NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-14-2024 4AM EST

Episode Date: December 14, 2024

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Live from NPR News in New York City, I'm Duah-Li Seik-Houtao. South Korean lawmakers have just voted 204 to 85 in favor of impeaching President Yoon Suk-Yul for his declaration of martial law 11 days ago. When the vote had passed in the National Assembly, Speaker Woo Wonshik announced, the future of the Republic of Korea and our hope is in the hands of the people. This now moves to the Constitutional Court, which is still investigating allegations of rebellion. The court has 180 days to decide if the president will be permanently removed from office. An earlier impeachment vote last weekend failed to pass when ruling party lawmakers boycotted the session.

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated three more conservatives to join his new Office of Management and Budget, along with Russ Vogt, who was earlier nominated for director. And PR White House correspondent Franco Ordonius offers this background on Mark Paoletta. He was a top lieutenant to vote at OMB in Trump's first term. Trump also announced that he's going to nominate or he'll nominate Congressman Dan Bishop who's a member of the Freedom Caucus as the deputy director and he picked conservative activist Ed Martin as chief of staff. This is perhaps the most fleshed out team of any agency to be announced so

far. Ordonez explains that the Office of Management and Budget, also known as OMB, is the nerve center of the executive branch and under Trump, he says, these picks will be a real test for Congress to see how much they are willing to protect their own power of the purse. It was a mixed week on Wall Street and PRS Scott Horsley reports tech stocks climbed to new highs during the week while the blue chip index fell. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the broader S&P 500 index dipped during the week. The Dow fell 1.8 percent while the S&P was down 6 tenths of a percent. The tech heavy Nasdaq on the other hand hit a record high on

Wednesday topping 20,000 for the first time. While the Nasdaq, on the other hand, hit a record high on Wednesday, topping 20,000 for the first time. While the Nasdaq later gave up some of those gains, the index still ended the week up by a third of a percent. The computer chip company Broadcom's market value climbed to more than a trillion dollars, thanks to strong demand for artificial intelligence. This week, the Labor Department reported that inflation in November was slightly higher than the month before.

Nevertheless, the Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point when policymakers meet next week. Scott Horsley in Pair News, Washington. President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine experienced on Friday one of its heaviest attacks of the country's energy sector since Russia began its full-scale invasion almost three years ago. since Russia began its full-scale invasion almost three years ago, and the Kyiv Post reports that Zelensky said, on Sunday, the country has lost 43,000 troops in the war so far. You're listening to NPR News from New York City.

Georgia's political crisis is set to deepen on Saturday, with parliament likely to install as president a far-right former footballer, Mihail Kavaleshvili. The current pro-EU president is refusing to leave office, saying she won't recognize the victory of the Georgian Dream Party in recent elections. Reyhan Demirov reports from Tbilisi. The vote in parliament will involve a direct ballot by a 300-member electoral college made up of MPs and local officials loyal to the government.

There's only one candidate proposed by the ruling Georgian Dream Party, a former professional footballer, Mikhail Kavala-Shvili, known for his strong anti-Western stance. The four main opposition groups and the incumbent president Salomez Rabishvili consider the current parliament illegitimate, claiming the October 26 parliamentary elections were rigged. Georgians have been protesting daily to demand new elections. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Iraq's Prime Minister on Friday. He 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. I'm Dwali Saikoutal, NPR News.