NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-17-2024 10PM EST

Episode Date: December 18, 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 Jack Spear. Congressional leaders have released details of a bipartisan stopgap spending bill to keep the government's lights on past a Friday deadline. NPR's Claudio Grisales reports the more than 1,500-page bill also includes significant disaster aid. The legislation would extend government funding until mid-March 2025.

It follows days of intense negotiations between leaders for House Republicans and Senate Democrats. And it starts the clock for both chambers to vote on the plan by week's end. It includes about 100 billion dollars in federal aid for natural disaster recovery and more funds to rebuild from the Maui fires and damage caused by hurricanes Helene and Milton. It also gives a one-year extension to the farm bill, a five-year plan that sets agriculture and food policies. Finally, it includes funding to rebuild the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.

Claudia Grisales, NPR News, The Capital. The head of Japanese company SoftBank has promised President-elect Donald Trump the telecom and tech firm will invest $100 billion in U.S. artificial intelligence and technology projects. Trump's saying that would create upwards of 100,000 jobs, twice what tycoon Masayoshi's son promised in 2016 when Trump was elected.

Sun is known for making bold choices, some of which are paid off handsomely, others not so much. SoftBank has invested in big companies, including Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, where SoftBank also invested more than $16 billion in bankrupt office-based start-up WeWork. A grand jury has indicted the 26-year-old accused of shooting and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a New York City hotel earlier this month. Samantha Max, a member of station WNYC, has more. Luigi Mangione faces several charges, including first- and second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Some of the murder charges accuse Mangione of killing Thompson as an act of

terrorism. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg called Thompson's killing brazen and premeditated. This was a frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation. Thompson's killing has stoked a sometimes bitter debate across the country about the U.S. health insurance industry. Some have even praised the shooter's actions. Mangione is currently in Pennsylvania, where police found and arrested him. His defense attorney declined to comment. For NPR News, I'm Samantha Maxx in New York.

Consumers continued to open their wallets last month with the holiday shopping season in full swing. The Commerce Department reporting retail sales were up 0.7% in November. Stocks fell on Wall Street today. The Dow was down 267 points. The Nasdaq fell 64 points. This is NPR. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israeli forces will remain atop a mountain

in a buffer zone on the Syrian border until an arrangement is found that will ensure Israel's security. Netanyahu made the remarks from atop the mountain which is located on the Syrian side of the border. The Israeli leader said he was on the summit himself 53 years ago as a soldier. Critics are accusing Israel of violating a 1974 ceasefire that established the buffer zone and possibly exploiting the chaos in Syria to grab territory. Ukraine's security service says it was behind the assassination in Moscow of a high-level

Russian military leader accused of using banned chemicals on Ukrainian soldiers. Buryastrian Akhisa reports from Kyiv,, Russian officials avowing retribution. Igor Kadylov was in charge of chemical, biological and nuclear warfare for Russia. He told Russian lawmakers this October that Ukraine was the one using chemical weapons on the front line. He claimed Russia had destroyed all its chemical weapons stockpiles in 2017. On Monday, Ukrainian prosecutors accused him of authorizing the use of ammunition with toxic chemicals on Ukrainian troops. A day later, Kirillovan and his assistant were killed after a scooter with a hidden bomb exploded near them. A source within Ukraine's security service told NPR that it was behind the killing. The source spoke under condition

of anonymity because this person was not authorized to release the information. Joanna Kakissis, NPR News, Kiev. Oil fell 63 cents a barrel to 70.08 a barrel in New York. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.