NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-13-2024 7AM EST

Episode Date: December 13, 2024

NPR News: 12-13-2024 7AM 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. On Capitol Hill, questions remain in the Senate, a month after President-elect Trump picked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. NPR's Luke Garrett has more.

Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska tells NPR she is meeting with R.F.K. Jr. next week. I am from a state where vaccines have saved whole villages. And so I want to talk to him about the issue of vaccines. RFK Jr. ran for president as an independent and spread anti-vaccine messages and conspiracies. Kennedy dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump. Rokowski says beyond vaccines,

she also wants to hear his ideas about pesticide use and nutrition. I'm curious to talk to him about some of the food issues as well. So it should be a great conversation. Kennedy has been highly critical of big food and pharmaceutical industries. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington. Police in New York City say there's no indication the man charged with killing the CEO of United Healthcare was ever insured by that company. Authorities allege suspect Luigi Mangione

could have targeted CEO Brian Thompson because of the size of his company. NPR's Maria Aspin reports some people continue to point to the shooting as a reason to re-examine the state of the nation's health care industry. Dr. Diana Gernita is one of many doctors fed up with health insurance companies. I can tell you so many stories about fighting them and winning,

but it's consuming. Now Granita runs a direct care practice, where she mostly avoids dealing with big insurance companies. But she still understands the frustration that so many have shared this week. Brian Thompson led the largest US health insurer, which has been widely criticized for denying medical claims. He was shot and killed on his way to an investor meeting.

Gernita calls Thompson's death a tragedy, one that delivered a disturbing message. It's a wake-up call for all of us. Now she is one of many calling on the health care industry to listen and to change. Maria Aspin, NPR News, New York. Maria Aspin, NPR News, New York. President Biden will meet other leaders of G7 nations today in a virtual meeting. They're expected to discuss events in the Middle East, including Syria. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Turkey to meet with leaders there about the same topic. The family of the American man discovered in a suburb of Syria's capital yesterday is celebrating.

Travis Timmerman disappeared last May after he left Europe for Syria. He told reporters yesterday he had been held in a notorious Syrian prison. His mother, Stacey Collins Gardner, says she's been going through a lot since he vanished. My heart's been broken since he you know, he's been gone. But now I'm happy. Timmerman and other prisoners were set free this week by Syrian rebels. You're listening to NPR News from Washington.

The French president has named a new prime minister. President Emmanuel Macron has tapped centrist politician Francois Beyrouth. Macron was forced to choose a new prime minister. President Emmanuel Macron has tapped centrist politician Francois Bayrou. Macron was forced to choose a new prime minister after the French parliament forced out the prior official last week and collapsed Macron's government. The Writers Guild of America is calling on Hollywood studios to take action against plagiarized scripts, reportedly,

written by artificial intelligence. As NPR's Mandelit Del Barco reports, the union outlined its concerns in a letter to the companies. The letter was addressed to the CEOs of Amazon, MGM Studios, Disney, Universal, Paramount, Netflix, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros. Discovery. In it, leaders of the Writers Guild called on the studios to take legal action against companies that reportedly plunder scriptwriters' work to train their AI software tools. Quote, tech companies have looted the studio's intellectual property, they wrote, without permission or compensation. The WJA's letter comes in response to a recent story in the Atlantic alleging that a data

set used by Apple, Meta, and other companies is using subtitles from thousands of Oscar-winning films and hit TV shows. The Guild says the collective bargaining agreement with Hollywood Studios requires them to defend their copyrights on behalf of writers. Mandelit Del Barco, NPR News. NASA says the Geminid meteor shower is peaking tonight and tomorrow night. There could be as many as 120 bright yellow-colored meteors falling each hour. But scientists say these may be harder to see this weekend because there's also a full moon.

I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News in Washington.