NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-14-2024 9PM EST

Episode Date: December 15, 2024

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Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all on the web at theschmidt.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Hurst. The Secretary of State says negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza are intense. Antony Blinken made his comments in Jordan at the end of a Middle East trip that focused mostly on the situation in Syria. And here's Michelle Kellerman has more. Blinken huddled with Arab leaders in Jordan to agree on some basic principles for a new

Syrian government after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime. Our message to the Syrian people is this, we want them to succeed and we're prepared to help them do so. Speaking about the war in Gaza, Blinken says U.S. officials are trying to get a ceasefire and hostage deal over the finish line. This is the moment to finally conclude that agreement. He says Israel has achieved its core military objectives, degrading Hamas so that it can't repeat the kind of attack it led on Israel on October 7th of last year. Hamas still holds 100 hostages, seven of whom are Americans. Michelle Killiman, NPR News, Tel Aviv. ABC News and its parent company Disney will pay $15 million and post an apology to settle

a defamation suit filed by President-elect Donald Trump. Earlier this year, George Stephanopoulos repeatedly asserted that Trump had been found liable for rape. In Piers, David Fokinflick reports, a civil jury instead found Trump liable for sexual abuse. Back in March, Stephanopoulos was pushing his guest, a U.S. representative who was herself raped as a young woman, on why she would support Trump. He incorrectly referred to a court verdict from last year, in which a jury found that

Trump was liable for sexual abuse of E. Jean Carroll, but not rape. The judge in that case said what transpired as determined by the jury fit the commonly understood definition of rape, but not the narrow one under New York state law. ABC will pay the $15 million to a foundation for Trump that's typically used to fund a presidential library and a million dollars for Trump's legal costs. Both Trump and Stephanopoulos were to be questioned under oath for Trump's defamation suit in coming days. David Folkenflick, NPR News.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi underwent hip replacement in Luxembourg a day after falling during an official engagement with the congressional delegation. NPR's Amy Held reports. Pelosi's surgery Saturday to replace her hip was successful and she is well on the mend according to her spokesman. She was treated at a US Army Medical Center in Germany near Rammstein Air Base to her spokesman. She was treated at a US Army medical center in Germany near Rammstein Air Base after being hospitalized in Luxembourg. That's where she fell Friday during an official engagement, hurting her hip.

Sources familiar with the matter tell the Associated Press. The 84-year-old Pelosi had to cut short her trip with other US lawmakers, marking the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, when Allied forces beat back Germany's last major offensive in World War II. Amy Held, NPR News. This is NPR News from Washington. About half of a population of seabirds in Alaska died during a recent marine heatwave, according to a new study. Researchers are calling it the largest single species die-off in recorded modern history. Sophia Stuart Rossi of member station KUCB

has more. Scientists say about four million common mers starved to death in Alaska during a two-year warming event that began a decade ago. An underwater heat dome known as the Blob disrupted the seabird's marine food web in the North Pacific Ocean, and research shows the population may not ever fully recover. About a quarter of the world's population of the common myrrh used to live in Alaska before this event. Scientists say this seabird could now be more vulnerable to predators, representing a lasting change in the ecosystem. Scientists say this die-off is an example of how human-caused climate change can lead to rapid and permanent damage to wildlife.

For NPR News, I'm Sophia Stewart Rossi in Unalaska, Alaska. Stanley is recalling 2.5 million travel mugs because of problems with the lids. The company says the lid threads on the switchback and trigger action mugs could shrink if exposed to too much heat. That means the lids could pop off, posing a burn hazard. The company says they've received more than 90 reports of the lids coming off, with 38 people reporting burns, including 11 who required medical treatment.

The mugs sold for between $20 and $50 at major retailers, including Amazon, Walmart, and Target. I'm Janene Herbst, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington. 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.