NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-25-2024 1AM EST

Episode Date: December 25, 2024

NPR News: 12-25-2024 1AM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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. 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 Cardinal Pierpettista Pizzaballa, the leader of sign of hope in the midst of a disaster, of a total destruction that surrounds you. Everything is destroyed, but you are not broken.

You are still united steadfast in hope. Thank you, your brothers and sister, for your wonderful testimony of strength and peace. Isabella spoke to hundreds in Manger Square. Under normal circumstances, tens of thousands would have gathered. A surge in violence in the West Bank has greatly stalled tourism. More than 800 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire and dozens of Israelis have been killed in militant attacks. Protesters in Panama on Tuesday burned an image of President-elect

Donald Trump following his threat to demand control of the country's inter-oceanic canal, that it be returned to Washington. It was built by the U.S. but handed to Panama in 1999, the BBC's Hugh Morgan reports. Dozens of noisy demonstrators gathered outside the U.S. Embassy in Panama City on Tuesday, chanting that President Trump should leave the canal alone. Some held banners describing him as a public enemy of Panama. On Sunday, Mr. Trump complained about what he considers unfair fees paid by U.S. ships, which are the waterways' main customer.

Panama's President, José Raúl Molino, has insisted his country's control of the canal was non-negotiable. Donald Trump has also repeated his desire to purchase Greenland. He renewed the call after suggesting that Canadians want to become the 51st state. Officials in Greenland have expressed dismay, with the Prime Minister saying Greenland is not for sale. Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, the Danish government has announced a budget increase for Greenland to protect the island. As 2024 comes to a close, it's almost certain to be

the hottest year on record. NPR's Lauren Sommer reports that global temperatures are even warmer than scientists expected. The current title holder for hottest year is 2023. Last year, average temperatures across the globe were the warmest since record-keeping began in the mid-1800s. Now, it's looking like 2024 will take the top spot. That's largely due to climate change. Burning fossil fuels is adding heat-trapping gases to the atmosphere. There was also an El Nino, a natural pattern where the Pacific Ocean releases heat. But even after the El Nino faded, temperatures stayed warm, so scientists are determining if other things played a role, like a lack of cloud cover. No matter how long the title, it's part of a bigger trend.

The past 10 years have been the warmest 10 years on record. Lauren Summer, NPR News. This is NPR. Reports out of Haiti say two reporters and a police officer have been killed when armed men opened fire as journalists gathered to cover the reopening of Port-au-Prince's biggest public hospital. Street gangs had forced the hospital's closure earlier this year, but authorities had pledged to reopen it on Christmas Eve.

The Haitian Association of Journalists says seven reporters were wounded in the attack. Officials in Brazil say 163 Chinese nationals have been rescued. A tax force led by Brazilian prosecutors says they were working in slavery-like conditions at a construction site in northeastern Brazil, where a Chinese electric vehicle company is building a factory. Authorities say the workers were hired in China

and brought to Brazil. In the remote coastal communities of Northern California, there's a rivalry over who has a tallest living Christmas tree. NPR's Alice Wolfley reports. Jim Campbell Spickler is the director of the Sequoia Park Zoo in Eureka and kind of an expert when it comes to measuring tall trees. I would consider the measurements that we've completed to be official. He says the coast redwood he strung with lights is 174 feet, 9 inches tall. The zoo announced that it had the tallest known living decorated tree. But soon after, Campbell Spickler got a call.

Well hey, the folks down in Mendocino County at the skunk train claimed to have a taller tree. The historic railroad in the town of Willets says it decorated a redwood nearly 50 feet taller. After seeing video evidence, Campbell Spickler agrees the rival tree is taller. He's offered to do an official measurement before next group.