NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-16-2024 11AM EST

Episode Date: December 16, 2024

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Oh, oh, oh, Santa here coming to you from the North Pole. We're the elves in our podcast division of just completed work on this season's best gift for public radio lovers. NPR plus give the gift of sponsored free listening and even bonus episodes from your favorite NPR podcasts, all while supporting public media. Learn more at plus dot NPR dot org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Koriva Coleman. The Israeli military has continued striking targets in Syria.

It hit several weapons warehouses early today. A British-based monitoring group called the strikes the quote, most violent in more than a decade. NPR's Kari Kahn reports from Tel Aviv. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Israeli airstrikes hit missile warehouses and other Syrian army sites. It says Israel has hit more than 450 targets in Syria since the Bashar al-Assad dictatorship fell.

Israel's military is not commenting about the latest strikes, but Israel has confirmed hitting hundreds of military targets. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes are vital to ensure weapons left from the Assad regime do not fall into the quote hands of extremists. Syrian rebel leaders say they do not want a confrontation with Israel and complained to the UN about Israeli incursions. Sunday, the Israeli government approved a plan to expand settlements in the Golan Heights that it has occupied for decades. Kari Kahn, NPR News, Tel Aviv. Meanwhile toppled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad released a statement on social media today.

He says he did not leave Syria voluntarily but was evacuated with Russian troops who were also leaving. President-elect Trump's nominee to be Secretary of Health and Human Services will be on Capitol Hill this week. NPR's Lou Garrett reports Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to meet with more than 20 Republican senators ahead of his confirmation hearings. Questions still surround R.F.K. Jr., his views on vaccines, and his nomination as HHS Secretary. Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska tells NPR vaccines, quote, saved whole villages. Murkowski is one of the senators meeting with Kennedy. I want to talk to him about the issue of vaccines.

During his independent run for president, RFK junior campaigned on anti-vaccine messages beyond immunization. Murkowski wants to hear Kennedy's ideas on limiting processed foods. We have a troubling, troubling, um rise in obesity amongst our native people. RFK Junior raised national concerns about ultra-processed foods and pesticide use. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington. Federal authorities say they're helping some state governments investigate reports of drone sightings in recent weeks.

They say they have not detected a national security threat. The mayor of New Jersey's Washington township, Matthew Morello, says he was briefed by New Jersey state police but did not get solid answers. But now we're in week four, we're still seeing drones, we continue to believe that there's no threat, but we just don't know what's going on. And that's all we're looking for. If it is a national security issue, fine, tell us. He spoke to ABC's Good Morning America.

Over the weekend, authorities in Massachusetts arrested two people in Boston for flying drones too close to the airport. On Wall Street, the Dow is up more than 10 points. This is NPR. German Chancellor Olof Scholz has lost a no confidence vote in the German Parliament. He had fired his finance minister, a member of his ruling coalition government, that put

Scholz's government in the minority in the German Parliament and now it has collapsed. This paves the way for a national election in Germany next February. One of the giants of Indian music has died, and Pérez Félix Contreras reports on Zakir Hussein, a virtuoso tabla player who was widely respected as a traditionalist and an innovator. After being trained in India and moving to the U.S., Zakir Hussein defied genre almost from the beginning by befriending and jamming with grateful dead drummer Mickey Hart in the late 1960s, playing on a George Harrison album in the early 70s, and forming the Indian and jazz ensemble Shakti with guitarist John McLaughlin in 1974. In a career that spanned over five decades, Zakir Hussain was revered in his home country

and beyond as a national treasure of India, while musicians as diverse as jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd and bluegrass musicians Edgar Meyer and Bela Fleck collaborated with him on records and on stage. Felix Contreras, NPR News. Officials in Rhode Island say hackers could release the private data of many state residents as early as this week. Sabatour has broken to the online portal that Rhode Islanders use for health and human services benefits. That includes Medicaid, food stamps, and long-term care for disabilities. Rhode Island's governor says the hackers are demanding a ransom.

This is NPR.