NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-26-2024 8AM EST

Episode Date: December 26, 2024

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The Indicator is a podcast where daily economic news is about what matters to you. Workers have been feeling the sting of inflation. So as a new administration promises action on the cost of living, taxes, and home prices, The S&P 500 biggest post-election day spike ever. follow all the big changes and what they mean for you. Make America affordable again. Listen to The Indicator, the daily economics podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Kuhlmann.

Repair crews in Ukraine are working on parts of the country's power grid. It was hit yesterday by Russian missiles and drones that were carrying explosives. NPR's Brian Mann reports from Kyiv, Russia launched scores of them at Ukraine. Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky says they were able to shoot down 50 of the 70 or so missiles launched Christmas morning by Russia. Ukraine also blocked most of those drones. They often used electronic jammers, causing them to crash. But at least 20 of these missiles got through.

There were explosions and fires across Ukraine. One utility worker and engineer was killed. NPR's Brian Mann reporting. Protests erupted this week in areas of Syria dominated by the Alawite religious minority that happened after a video spread online apparently showing militants burning a shrine sacred to the Alawite group. NPR's Diya Hadid reports from Damascus. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the video showed gunmen torching a shrine

wholly to Alawites and killing five workers and mutilating their bodies. As the video spread, protests erupted across Syria in areas dominated by Alawites, posing perhaps the most important security challenge yet for the country's new rulers. They assumed power after rebels overran Damascus in early December. The rebels were led by a Muslim group known as HTS, leading to fears among Syrian minorities that they'd be vulnerable to persecution. That fear is particularly strong among Alawites because many view the minority as having aided the former regime of

Bashar al-Assad, who is also an Alawite. Syria's new information minister blamed quote, hidden hands that sought to divide Syrians. D'Hadid, NPR News, Damascus. Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel says it'll delay its deadline to acquire U.S. steel from the end of this year to March. And Pierre's Anthony Kuhn reports it's valued at more than $14 billion. Nippon Steel said it's pushing back the deadline because President Joe Biden is still reviewing the deal, as our Department of Justice

antitrust authorities. It added that it hopes Biden will give the deal a fair and fact-based evaluation. The Interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the US failed to reach a consensus on the deal this week and referred the matter to President Biden who has 15 days to decide. President Biden has publicly opposed the deal, as has President-elect Donald Trump. At issue is whether a foreign firm's purchase of an important U.S. company amounts to a national security risk. Some Japanese are offended by U.S. officials praising their country as a key ally in some respects, but accusing them of being a security risk in others. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Seoul. President-elect Trump has named Florida County Commissioner Kevin Marina Cabrera to be his

ambassador to Panama. Trump is continuing to insist the U.S. should retake control of the Panama Canal, a statement rejected by Panama's president. You're listening to NPR. There are questions about the crash of a passenger plane from Azerbaijan yesterday. It killed more than half of those aboard. The plane was headed for Russia when it was diverted far from its course. It went down in Kazakhstan, but it's not clear why.

Russian state TV blames a bird strike, but some aviation experts are asking if Russian defense systems played any role in the crash. Scientists have learned more about what the biodiversity of early life on Earth might have looked like. NPR's Jessica Young reports on a study that tracks species diversity over time. Jessica Young, NPR Researcher Researcher looked as far back as the pre-Cambrian period, a time with relatively few fossils.

Shu-Hai Hsai Xiao at Virginia Tech and co-author of the paper in Science used fossil data from around the world as a sample of all existing species at different times in history. Kind of like in an election, right? So the poll still would take a small sample of the voters and they get an idea you know what the voting result will look like. The study confirmed some scientists guesses that biodiversity during the boring billion period, which started 1.8 billion years ago, mostly remained low and stable. Plus, two ice ages were followed by rapid spikes in diversity, leading Shau to wonder

if ice ages somehow reset a lot of evolution. Jessica Young and PR News. There are winter storm warnings and advisories from Washington State to Utah. Forecasters say this is due to a series of atmospheric river events happening in the There are winter storm warnings and advisories from Washington State to Utah. Forecasters say this is due to a series of atmospheric river events happening in the Pacific Northwest. The tracking site, poweroutage.us, says nearly 70 million customers in Washington and Oregon are currently out of power.

I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News in Washington.