NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-14-2024 6AM 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. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in the Jordanian city of Aqaba meeting with Arab foreign ministers today on the situation in Syria. Our determination to work together to support a Syrian-led transition where the United Nations

plays a critical role, particularly when it comes to the provision of assistance, to the protection of minorities, to all the work that needs to happen. Ben Wattenberg, Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Lincoln is making the case for the Middle East to come together to support a peaceful political transition in Syria following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad. Meanwhile, the U.S. military has brought an American who was imprisoned in Syria for seven months out of the country. 29-year-old Travis Timmerman was flown to Jordan on a U.S. military helicopter. South Korean lawmakers have impeached President

Yoon Seok-yul. The National Assembly today passed the impeachment motion over Yoon's attempt to declare martial law. The issue now goes to the Constitutional Court. Yoon survived an impeachment vote last weekend. President-elect Donald Trump and vice president-elect J.D. Vance are attending the Army-Navy game this weekend in Maryland and they're bringing a controversial guest, Daniel Penny. MPR's Deepa Sivaram reports. Daniel Penny was acquitted this week by a New York City jury on a charge of criminally negligent homicide.

Last year, Penny, who was white, put a choke hold on a homeless man who was having a mental health crisis and yelling at passengers on the subway train. Jordan Neely, who was black, died. The incident and the trial stoked tensions over race, mental illness, and criminal justice. Vice President-elect Vance has praised Penny and called him a good guy. Vance also criticized the New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg for going after Penny. Bragg is the same DA who successfully prosecuted Trump in his hush money trial. Penny, who is a former Marine, will join Vance and the president-elect in Trump's suite at the Army-Navy game, which takes place

today in Maryland. Deepa Sivaram, NPR News. Federal Appeals Court has rejected TikTok's request to pause the start of a law next month that could ban the popular video ad from operating in the U.S. TikTok vowing to take its fight to the Supreme Court, as NPR's Bobby Allen reports. Earlier this month, a panel of federal judges in Washington, D.C. sided with the Biden administration that a law banning TikTok nationwide is legal because it protects U.S. national security interests. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a tech company in Beijing.

The law banning TikTok starts January 19th, unless ByteDance fully divests from the app, which the company says is not going to happen. Now the same court has denied TikTok's request for the start date to be delayed. The one wild card in TikTok's future is President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to rescue TikTok but has not explained how. According to the company, TikTok is used by some 170 million Americans, half the U.S. population. Bobby Allen, NPR News.

And from Washington, you're listening to NPR News. The state of Texas is suing a New York doctor for prescribing abortion pills to a Texas woman via telemedicine. The suit filed by Texas Attorney General Kim Paxton is one of the first challenges to shield laws that Democratic-controlled states implemented to protect physicians after Roe versus Wade was overturned. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee has suspended one of its coaches following reports of sexual abuse accusations. Colorado Public Radio's Dan Boyd says more. The Colorado Springs-based committee is conducting an internal investigation into the abuse allegations

from several biathletes. One young woman says the sexual abuse caused her enough distress to attempt suicide. The committee is not naming the employee put on leave, but Associated Press reporting on the subject names Coach Gary Kohliander, associate director of High Performance for U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing. Alleged victims have described a culture of abuse in Olympic biathlon dating back to the 1990s, and those who spoke up say they faced retaliation, forcing them to end their athletic careers. For NPR News, I'm Dan Boyce in Colorado Springs.

The White House is playing down the sightings of purported drones in the skies along the East Coast. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says there is no evidence the reported drones pose any threat and that it appears many are actually manned aircraft operating lawfully. The sightings have been reported from Connecticut to New Jersey to Maryland. Some officials are calling for them to be shot down unless they can be identified, including President-elect Donald Trump.

I'm Giles Snyder. This is NPR News.