NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-13-2024 8PM EST

Episode Date: December 14, 2024

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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 Jack Spear. Outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken is traveling through the Middle East to drum up support for Syria nearly a week after the ouster of Syria's former President Bashar al-Assad. MPR's Michelle Kellerman has more from Tel Aviv.

Secretary Blinken flew to Iraq to meet the country's Prime Minister to talk about regional security. Before that, in Turkey, he told reporters there was broad agreement on what an interim government should look like in Syria. One that is inclusive and nonsectarian, one that protects the rights of minorities and women, one that preserves institutions of the state and delivers services to the people. Lincoln says the U.S. is also focused on efforts to keep ISIS in check in Syria and is urging rebel leaders to secure and destroy any chemical weapons they find.

The secretary will continue talks with Arab foreign ministers at a gathering in Jordan on Saturday. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, Tel Aviv. The state of Texas is suing a New York doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills to a state resident via telemedicine. The lawsuit appears to be the first major challenge in the U.S. to a state shield law intended to protect prescribers in democratic controlled states from being punished in states that have abortion bans in place. Prescriptions that can be done online through outlets based in other states

is one reason the number of abortions has actually gone up since state abortion bans began taking effect. The Teamsters' union is threatening to strike at two major Amazon facilities in New York City. As NPR's Andrew Rishu reports, the union says workers there have voted overwhelmingly to authorize strikes. Over the past year, the Teamsters have ramped up a campaign to unionize drivers and warehouse workers at Amazon facilities around the country. As part of that, the Teamsters have taken over the union fight at a large Amazon warehouse

on Staten Island, where workers originally voted to join the Amazon labor union in 2022. Now the Teamsters are demanding that Amazon start bargaining contracts for multiple facilities – in New York, California, Illinois, and Georgia by Sunday. But Amazon maintains it has no obligation to bargain with the Teamsters. In a statement, the company accuses the union of illegally coercing Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, saying the Teamsters do not represent them. A note, Amazon is among NPR's recent financial supporters. Andrea Hsu, NPR News.

Andrew O'Connor, NPR News. Andrew O'Connor, NPR News. Going to report by The Wall Street Journal, the incoming Trump administration, be his transition team, is already looking at how to possibly shrink or consolidate some existing banking regulations. Recent interviews, potential nominees to lead regulatory bodies being asked about their thoughts about, for example, abolishing the FDIC or shrinking other regulatory watchdog groups or merging them with existing departments

like Treasury. Such proposals, however, would require congressional action. A mixed close on Wall Street today, the Dow fell 86 points, the NASDAQ was up 23 points. You're listening to NPR. Entrepreneur Elon Musk is responding to word he may have to pay a penalty or face charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission over disclosures around his purchase of stock in the social media platform Twitter before he bought it in 2022. In a letter, a lawyer for the head of the company, known as X, tells outgoing SEC Chair Gary Gensler that demand for a monetary payment is,

quote, a misguided scheme that won't intimidate his client. Letter also contends the commission has reopened an investigation into Musk's computer to human brain interference company, Neuralink. Living through a flooding event has been linked to preterm births and babies being born smaller than expected, appears Alejandro Burundi reports on the findings of a new study. Floods can really affect people's health during pregnancy. Flooding can displace them or cause them to miss health care or lead to long-term mold issues. Those in turn can affect the growing child. Julia Golke is an

environmental health expert at Virginia Tech and the author of the new research. This nine-month window of your very start of your life is really dynamic and really kind of susceptible to external perturbations and also can have lifelong consequences. Gokie and her colleagues looked at studies from around the world that tracked birth outcomes and flood exposure. Babies whose mothers dealt with floods were more likely to be born early and small. Those factors are linked with health problems like asthma or even type 2 diabetes later

in life. Alejandra Burunda, NPR News. Critical futures prices rally to settle at a three-week high, oil up $1.27 a barrel today. To end the session at $71.29 a barrel in New York. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.