NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-21-2024 1PM EST

Episode Date: December 21, 2024

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Donald Trump promised to change Washington, D.C., a place where there's an old saying that personnel is policy. That's why we have created a new podcast called Trump's Terms, where you can follow NPR's coverage of the incoming Trump administration, from his cabinet secretaries to political advisors and top military leaders, to understand who they are, what they believe, and how they'll govern. Listen to Trump's terms from NPR. Live from NPR News in New York City, I'm Dua-hli Saikow-Tau. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has visited the Christmas Market in eastern Germany, where an attacker drove into the crowd Friday night, killing at least five people and injuring more than 200.

Terry Scholz reports the alleged perpetrator is a Saudi doctor resident in Germany. Mourners are leaving flowers and candles at a church near the Christmas market in Magdeburg where a man plowed his BMW into shoppers. Visiting the scene, Chancellor Schulz said nearly 40 of those injured are very seriously hurt. He urged Germans not to let this incident divide them. That we stick together and remain united, he said. That it is not hatred that determines our togetherness, but that we are a community which wants to win the future.

German media have identified the driver, who was immediately arrested, as a 50-year-old Saudi psychiatrist. His social media account indicates he's a former Muslim, critical of German authorities, for what he said was a failure to combat the Islamism of Europe. For NPR News, I'm Terri Schulz. The stopgap funding bill that the Senate approved just before a midnight deadline is now law after President Biden signed it this morning. NPR's Susan Davis reports it's a slimmed down version of the original bipartisan deal

derailed earlier in the week when President-elect Trump posed it. A lot of this episode this week potentially expose more of Trump's political weaknesses. He tried to strong arm into the bill an unconditional increase in the debt ceiling. That's the nation's borrowing limit because he wanted to do it on President Biden's watch to alleviate the political pressure on his administration to do it when that vote happens, likely sometime next summer. Not only is it not in the deal, but a failed second attempt to passage was rejected by 38 House Republicans. That's a pretty big number willing to directly defy Trump.

Davis said the government will remain open until mid-March, when the political wrangling begins again in the spring. Stocks rallied on Friday, but still ended down for the week, and PR Scott Horsley reports investors were disappointed when the Federal Reserve hinted that interest rates may stay higher for longer next year. The Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point on Wednesday in what policymakers described as a close call, markets were happy about the rate cut but not so happy with the Fed's forecast about 2025. Inflation-weary policymakers suggested they might lower interest rates by only half a percentage point

next year, not the full point they were projecting back in September. That news triggered a sell-off in stocks on Wednesday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbling more than 1,100 points. Stocks later regained some of that ground, but the Dow still finished down 2.25% for the week, while the S&P 500 index lost 2% and the Nasdaq fell about 1.8%. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. You're listening to NPR News from New York. Days after his 88th birthday and just before Christmas, Pope Francis is sick with a cold. He won't be delivering his Sunday Mass in person, but he plans to do it from inside

St. Peter's Basilica. With the arrival of the winter season and the holidays approaching, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the number of people catching respiratory viruses is picking up. And Piers Robstein has the latest. The CDC says COVID-19 activity is increasing again. At the same time, seasonal flu activity continues to rise across the country and RSV is still spreading widely. All three viruses are expected to spread even more as people travel and gather for the holidays. The CDC says that's worrisome because most people still haven't gotten the latest

COVID and flu shots. Only about 21% of adults have gotten an updated COVID booster and less than 42% have gotten a flu shot. Rob Stein, and Pure News. In Ukraine's central cave, cleanup continues after Russia launched ballistic missile strikes yesterday. Missile debris damaged a number of embassies, businesses including a Holiday Inn, homes, and a Roman Catholic church. At the same time, local media and the Institute for the Study of War report that Ukrainian forces conducted their first-ever ground attack using only robotic equipment, including unmanned

ground vehicles with machine guns and drones with first-person view capabilities. I'm Dwali Sykoutel, NPR News in New York.