border with Syria, some people are trying to cross from Lebanon into Syria, but the vast majority are trying to flee. The access road to Lebanon is gridlocked with traffic. Some people are walking along the side of the road carrying suitcases and children. Others are sleeping in the dirt on the side, on the banks on the side of the road. They've been waiting here since the early hours

of the morning. Many of those trying to escape are from the Syrian minority sects, like the Alawite sect, the same sect as the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Now that an Islamist insurgency is in Damascus, they live in fear for their lives. They're trying to cross the border,

but many here are poor. They say they have nowhere to go, but they feel that crossing is the only way to try to keep themselves and their families safe. Ruth Sherlock, NPR News, Lebanese-Syrian border. Meanwhile, a coalition of Syrian rebel groups has named an interim prime minister, Mohammed al-Bashir, who will serve for the next three months, managing a transition of power between the former Assad regime and the rebels that overthrew that regime. Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the shooting death of CEO Brian Thompson in New York last

week, has been charged with murder in New York and arraigned on gun and other charges in Pennsylvania. He was found with a ghost gun, fake IDs, and writings that authorities say link him to the murder. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenney. He was writing a lot about his disdain for corporate America and in particular the healthcare industry. It's not clear when Mangione will be sent to New York. Stocks open mixed this morning as the Biden administration gives a green light

to new oil and gas drilling in Alaska. And Pierre Scott Horsley has more. The Biden administration plans to sell new oil and gas drilling leases in Alaska early next month, shortly before leaving office. The move could open the door to drilling in a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. A law passed during the first Trump administration mandated leasing in the refuge, but so far no drilling has taken place there.

Crude oil prices were down overnight. The retail price of gasoline is now averaging just a penny over $3 a gallon. Boeing is detailing some of the job cuts that it first announced back in October. Close to a thousand Boeing workers in Washington and California have received layoff notices. The jetmaker ultimately plans to cut about 17,000 jobs, or 10 percent of its total workforce. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. Wall Street is trading in mixed territory at this hour. The Dow is down 80 points. The Nasdaq is up 118 points. That's more than a half percent. You're listening to NPR News

from Washington. The federal bankruptcy judge in Texas will continue hearing challenges today to the auction of conservative commentator Alec Jones's Infowars media company. Jones and the losing bidder argue the auction was rigged against them. The winning bid was placed by the satirical news outlet, The Onion. And Piers Tovia-Smith has more. Jones and First United American Companies, a firm with business ties to Jones, call the auction a mockery, arguing the Onion's bid violates auction rules. They say First United's

bid was the higher and better offer. The auctioneers and the bankruptcy trustee overseeing the sale insist it was fair and the Onion's bid was more valuable. Jones was forced into bankruptcy after a group of Sandy Hook parents sued him for defamation for spreading lies that the 2012 school shooting never happened. Jones now owes them over a billion dollars in damages. Most of the families want the onion to win and shut down Infowars. The losing bidder would more likely hire Jones to continue spreading his brand of conspiracy theories under the Infowars name. Tovia Smith, NPR News. New Zealand says it's banning greyhound dog racing over concerns about the number of injuries

and deaths among the dogs. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says the ban is in the best interest of the animals. It takes place in 2026. Commercial greyhound racing is legal in just a few countries around the world, including the U.S., Australia, Britain, and Ireland. But the industry has come under growing scrutiny recently over the treatment of the racing dogs. I'm Janene Herbst, NPR News in Washington.