NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-24-2024 11PM EST

Episode Date: December 25, 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 Giles Snyder. The city of Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank marked another somber Christmas Eve. Christmas was canceled last year because of the war in Gaza, and although Christmas is

being celebrated this year, NPR's Emily Fang reports the usual crowds have not turned up. The West Bank's economy has shrunk by about a fifth this year, mostly because Israel froze work permits for tens of thousands of Palestinians living here. And both Christian and Muslim residents of Bethlehem, most of whom are Palestinian, say they cannot fully celebrate Christmas while the war in Gaza is ongoing. And at least 45,000 Palestinians there have been killed. Caroline Eliyateen lives nearby Bethlehem and baits a whore, what's called Shepherd's Field, because in the Bible, shepherds there receive news of Jesus Christ's birth. She says people used to come here and pray during the holidays. Now there is no one. It is an area of ghosts. Emily Fang and Pierre News, Bethlehem, The West Bank.

With the war in Gaza in the backdrop, Midnight Mass was celebrated early on Christmas Day at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, presided over by the leader of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, who said it would take courage to achieve peace in the region. Palestinian health officials say at least eight people were killed Tuesday during military operations in the Northern West Bank. Scientific research in the US relies heavily on scientists from other countries, including more than a half million who are working under temporary visas. NPR's John Hamilton reports those visas became harder to get during Donald Trump's first term in office, and they're likely to face new

scrutiny the second time around. You have some tech firms like Box, you know, the cloud computing firm, that are making the case that H1P visas are good for the U.S. economy. Universities are saying very little. I contacted at least half a dozen major research institutions over the past few weeks and they pretty much declined to comment. NPR's John Hamilton reporting on Wall Street. Stocks rallied on the day before Christmas, raising hope it could be the start

of what investors call a Santa Claus rally. MPR's Rafael Nam explains. It was a shorter trading day, but stocks gained strongly with the S&P and the NASDAQ up by over 1%. Stocks traditionally have done well in the last five trading sessions of the year and in the first two of the new year, hence the nickname Santa Claus Rally. And now traders are hopeful we could see one this year.

Stocks had surged after the election of Donald Trump in November, but they have given up some of those gains in December. The bump on Christmas Eve, though, has investors hoping for a stronger end to the year in Wall Street. Rafael Nam, NPR News. And you're listening to NPR News. The National Weather Service says Christmas Day conditions will be relatively mild across much of the country, but officials in California remain on alert after a major storm kept up high surf and led to flooding threats. The storm is blamed for one man's death and the partial collapse of a pier two other men

are missing after being swept out to sea in central California, and the U.S. Coast Guard in the Los Angeles area searching for two others after their boat was found overturned. Thick-billed parrots are an endangered species now only wild in Mexico's Sierra Madre, but their numbers may be growing. NPR's Regina Barber reports on how these birds are beating the odds for now. Thick-billed parrots sound like they're laughing. They're green little birds with specks of red and orange and they used to be seen in the southwest US all the way down to Venezuela. Forest fires, parrot smuggling, and deforestation have reduced their

population. Over the last three decades, nonprofit organizations in Mexico and the US have worked on a conservation project to save these birds. The efforts seem to be working. This year a census showed a 10% increase over 12 years. Scientists hope this trend continues as organizations resume working with the local community dependent on the forest, putting up artificial nesting boxes, and studying the birds with tiny solar backpacks. Regina Barber, NPR News. The latest numbers for that huge mega millions jackpot are being drawn this hour. The Christmas

Eve jackpot is estimated at $1 billion. The seventh time the Mega Millions jackpot has topped the billion dollar mark, there has not been a winner since September. I'm Giles Snyder. This is NPR News.