NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-26-2024 3AM EST

Episode Date: December 26, 2024

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Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. Officials in Ukraine say they've received the first billion dollars in promised loans from the U.S. backed by proceeds of frozen Russian assets. The funding comes as part of a $50 billion loan plan created by G7 leaders this summer. NPR's Brian Mann reports from Kyiv. Ukraine's Prime Minister Dnysh Schmahal said on social media the first billion dollars have arrived. That's out of 20 billion in loans expected from the U.S., with an additional 30 billion

in support slated to come from other big industrial G7 countries, including Britain and Canada. We thank our American partners and the World Bank for this important step toward justice, Shmuhal said. The arrangement allows countries to support Ukraine's economy and military with massive loans with payback coming from revenue from Russia's overseas assets frozen after the 2022 invasion. Russian officials have condemned the arrangement as fraudulent, posting on social media that loans and other support for Ukraine will prolong the war.

Brian Mann, NPR News, Kyiv. Europeans celebrated Christmas this year in many different ways across the continent. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports that Christmas Day Mass was celebrated at Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral and it was the first time it happened 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. A convicted felon is now in custody following a series of Christmas Eve shootings in Oxford,

Michigan. Tom Binkowski heard one of those shootings. We were just sitting inside watching a holiday program and we heard four very quick gunshots. I mean it's pretty distinctive when you hear a gunshot. Police say one person was killed and two others were hospitalized in those shootings. A man accused of attempting to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump in South Florida will not go on trial until at least September. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon says that Ryan Routh's trial will begin on September 8th. It had been previously scheduled to start on February 10th. Ruth has pleaded not guilty.

Ruth's attorneys have asked the trial to be delayed until December so they can determine whether to enter an insanity plea. This is NPR News. Commemorations are underway in countries across the Indian Ocean to mark the 20th anniversary of the catastrophic tsunami that killed more than 220,000 people. A vigil has taken place in Banda Aceh on the island of Sumatra. Here's the BBC's Mickey Bristo. The earthquake measuring 9.1 ruptured the seabed off the Indonesian island of Sumatra just before 8 a.m. local time.

It sent a wall of water up to 12 meters high rushing towards land. Most people were caught off guard as the waves swept through coastal towns and villages. In the hours to come the tsunami caused devastation not just in Indonesia but also in Thailand, Sri Lanka and India, even as far away as Somalia in East Africa. It shocked the world. Donations flooded in, and tsunami early warning systems were installed in the Indian Ocean for the first time.

As the BBC's Mickey Bristo reporting, officials with Japan Airlines say the company was hit by a cyber attack Thursday morning. More than 20 domestic flights have been delayed as they resolved the problem and they say the problem could expand later in the day. The airline suspended domestic and international ticket sales as they worked on the issue. No other Japanese carriers have been affected. Pakistan says its air strikes on Tuesday in eastern Afghanistan were aimed at a training facility for insurgents, but a Taliban official said Wednesday the four separate attacks killed at least 46 people and most of them were women and children.

Pakistan officials say their forces also killed 13 insurgents in an overnight operation.