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

Episode Date: December 16, 2024

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Live from NPR News in New York City, I'm Dwahleesha Kaotow. President-elect Trump's pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services is slated to visit Capitol Hill this week. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he is set to hold more than 20 meetings with senators. NPR's Amy Held reports Kennedy faces pushback after spreading anti-vaccine conspiracies. Senator Mitch McConnell, a Republican, says nominees should not discredit the polio vaccine. About a decade before it was available, McConnell contracted polio as a toddler.

Now he praises the, quote, saving power of the vaccine for those who came after him. Most adults in the US were vaccinated as children, providing protection from the highly infectious disease that can cause paralysis and death. Now the New York Times reports the lawyer helping Kennedy pick health officials for the Trump administration petitioned the FDA to revoke its approval of the polio vaccine. Kennedy has said he is not planning to take away vaccines, but he has a history of anti-vaccine

advocacy. Health officials say the best way to prevent polio is with a safe and effective vaccine. Amy Held, NPR News. Roads and businesses in the California city of Scotts Valley in the Santa Cruz mountain have reopened after a rare December tornado flipped cars and damaged a number of buildings, injuring at least five people on Saturday. Many residents are still in disbelief at witnessing the tornado in the center of town. Scott's Valley Mayor Randy Johnson said they were caught off guard.

The massive amount of debris, it's so rare obviously that I don't know if we have that technology to quote give us a warning, but we add it to the list. The most important factor in this event, he said, is that nobody died. The Israeli military has begun withdrawing from parts of southern Lebanon as part of a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah. From Lebanon, NPR's Emily Feng reports, Israeli strikes continue. Israel's military said in a statement that it had destroyed some 300 sites in the past week belonging to Hezbollah, the paramilitary organization that is influential in Lebanon. It also said it had, quote, eliminated many terrorists in operations, especially around a Lebanese town called Hiam. Hiam is also where the Lebanese military started redeploying this past week as part of the ceasefire agreement signed in late November. Lebanon's defense minister accused Israel of violating the ceasefire,

and the Lebanese Health Ministry said one person had been killed by an Israeli drone in Hiam the day after the Lebanese army moved in. Emily Fang in Pierre News, Beirut, Lebanon. At this hour in Asia, stocks are mixed. China's blue chip index declined. Shanghai's composite index added 0.1% at $33.95. South Korea's stocks showed early gains following the weekend impeachment of President Yun Suk-yol. You're listening to NPR News.

One of the giants of Indian music has died. Zakir Hussain was a virtuoso Indian tabla player who was widely respected as both a traditionalist and an innovator. The 73-year-old musician died at a hospital in San Francisco, according to his family, and Pérez Félix Contreras has more. After being trained in India and moving to the US, 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 Hussein 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. The FBI, state and local officials are aware of thousands of reports of drone sightings in the North East and especially New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. But they haven't agreed on how to address these flying machines. On Sunday, federal officials continued to say the drones are not a security threat but did not offer publicly who is behind these mysterious aerial sightings. On ABC News, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorka says the Biden administration is, quote, vigilant about investigating him. This is NPR News.