NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-11-2024 8AM EST

Episode Date: December 11, 2024

NPR News: 12-11-2024 8AM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Support for this podcast and the following message come from Autograph Collection Hotels, with over 300 independent hotels around the world, each exactly like nothing else. Autograph Collection is part of the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio of hotel brands. Find the unforgettable at autographcollection.com. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. The man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has been denied bail in Pennsylvania. Suspect Luigi Mangione was taken to the courthouse yesterday near Altoona. As he walked inside, he yelled to reporters something not clear, then said, quote,

an insult to the American people. Mangione's lawyer says he'll try to block his client's extradition to New York to face murder and other charges there. Both a federal court and a state court in Washington have temporarily blocked the super merger between grocery store corporations Albertsons and Kroger. And Piersolina Seljuk says government lawyers argued consumers would suffer from a merger because the companies compete head to head. They keep tabs on each other's prices, store hours, quality of products, and that putting two rivals under one roof would leave shoppers worse off.

Fewer choices, higher prices. Now Kroger and Albertsons made the case that the merger for them was a matter of survival, that their biggest rivals are not conventional supermarkets like each other, but giants like Walmart, Costco, Amazon. And Piers Alina Seljuk reporting. It's been four days since Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fled his country. Now begins the hard work of establishing what a new Syria will look like. NPR's Ruth Sherlock reports from the Syrian capital, Damascus.

So far, the handover of power in Syria is much less chaotic than happened in Libya or Iraq after the dictators there fell. In Damascus, you can hear the sound of high-calibre rounds being fired as rebels test weaponry they've seized. But otherwise, the city is mostly calm. The opposition have now formed a new transitional government, and this even includes some politicians from the old regime. They're pardoning soldiers who were conscripted into military service

but are dismantling the feared security apparatus of the regime and say they will bring war criminals to justice. Ruth Sherlock, NPR News, Damascus. The Israeli military has struck many targets in Syria. It says this is to stop chemical weapons in Syria from falling into the wrong hands. South Korea's former defense minister has attempted suicide while he's being held in detention. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Seoul he's being investigated on charges of insurrection.

Ex-minister Kim Yong-hyun is the first official arrested in connection with last week's attempt to put the country under martial law. Authorities say Kim is in stable condition following his failed suicide attempt. Police meanwhile raided the office of President Yun Song-yol in search of material related to the martial law decree, but they were blocked from entering by Yun's security detail. Anti-corruption investigators say they'll arrest Yun if necessary. And in Parliament, opposition lawmakers will submit a second impeachment bill after ruling party lawmakers boycotted a vote on a similar motion last week.

A vote on the new bill is expected Saturday. NPR's Anthony Kuhn. This is NPR. A federal bankruptcy judge has blocked the sale of Infowars to the satirical news site The Onion. The judge says the auction process was flawed and that The Onion is not the winning bidder. Infowars is the media site owned by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. He's selling it to pay Sandy Hook families in a defamation lawsuit for spreading lies about the deadly school

shooting. The owners of The onion say they are deeply disappointed. Congress has begun looking at the scope of President-elect Trump's pledge to carry out mass deportations of people illegally in the U.S. From member station KJZZ, Alisa Resnick reports on yesterday's testimony at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Trump has said deportations would begin on his first day in office and he'd even use the military to carry them out. Retired Army Major General Randy Manor told lawmakers the military is already engaged in over 160 countries and working to counter threats from China and Russia. Additional training or deployments to support deportation operations would absolutely harm operational readiness and reduce the military's ability to counter

adversaries or respond to crises in combat. Manor said directing resources into a mass deportation mission could also degrade public trust in the military and harm morale. There are roughly 13 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S., many of whom have been here for at least 15 years. For NPR News, I'm Elisa Resnick in Tucson. The government is expected to release its latest report on consumer prices for November this hour.

Some analysts expect it was running at an annual rate of 2.7 percent last month. I'm Korfaa Coleman, NPR News in Washington.