NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-14-2024 1AM EST

Episode Date: December 14, 2024

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Live from NPR News in New York City, I'm Dwahleesai Kautau. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with Iraq's Prime Minister on Friday during an unannounced visit to the Middle East. In Baghdad, he discussed what he called the tremendous success in taking away the territorial caliphate or terrorist group Daesh had created years ago, and he also urged regional leaders to support a peaceful political transition in Syria following the surprise overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad last week. It's very significant that Iraq along with many other countries in the region and beyond will make best efforts to support the Syrian people as they emerge from the Assad years.

This news came as an American who had been in prison in Syria for seven months was handed over to U.S. forces. Pete Timmerman, who also goes by Travis, was on a religious pilgrimage when he was detained after entering the country from Lebanon. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said in an interview with NBC that there is no indication that Luigi Mangione, the man charged with killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was ever a client of the company. In New York, NPR's Sarah Venturi reports. Sarah Venturi, NPR News, New York Andrew Witte is the CEO of UnitedHealthcare Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare. In a New York Times op-ed, Witte says,

we know the health system does not work as well as it should, and we understand people's frustrations with it. No one would design a system like the one we have, and no one did. It's a patchwork built over decades. Our mission is to help make it work better. Brian Thompson's killing has sparked national discussion about the nature of health care

in the United States. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of dollars have been raised through crowdfunding for Luigi Mangione's defense. One site alone had more than $80,000 in donations for the accused shooter. Sarah Ventry, NPR News, New York. After President Biden granted clemency for nearly 1,500 people in one day, a new record, some advocates are calling on Biden to do even more, as NPR's Deepa Shivram reports.

On Thursday, Biden commuted the sentences for about 1,500 people who were on home confinement since the COVID pandemic because of the risk of spreading the disease. It's the largest act of clemency in a single day in modern presidential history. But some advocates of the pardon power have called those actions low-hanging fruit. Cynthia Rosemary from the ACLU said she hopes Biden focuses his pardon actions on the 40 people on death row.

If the president had the will to do it, he could commute the 40 men who are on death row. He could commute thousands of people, thousands of sentences and reunite many families. Biden has said he will continue looking at further clemency possibilities in the last weeks of his administration. Deepa Sivaram, NPR News. This is NPR. Worldwide drowning deaths have dropped nearly 40% since 2000, but the toll is still high. At least 300,000 people still drown each year. That's according to the first-ever global report on preventing drowning from the World Health Organization, and Perez Gabriel-Emanuelle has more.

WHO surveyed 139 countries and found that 90% of drownings happen in low and middle income countries. And a quarter of the drowning deaths are in children under five. But there are solutions, more child care to keep children from wandering into ponds, and of course swimming lessons. Rebecca Bavinger works on this issue for Bloomberg Philanthropies. In Africa, she says, a different group is most at risk. Showing that it's young men engaged in boating activities, primarily fishing, but also ferrying

and other commercial activities on the water. One solution, flotation devices that use empty soda bottles. Gabriella Emanuel, NPR News. In Syria's capital, Damascus, outside of one of the country's most holy shrines, Al-Umayyad Mosque, Friday prayers were unlike any seen in recent years. Crowds of people were visibly overjoyed and hopeful, spilling from inside sacred spaces to the public streets as some children ran around with the new Syrian flag, almost festive-like. According to NPR reporters, opposition forces rose up last week after nearly 14 years of civil war and after a 10-day offensive successfully overthrew President Bashar al-Assad's dictatorship.

This is NPR.