NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-24-2024 2PM EST

Episode Date: December 24, 2024

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. The Taliban are cracking down on girls who were sidestepping a ban on attending school after the sixth grade. NPR's Diya Hadid reports girls are now prohibited from attending any private institutions as well. The order came from the Taliban's education department in the Western District of Harat, where families have traditionally valued education for their sons and their daughters. Private institutions began offering courses in subjects like English and math to girls

after the Taliban banned formal schooling for them after grade 6. They were largely tolerated by Taliban officials who quietly disagreed with the ban on girls' education. But analysts say the hardline leadership of the group wants to assert its control by enforcing that ban. Earlier this month, the Taliban halted courses in nursing and midwifery for women that had been approved by the group only months before. Dear Hadid, NPR News. Syria's new leadership

announced an agreement with other major rebel factions to gather as one force under the Defense Ministry. The move is seen as a big win for the country's new de facto leader and the rebel group he led. NPR's Jane Arraff has been following transition efforts since Bashar al-Assad was ousted as president earlier this month. Jane Arath, NPR's Jane Arath, NPR's Jane Arath, NPR's Jane Arath, NPR's Jane Arath, NPR's Jane Arath, NPR's Jane Arath, NPR's Jane Arath, NPR's Jane Arath, NPR's Jane Arath, NPR's Jane Arath, NPR's Jane Arath, NPR's Jane Arath, NPR's Jane Arath, NPR's

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that they want to welcome minorities, Christians, Druze, Kurds, that they're all part of the new Syria. That's NPR's Jane Araf reporting. The city of Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank is the biblical birthplace of Jesus. Christmas was canceled last year because of the war in Gaza. It will be celebrated this year, but as NPR's Emily Fang reports, the mood there is somber. 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 Shepard'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, NPR News, Bethlehem, The West Bank. This is NPR News. Storms with powerful winds and waves have been slamming parts of the California coast. A man was killed on the beach south of San Francisco after he was trapped by debris. Separately, flooding and high surge destroyed part of a pier in the city of Santa Cruz. Three people who fell into the water were safely rescued. The giant crocodile made famous in the 1980s hit movie Crocodile Dundee died over the weekend in a reptile aquarium in Australia.

As Christina Kokula reports, Burt the saltwater crocodile was thought to be over 90 years old. The death of Burt the saltwater crocodile was confirmed by staff at the Crocosaurus Cove Reptile Aquarium in Darwin, where he'd been housed since 2008. In a post on social media, the facility said Bert wasn't just a crocodile, he was a force of nature, whose personality could be challenging but made him memorable. Measuring more than 16 feet in length, Bert was captured in northern Australia before making a terrifying cameo appearance in Crocodile Dundee alongside actors Paul Hogan and Linda Kozlowski in 1986. He's said to have been named after movie star Bert Reynolds.

For NPI News, I'm Christina Kukola in Melbourne, Australia. It was a shortened trading day on Wall Street, with stocks ending the day higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 390 points, closing at 43,297. The S&P rose 65 points, then NASDAQ up 266. I'm Windsor Johnston, NPR News. Listen to this podcast sponsor-free on Amazon Music with a Prime membership or any podcast app by subscribing to NPR News Now Plus at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.