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

Episode Date: December 25, 2024

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rahm. Christians in Syria are celebrating their first Christmas after the fall of the Assad regime. For many, it's a time of uncertainty, as NPR's Diya Hadid reports from Damascus. The pews were barely half full in one of Syria's most important churches. It wasn't clear if worshippers were staying away out of fear, or whether the bare pews simply reflected a years-long exodus of Christians from Syria amid nearly a decade and a half of war.

Syria's war ended abruptly earlier in December after Muslim rebels led by group HTS over Iran-Damascus. The group's leader and Syria's interim ruler, Ahmad al-Sharah, says that Syria's large minorities, including Christians, will be safe and protected. But Christians worry that extremists among the rebels will target them and their churches. Diya Hadid, NPR News, Damascus. An Azerbaijani airliner with 67 people aboard, crashed in Khakistan today. Officials say 32 people survived and have been rescued. It's feared more than 30 people died in the crash. The plane was en route from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to the

Russian city of Grozny. Russia's aviation watchdog says the plane may have encountered a bird strike. President Biden has commuted the sentences of dozens of federal prisoners on death row. They'll now serve life in prison without the possibility of parole. Abraham Bonowitz is executive director of Death Penalty Action, which opposes capital punishment. He says the death penalty hurts the victims' families as well. That's the problem with the death penalty and what it does to victim families where there's a death sentence in their case is it forces this ongoing revisit of that most

painful moment in their lifetime and it forces them to live in that space. He says there are still some people eligible for execution whose lives should be spared. The Biden administration has been touting a pardon back in June for veterans kicked out of the military for homosexuality, but very few vets have been able to use it. NPR's Quill Lawrence reports. Before laws were repealed in 2011, tens of thousands of Americans got kicked out of the military for being gay, leaving them with no military benefits or honors. In connection with other clemency granted this month, the White House has mentioned

a blanket pardon of gay vets. But advocates say only a handful of veterans have accessed the pardon since it was issued in June because of daunting Pentagon red tape. The Pentagon did not respond to NPR's query about the exact number. The Department of Veterans Affairs has a relatively much easier process and has encouraged gay veterans of any era to contact VA where they can likely qualify for health care and benefits they earned for serving in the military. Quill Lawrence, NPR News.

This is NPR News. The national menorah lighting takes place this afternoon in front of the White House, marking the first night of Hanukkah. NPR's Jason DeRose reports. Jason DeRose, NPR Newsreel Host Prior to the menorah lighting on the ellipse, there's a short concert featuring, among others, the musical group The Three Cantors and the Jewish pop rock group The Eighth Day. This is the 46th annual National Menorah Lighting. It's sponsored privately by Habad.

The celebration also includes dancing dreidels and readings by winners of the What Hanukkah Means to Me Essay Contest. For those who can't make it to the event in person, the national menorah lighting is also being live streamed. Jason DeRose, NPR News. The last time a large portion of the U.S. had snow on Christmas Day was almost 15 years ago. The National Weather Service says it's not happening this year. Forecasters say New York, northern New England, and areas around the Great Lakes are likely to have a white Christmas as well as parts of northern California and Utah. Other parts of the country are expecting mild than average temperatures today.

Four NASA astronauts are celebrating Christmas Day in space aboard the International Space Station. Two of them hadn't expected to still be there. They flew there in June on Boeing's Starliner for what was supposed to be a short test flight. But problems kept them on the space station. Now they are to return in late March on a SpaceX flight. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News in Washington.