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

Episode Date: December 11, 2024

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. Israel has bombed more than 350 military sites in Syria in just the past 48 hours, as it seeks to take advantage of a power vacuum there and ensure hostile forces can't turn weapons against them. The attacks follow the stunning collapse of Syria's government in the ouster of leader Bashar al-Assad. NPR's Ruth Sherlock is more from the capital of Damascus. Damascus is calm, but there were these huge plumes of smoke rising from buildings that were hit by heavy bombardments by Israel, who's been targeting military positions of

the former regime. So the air was thick with this kind of acrid dust and it catches in your throat. We saw people wandering around into security bases and palaces, and these are places they couldn't have stepped inside before. And now they're curious, trying to see the insides of this regime that ruled them for so long. This is the first time in 50 years Syrians are experiencing a life outside the shadow of an authoritarian government. Israel says its troops are looking to secure a buffer zone inside Syria, established after

the 1973 Amnesty War. Police say the man charged with shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson appears to have had a gun that was at least partially made on a 3D printer. MPR's Martin Costee says experts have identified it from an apparent evidence photo circulating in the media. Do It Yourself gunmaking pioneer Cody Wilson says the suspect's gun appears to be from a design for an imitation Glock handgun, which was available for download on the internet. From what we can see, he's got a printed Glock frame, and that's been very popular.

But what's interesting from our point of view is the version of this frame he printed was from 2021. It doesn't seem to be one of the latest printed Glock frames you could use. Guns like this are sometimes called ghost guns because they don't have serial numbers and can't be traced. Several experts have ID'd this gun as a distinctive remix design uploaded to the internet by a do-it-yourself gun maker known online as Chairman Wan. Martin Kosty, NPR News.

In its final weeks on the job, President Joe Biden is defending his administration's economic record while taking aim as his successor's economic plans. More from NPR's Asma Haaland. Many voters in the 2024 election appear to have rejected how the Biden White House handled the economy. But Biden gave a speech noting his record on job creation and touting his legislative

record, passing major investments in clean energy and semiconductors. He insisted he's handing his successor a strong economy. He also rang alarm bells about Donald Trump's economic plans. I pray to God the president-elect throws away project 2025. I think it would be an economic disaster. Biden warned that Trump's tariff and tax plans could hurt economic growth. It was perhaps his most direct rebuke of Trump's agenda since the election. Asma Khalid, NPR News.

On Wall Street, the Dow is down 154 points, the Nasdaq closed down 49 points today. You're listening to NPR. New research finds certain digestive functions are controlled by two types of brain cells that are found in the abdomen. MPR's John Hamilton reports on the study in the journal Nature. A team at Caltech wanted to know how a cluster of brain cells in the abdomen was able to regulate both the gut and other organs involved in digestion. So they used genetic techniques to study all the cells in the cluster.

Yukioka says the team found two distinct types of neurons. Digestive-related functions are controlled by one major cell type. Another class of neurons is involved in gut motility. Some neurons determined how much bile acid to make, while others decided how fast food should be propelled through the intestinal tract. Oka says the findings suggest that some neurons in the body are organized very much like neurons in the brain. John Hamilton, NPR News.

Two courts acted today to temporarily block Kroger and Albertson's proposed $24.6 billion merger. U.S. District Court for Oregon ruled in favor of the Federal Trade Commission in several states, asking for a temporary injunction while administrative court process within the FTC plays out, saying a merger would hurt consumers. The Federal Court in Oregon says the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in blocking the merger

on any competition grounds. A Washington state court also ruled against the merger today, citing similar arguments. Critical futures prices moved higher today. Markets apparently somewhat upbeat over the possibility of rising demand from China. Oil was up 22 cents a barrel to end the session at $68.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington. This is Eric Glass. On This American Life, we specialize in compelling stories from everyday life.

I was like, wow, you literally just died and came back. And the first thing you ask is, do you need any money? Real life stories, really good ones, in your podcast feed, This American Life.