NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-22-2024 4AM EST

Episode Date: December 22, 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, I'm Dale Willman. Two U.S. Navy pilots were shot down over the Red Sea this morning. The military says the incident was due to friendly fire. The military was conducting airstrikes targeting many militants who struck Israel in recent

days. NPR's Carrie Khan reports. According to the U.S. military, two pilots ejected from their aircraft after being struck by a cruise missile, apparently fired from a different U carrier, also operating in the Red Sea. Both pilots were recovered, one suffered minor injuries. The US says it was conducting precision attacks in Yemen targeting sites used by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. Yemen state media reported airstrikes rocking the capital. Just hours earlier, Houthi rebels had fired a

missile into Israel. The weapon evaded Israel's air defense systems and landed in a Tel Aviv suburb injuring 16 people. The Houthis have been targeting Israel as well as cargo ships in the Red Sea during the 14-month-long war between Hamas and Israel. Carrie Cahn, NPR News, Tel Aviv. Germany's Magdeburg Cathedral was filled Saturday night for a memorial service honoring the victims of Friday's car attack on the city's crowded Christmas market. At least five people died in that attack, including a nine-year-old child. Nurse Shirin Fahm was at the market with her family and she said the scene afterward was chaotic. It's hard to see people on the ground bleeding on their heads and with broken bones and everything

was crashed and blood was everywhere. About 200 people were injured in that attack and 41 of them are listed in critical condition. Each year the holiday season brings with it, for at least some people, visions of snow on the ground on Christmas morning NPR's Chandelier Stuster reports on who will likely see a white Christmas this year and who likely will not The National Weather Service says the majority of the United States will not wake up to a white Christmas this year The agency also says the last time a large portion of the U.S. experienced a white Christmas was nearly 15 years ago. Parts of Northern California and Utah are forecast to see a blanket of snow on the ground

on Christmas Day. Areas around the Great Lakes, New York and northern New England also have high chances of seeing snow. The National Weather Service says other parts of the country are expected to have temperatures that are milder than average on Christmas Day. Climate experts warn we could see fewer white Christmases because of warming temperatures. This year has been the warmest year on record globally. Shondellise Duster, NPR News.

Hanukkah begins this year on Christmas. It's only the fourth time since 1900 that the start of the eight-day Festival of Lights has taken place then. To mark the occasion several Jewish organizations in Houston are holding a Chicanica party that brings together members of the city's Latino and Jewish communities. You're listening to NPR News. At least 38 people were killed this weekend when a passenger bus hit a truck on a highway in southeastern Brazil. There are conflicting accounts of what caused the accident. Witnesses told police that the bus blew a tire which caused the driver to lose control,

but other people say a granite block hit the bus. Actress Blake Lively has filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department in which she accuses actor and director Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment as well as campaigning to destroy her career. As MPRS Chloe Velpin reports the complaint follows the star's troubled collaboration on the movie It Ends With Us. Blake Lively's lawyers filed the complaint a precursor to a lawsuit against Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios. In the 80-page document, the actress accuses Bouldoni and film producer Jamie Heath of oversharing about their sex lives and showing her

images of naked women, among other unwanted behaviours. The complaint alleges the two enlisted a team to ruin Lively's reputation by orchestrating a smear campaign against her. Lively experienced a deluge of negative media attention following the film's release in August. In a statement to the Associated Press, the lawyer for Baldoni, Heath and their associates rejected the claims and insisted these are false. Chloe Valtman, NPR News. Baseball Hall of Famer Ricky Henderson has died. He was also a Golden Glove winner. He was 65 years old.

Henderson won many accolades over his 25-year baseball career, but he was best known for stealing bases. He holds the record for stolen bases in a season with 130 in 1982. He finished his career with more than 1,400 stolen bases. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.