NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-21-2024 8AM EST

Episode Date: December 21, 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 Giles Snyder. Congress has averted a holiday season government shutdown. On this vote, the A's are 85, the A's are 11. The 60 vote threshold having been achieved, the bill is passed.

Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine reading the final tally after the Senate worked late into the night to give the stopgap measure final approval. But not without frustration showing Washington State Democrat Patty Murray blame President-elect Donald Trump and his adviser, billionaire Elon Musk, for throwing a wrench into the process. The only reason it took so long and this much chaos to get here is that House Republicans chose chaos and chose to follow the whims of the richest man in the world. House GOP leadership was left to scramble for a new proposal after criticism from Musk

that included false claims and a ban from Trump to raise the government's borrowing limit. In the end, a debt limit increase was left out of the bill that funds the government through March 14. The measure also includes billions in disaster aid and assistance for farmers. To Germany now, where authorities now say at least five people were killed and some 200 injured after a car sped into a crowd at a Christmas market. Police believe the attack was deliberate and have arrested a suspect.

He is said to be a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia who has lived in Germany for almost 20 years. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the scene of the attack in the city of Magdeburg. Today he's heard here through a BBC interpreter. It's important to me that we stand united, that we talk to each other, we enter into dialogue, that we should not disseminate hatred. We remain a community that has a shared future. We should not allow those who wish to sow hate to do so. Scholz described the attack as a dreadful tragedy and pledged to bring to bear the full

force of the law. At least 16 people were injured after a missile hit Tel Aviv early today. Israeli authorities say the projectile was fired from Yemen and that its air defense system was unable to intercept it. Here's NPR's Carrie Kahn reporting. This is the second time in the past week that missiles were fired into central Israel from Yemen's Houthi militants. Unlike those fired two days ago, the latest managed to pass through Israel's air defense

system and landed in a Tel Aviv suburb. More than a dozen people suffered minor injuries from falling shrapnel, according to Israeli health officials. Yemen's armed forces said it had successfully hit a military target. The missile landed in an empty playground. Houthi militants, packed by Iran,

have fired missiles into Israel and attacked ships in the Red Sea for more than a year. Israeli officials have in return struck sites in Yemen. They recently warned Houthi leaders they will be targeted if strikes continue. Kerry Kahn, NPR News, Tel Aviv. And from Washington, you're listening to NPR News. The strike at Starbucks is expected to expand today. The union representing Starbucks workers says the strike will expand to Columbus, Denver, and Pittsburgh after members of the Starbucks union walked off the job yesterday in multiple

cities. They join Amazon delivery drivers who began a strike at seven facilities on Thursday. The drivers are members of the Teamsters union. Workers at a prominent warehouse in New York were expected to join the strike at midnight last night. Today is the winter solstice, marking the official start of winter and the shortest day of the year. In Britain, people are celebrating at the ancient stone circle of Stonehenge, as Vicki Barker reports from London. There was applause from the waiting crowd at 8.09 local time when a bleary sun rose

behind Stonehenge on this winter solstice. Little dots of light marked those holding up their phones to capture the moment. Jennifer Wexler is a historian for English Heritage, which administers the site. She told the BBC, It's the shortest day of the year, but it's also when we start to get the light returning. And Stonehenge is such a special place because it's a place people have been coming to gather and celebrate that moment for really thousands of years. Many of these people will be back in six months to celebrate the longest day of the year,

the summer solstice. For NPR News, I'm Vicki Barker in London. In Australia, today is Gravy Day. It's not an official holiday, but it has become a Christmas tradition. It references the popular 1996 Christmas song, How to Make Gravy, by singer Paul Kelly. This is NPR News.