NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-14-2024 5AM 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 Giles Snyder. South Korean lawmakers have voted to impeach President Yun Suk-yol for his attempt to impose martial law 11 days ago. The National Assembly passed the impeachment motion on the second try.

A vote last week failed when ruling party lawmakers staged a boycott. Reporting from Seoul, NPR's Anthony Kuhn has more on what happens next. Go! 204 votes! Lawmakers' cries rang out in the main chamber of the National Assembly, South Korea's parliament, when the vote count was announced, 204 to 85, with three abstentions and eight invalid votes. Yoon's support eroded in recent days as it became clear he had masterminded the martial law declaration. Yoon is the third South Korean president to be impeached following Noh Moo Hyun in 2004 and Park Geun-hye in 2016.

South Korea's prime minister will take over as acting president. If the nation's constitutional court upholds the impeachment, Yoon will be formally removed and an election for a new president will be held. Anthony Koon in PR NPR News, Seoul. To Syria now, where an American citizen who was among thousands of prisoners freed from Syrian jails has been handed over to U.S. forces.

The 29-year-old man from Missouri was held for seven months in a Damascus prison after being arrested for illegally entering the country. Here's more from NPR's Jane Araf. U.S. fighter jets flew overhead as Pete Timmerman, who goes by the name Travis, identified himself to an American officer. Can I get your full name? Travis.

Last name? I just Travis. Travis. Can I get your birthday? Travis answered a couple more questions from the Special Forces officer. How long were you in detention? Seven months. And which country did you come from to come into Syria?

Lebanon. And then? Travis, welcome home. Thank you. Not home yet, although a step towards it. Travis, who is Christian, said he crossed by foot from Lebanon into Syria on a religious pilgrimage. He had been fasting for three days on a mountain when he was arrested. Jane Araf and PR News in southeastern Syria.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is meeting with air of four administrators today in the Jordanian city of Aqaba, Blinken in the Middle East, following the ouster of President Assad. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg says his office is getting indications that the man accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson may wave extradition to New York. The defendant may wave, but that waiver is not complete until a court proceeding. Craig says he's been advised by Pennsylvania officials that a court proceeding can't happen until Tuesday.

26-year-old Luigi Mangione remains in Pennsylvania following his arrest at a McDonald's restaurant in Altoona. He's in custody on forgery and firearms charges. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has said she intends to issue a governor's warrant for Mangione's extradition as soon as possible. This is NPR News. The federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. has rejected a bid by the short video app TikTok to temporarily block the mid-January deadline for it to be sold or face a ban in the United States. TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance had filed an emergency motion seeking more time to appeal to

the Supreme Court. Under the law, TikTok will be banned unless ByteDance divests by January 19th. The Justice Department says Chinese control of the app poses a national security threat. A New York state doctor is being sued for mailing abortion pills to a woman in Collin County, Texas. The physician targeted by the suit, Dr. Margaret Carpenter, is a co-founder of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine, which aims to bring abortion care to all 50 states, Sarah Bolden reports. Texas has a near total ban on abortion, but Carpenter practices in New York, where abortion is not only legal, but also that state has what's called a shield law. After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in 2022,

a number of progressive states passed shield laws in order to protect clinicians like Carpenter from prosecution from other states that contributed to the expansion of abortion access via telehealth. And this Texas lawsuit may be the first to put the strength of shield laws to the test. For NPR News, I'm Sarah Bowden. College football will hand out its most prestigious award tonight, the Heisman Trophy. The finalists are Colorado's Travis Hunter, Boise State's Ashton Gentry, Oregon's Dylan Gabriel, and Miami's Cam Ward.

I'm Jaiil Snyder, NPR News.