NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-17-2024 3AM EST

Episode Date: December 17, 2024

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shae Stevens. At least three people are dead and six others are injured following a mass shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin. City Police Chief Sean Barnes says a teenager and a teacher were among those killed in Monday's attack. At 1057 a.m., a second grade student called 911 to report a shooting had occurred at school. Don't let that soak in for a minute. Marne says the shooter was a 15-year-old girl who appears to have died from a self-inflicted

gunshot wound. He says authorities are still trying to determine her motive for the attack. President-elect Donald Trump says he's a believer in the polio vaccine, but as NPR's Franco Ordonez reports, Trump sees a problem with autism rates and wants to review the childhood vaccine program. Speaking at his first press conference since winning the election, Trump addressed concerns about his pick to be the secretary of health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who's made unsubstantiated claims about scientifically proven vaccines.

I think he's going to be much less radical than you would think. I think he's got a very open mind, or I wouldn't have put him there. He's going to be very much less radical, but there are problems. He spoke for over an hour from his Mar-a-Lago home. Trump also promised to take a look at pesticides' impact on mortality rates and threaten to take legal action against the Biden administration over sales of portions of the border wall. Franco, Ordonez, NPR News, Palm Beach, Florida. President-elect Trump says the government is not disclosing all it knows about the reported drone sightings in the Northeast.

As NPR's Joel Rose reports, those comments were part of a wide-ranging press conference. There have been thousands of reported sightings of unexplained drones in New Jersey and elsewhere in recent weeks. The Biden administration says there is no evidence of a threat to the public and that many of the unexplained sightings are likely manned aircraft. Still, President-elect Trump is accusing the administration of keeping Americans in the dark about what the drones are. Our military knows and our president knows, and for some reason they want to keep people in suspense. Trump declined to say whether he has received an intelligence briefing on the drones.

U.S. military officials have said publicly they do not know where they are coming from, but say there's no indication that they're being controlled by a foreign power. Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington. Tick-Tock is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block a federal law that would ban the video hosting platform if its China-based parent refuses to sell it. Attorneys for Tick-Tock and its owner, ByteDance, are urging the justices to consider the case before the law takes effect on January 19th, the day before the presidential inauguration.

U.S. futures are lower in after-hours trading on Wall Street. This is NPR News. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a vote of confidence in Parliament Monday, setting the stage for a snap election in February. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a vote of confidence in Parliament Monday, setting the stage for a snap election in February. As NPR's Rob Schmitz reports, the vote comes at a time when Europe's largest economy is under strain from the war in Ukraine and from competition with China.

Scholz's defeat paves the way for the dissolution of Parliament ahead of early elections scheduled for February 23rd. Going into the short winter election campaign, the center-right Christian Democratic Union Party is polling first, followed by the far-right AFD party and Schulz's own Social Democrats. The collapse of Schulz's three-party coalition government came in early November when Schulz fired his finance ministry after months of debate over how to revitalize Germany's stagnant economy. Rob Schmitz and PR News, Berlin.

The European Union has held talks with Syria's interim leaders on removing EU sanctions now that the longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad is out of power. In his first remarks since fleeing to Russia over a week ago, Assad said he never intended to leave his country. He says he went to a Russian military base in the Syrian port city of Latakia to oversee combat operations, but that the troops had already abandoned their positions. Assad claims it was then that he was airlifted to Moscow. Beginning in September 2027, new passenger vehicles in the U.S. must be equipped with

sensors that make a sound when rear-seat passengers have not fastened their seat belts. The National Transportation Safety Board says the warning sound will last longer when front seat passengers are not buckled up as well. This is NPR News. This is Ira Glass. On This American Life, we like stories that surprise you. For instance, imagine finding a new hobby and realizing... To do this hobby right, according to the ways of the masters,

there's a pretty good chance that you're going to have to bend the law to get the materials that you need. If not break it. Yeah. To break international laws. Real life stories, really good ones. This American Life.