NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-20-2024 10AM EST

Episode Date: December 20, 2024

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In college, Mustafa Suleiman started a helpline for young British Muslims. People were just looking to find support in a language that made sense to them. Today, he's CEO of Microsoft AI, where he's building digital helpers. Think of me as your superpower in your pocket. Building the future of AI. That's on the TED Radio Hour podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I Korova Coleman, the federal government is facing a partial shutdown later tonight. To avoid it, Congress needs to pass spending legislation. Last evening, the House rejected a spending measure backed by Speaker Mike Johnson and

President-elect Trump. That comes after Republicans backed away from an earlier spending plan that Trump opposed. Now, Speaker Johnson is saying GOP leaders have a new plan and he expects votes this morning. Syria's rebels are grappling with the new task of running the country. They deposed former dictator Bashar al-Assad nearly two weeks ago. And Piers Hadil al-Shilchi says foreign countries, including the U.S., are reaching out to the Syrian rebel leaders. Seniors, U.S. diplomats, are now in Damascus, the first official diplomatic delegation to enter the capital since it severed ties in 2012.

They're meeting with HTS and want to make it clear that they're pushing for an inclusive and democratic Syria. Now they are designated a terrorist organization and they are desperate for the U.S. to drop that so that it can get aid, desperate aid to rebuild the country. And Piers Hadil Alshelchi reporting. Australia recently banned children under age 16 from accessing social media. Now officials are advising tech companies to plan for an age verification law. NPR's Bobby Allen reports.

Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram and other social media apps now have to confirm a user's age under Australia's new law to prevent children under 16 from logging on. Violating companies can pay fines up to $50 million. The country's e-safety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, told NPR in an interview that social media should be treated in Australia like water safety. She says decades ago, there was a spate of fatal drownings in swimming pools. So the country passed fencing requirements. But we don't try and fence the ocean because that's futile. What we do is we teach our children to swim at the youngest age,

just like we need to teach them digital literacy. Grant says the aim of the law is to keep children away from the addictive design features of social media. Some apps, like gaming and messaging platforms, will be exempted. Bobbi Allen, NPR News. Stocks open mixed this morning as the Commerce Department reported lower than expected inflation last month. NPR's Scott Horsley reports the Dow Jones industrials fell about seven points in early trading.

Consumer prices in November were up 2.4 percent from a year ago, according to the Commerce Department's inflation yardstick, which is closely watched by the Federal Reserve. That's a slightly smaller annual increase than forecasters were expecting. Prices rose just a tenth of a percent between October and November. Stripping out food and energy prices, which bounce up and down a lot, so-called core inflation was 2.8% last month. The Commerce Department also reported today on personal income and spending. Incomes rose three-tenths of a percent in November, while spending jumped by four-tenths.

The extra spending means people socked less money away in savings. The already low personal savings rate fell. Scott Horsley, MPR News, Washington. This is NPR. This is the second day of a strike against seven facilities of online retailer Amazon. The Teamsters Union is demanding that Amazon come to the bargaining table to reach labor contracts. Amazon says that the Teamsters don't represent many of its workers who are employed by third-party contractors.

Amazon is a financial supporter of NPR. A deal has been reached to end a strike by 2,000 workers at Marriott Hotels in San Francisco. The contract runs for four years. Employees of Hilton and Hyatt Hotels in the city remain on the picket lines. For Member Station KQED, Farida Jambala-Romero has more.

Fernando Martinez is one of the jubilant workers who voted to approve the deal. He's a long-time doorman at the Marriott Union Square, where the strike lasted two months. I want to go back to work. I need money to pay the rent. Yeah, so I've been praying every night for this." The deal includes wage raises and no hikes in health care costs for about 2,000 employees at seven Marriott hotels. A Marriott spokesperson says the company is pleased with the deal. About 1,000 Hyatt and Hilton workers are still on strike in the city.

For NPR News, I'm Farida Javala Romero in San Francisco. The government of Malaysia says it's reached an initial agreement for a U.S. company to resume searching for a long-time missing jetliner. Flight MH370 was going from Kuala Lumpur to China when it vanished over the Indian Ocean more than a decade ago. It's never been found. I'm Korva Kuhlman, NPR News.