NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-20-2024 6PM EST

Episode Date: December 20, 2024

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. House lawmakers appear to have voted to approve a temporary stopgap spending measure at this hour. The latest attempt was similar to a measure that failed yesterday with one major exception, ignoring President-elect Donald Trump's demand for a debt ceiling increase. Republican Tom Cove, Oklahoma, said while far from perfect the other option was worse. Governing by continuing resolution, Mr. Speaker, is never ideal. But Congress has a responsibility to keep the government open and operating for the American people. The alternative,

a government shutdown, would be devastating to our national defense and for our constituents and would be a grave mistake. The ranking Democrat on the committee connected Representative Rosa DeLauro. Meanwhile, said she preferred the initial bipartisan deal. We had a strong bipartisan and bicameral agreement among the leadership of both parties at both ends of the Capitol to avert a disastrous and pointless government shutdown.

The latest effort would fund the government at current levels through March and include $100 billion in disaster aid and $10 billion in agricultural assistance to farmers. At least two people are dead. Dozens more were hurt today when a car plowed into a crowded Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg. The reports seem to be indicating the death toll could go higher.

A German news agency is reporting at least 60 people were injured when the car plowed into the market. The driver of the vehicle has been arrested. The latest incident comes eight years after an Islamist extremist drove into a Berlin Christmas market, killing 13 people. The government's consumer financial watchdog is suing the payment network Zelle and three of the country's biggest banks. As NPR's Laura Wamsley reports, the lawsuit alleges they failed to protect consumers from widespread fraud. In the payment app Zelle's seven years of existence, customers of Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo have lost more than $870 million due to a lack of fraud protections.

That's according to the lawsuit from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau against those three banks, which are also among the co-owners of Zell's parent company. The Bureau says the banks failed to implement effective safeguards, then failed to help customers who were defrauded. Here's CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. These banks broke the law by running a payment system that made fraud easy and then refusing to help the victims. In a statement, Zell said the Bureau's lawsuit is legally and factually flawed and says its timing, quote, appears to be driven by political factors. Laurel Wamsley, NPR News. France's anti-terrorism court has convicted eight people

of involvement in the beheading of a teacher in 2020. The teacher was killed near Paris days after showing his class cartoons of the prophet Mohammed during a bait on free expression. The assailant, an 18-year-old Russian of Chechen origin, was shot to death by police. Stocks gained ground on Wall Street today, all three of the major indexes up more than 1%. This is NPR.

Starbucks workers in Seattle, Los Angeles and Chicago are walking off the job today, the start of a five-day strike targeting the busy holiday season. From Everstation KUOW in Seattle, Monica Nicholsburg reports. Mari Cosgrove has been fighting for a contract since unionizing their Seattle store in 2022. I want to see fired workers get reinstated, some of whom have been waiting for over two years. And I want to see Starbucks take us seriously and come to the table with a respectful bargaining proposal. In a statement, Starbucks accused the union of making unsustainable demands. Starbucks

Workers United, representing the striking employees, says the company is failing to negotiate in good faith or offer meaningful raises. Starbucks has said the strike will not have a significant impact on store operations. For NPR News, I'm Monica Nicholsburg in Seattle. If you're planning on traveling over the holiday, it looks as though you'll have plenty of company. That's based on the latest projection from AAA, which says it expects 119 million people will travel 50 miles or more between this coming Sunday and New Year's Day.

Two weekends on either side of Christmas, likely giving people extra incentive to head out early. US airlines expect today and tomorrow to be the busiest days at the nation's airports. In England, it's that time of year when the faithful flock to Stonehenge, the celebration of the winter solstice, drawing a mixed group, everything from pagans to druids to hippies at the Circle of Stone Monoliths, where they hope to bear witness as the sun's first rays

break through. Rain is in the forecast, though, so it's not clear whether the view will be great. This is NPR.