NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-22-2024 8PM EST

Episode Date: December 23, 2024

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Herbst. A government shutdown was averted this weekend, but as NPR's Mara Eliason reports, the process suggests President-elect Trump may have a hard time next year passing spending bills through the House. Before Republicans finally came up with a bill that could pass, 34 Republicans helped defeat the bill Trump wanted, a bill that would have, among other things, raised the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling is the amount of money Congress allows the government to borrow

to pay for spending Congress has already approved. Trump's plans, including tariffs, tax cuts, and deportations, are estimated to add as much as $7 trillion to the national debt, and Trump didn't want the debt ceiling in his way. But even if Trump doesn't care about deficits, there are still about three dozen Republicans in the House that do. And that means Trump may have difficulty convincing Congress to approve all the expensive things he wants to do next year. Mara Eliasson,

NPR News. Syria's new leader says all weapons in the country need to come under state control. The BBC's Sebastian Usher has more. Ahmed Al-Sharah has promised to unite Syria after years of war and division, insisting that Syrians themselves must come together to work for a better future without foreign interference. That was how he framed his call for the state to take over all military operations. But he was speaking to the foreign minister of Turkey, which has given him vital support. Ankara sees the Syrian Kurds as a terrorist group and wants to prioritize the dismantling of their armed forces.

If Mr. Al-Sharif follows the Turkish lead, it may result in new conflict. The BBC's Sebastian Usher. A new study finds the number of executions in the U.S. remains about the same this year as it has been recently. And Piers Martin-Coste has more. Robin Maher is the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, which just published its annual report. She says the death penalty was not a major political issue this year, and not much has

changed. Public support for the death penalty remains at a bare majority, which is 53 percent. That's a five decade low. But active use of the death penalty remains limited to just a minority of states. Just four states accounted for three-quarters of all executions this year, and Marr says that has contributed to making the death penalty a quote local issue, which escapes the notice of most Americans. Twenty-seven states have the death penalty on the books, though five of those have paused executions by order of their governors. Martin Costi, NPR News. Luigi Mangione is due to be arraigned in New York City tomorrow on

an 11-count state indictment in the death of United Health Care CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione is accused of shooting and killing Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel as he was heading to an investors' conference. The 26-year-old faced a federal judge last week on four counts, including murder, stalking, and firearms offenses. He faces charges in Pennsylvania and is being held without bail. You're listening to NPR News. One New England state is leaning into its role as a filming location for many holiday

films. Connecticut Public Radio's Chris Polanski has more on the state's new Christmas movie trail. Chris Polanski The trail is a tourism push by the state of Connecticut, a self-guided tour of taverns and town squares and more. Each stop was featured in a Christmas movie filmed over the last decade. Ellen Wolf is the state's brand director. Ellen Wolf You can just pick a movie and watch it with a steaming cup of hot cocoa a la

Hallmark style and then step into the shoes of your favorite actors and relive those special scenes from the movies right here in Connecticut. Wolf says the industry is a big moneymaker for Connecticut attributing millions of dollars in revenue to holiday movie production. For NPR News, I'm Chris Polanski in Hartford, Connecticut. Danielle Pletka At the Weekend Box Office, it's a holiday season battle of big-budget family movies and paramount pictures. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 took the top spot, debuting with an estimated $62 million in ticket sales. The two previous Sonic movies together grossed more than $700 million worldwide. This movie was made for a reported $122 million.

In a distant second place, Mufasa the Lion King was just $35 million and that's lower than expected. The photorealistically animated Lion King prequel cost more than $200 million to make. In third place, the hit musical adaptation Wicked with $13 million. Its domestic total is now $383 million. I'm Janene Herbst, NPR News in Washington. This message comes from Wwise, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees.

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