NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-25-2024 10PM EST

Episode Date: December 26, 2024

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Herbst. A high-ranking Syrian official says his government wants cordial relations with Israel and would like the U.S. to help mediate that process. NPR's Hadil Al-Shalchi has more. In a wide-ranging interview with NPR, the newly appointed governor of Damascus said that Syria's new government has, quote, no problems with Israel. Governor Mehar Marwan said it was natural for Israel to feel fear when the new government took power but that Syria does not want to meddle with Israel's security. HTS leader Ahmed Al-Shar has

previously said the new government does not want conflict with Israel. Marwan called on the United States to influence Israel to let it know that Syrians are a people who want peace and not quote disputes with Israel. A US official told NPR that this message has been relayed to Israeli officials. Hadil Al-Shalchi, NPR News, Damascus. Lylea Salih, NPR News, Damascus, Europe Europeans celebrated Christmas in different ways across the continent. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports Christmas Day Mass was celebrated at Paris' Notre Dame

Cathedral for the first time in six years. Parisians were able to attend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services at Notre Dame Cathedral which has been restored since the 2019 fire and just reopened. Across the English Channel in Britain, King Charles gave his annual Christmas message from the chapel of a former hospital rather than from a royal palace to thank medical workers who helped treat him and the Princess of Wales after they were diagnosed with cancer. In Rome, Pope Francis called for peace

in his Christmas blessing to thousands gathered in St. Peter's Square. The Pope asked that ceasefires be put in place where wars rage and that world leaders forgive the debts that, quote, burden the poorest countries. Eleanor Beardsley in PR News, Paris. The National Institutes of Health is investing $300 million for the study of treatments for long COVID. The funds will be allocated over the next four years. Sarah Bowden from Member Station WESA reports this after major efforts by patients to pressure the agency to fund more clinical trials.

People have been suffering for years with long COVID, and patients say that the pace of the NIH's search for new treatments has been too slow. And the $300 million probably isn't enough money to produce a new drug. Megan Stone is the executive director of the Long COVID campaign. What's critical when you have limited funding that doesn't yet match the scale of the problem is that those investments are even smarter. That includes labs and researchers working on Long COVID that the NIH hasn't traditionally funded. The NIH says it understands the urgency for Long COVID treatments, but first scientists needed a solid understanding

of Long Covid's biological mechanisms. For NPR News, I'm Sarah Bowden. Sarah Bowden. Wall Street was closed today in observance of Christmas. U.S. futures contracts are trading mixed. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. President-elect Donald Trump is nominating a Florida county commissioner to serve as ambassador to Panama. Kevin Moreno Carrero worked for the Trump campaign in 2020 and was a Republican Florida state director this year.

This just days after Trump suggested that the U.S. could demand the return of the Panama Canal if the country didn't reduce the fees it charges American ships for using it. Panama owns the canal and its president says that's not changing. NASA says its four astronauts at the International Space Station spent Christmas Day gazing down at Earth, having private calls with their families and spending times with their colleagues. And here's Nell Greenfield-Boise reports the astronauts also beamed down a holiday message. The four astronauts gathered together in front of the camera next to a small green Christmas

tree. Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Three of them wore red Santa hats. Sunny Williams had on reindeer antlers. She let go of a handful of candy canes which floated around. One of the best things that I like about Christmas is the preparation and just getting ready. She and her colleague Butch Wilmore weren't expecting to spend this holiday season in

space. They went up in June on what was supposed to be a short test flight of Boeing's Starliner. NASA decided they'll come home on a SpaceX flight, which is now scheduled for late March. Nell Greenfield-Boyce, NPR News. Asian markets are trading higher at this hour. The Nikkei, the main market in Japan, is up about a half percent. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong is up one percent. I'm Janene Herbst, NPR News in Washington.