NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-27-2024 11PM EST

Episode Date: December 28, 2024

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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 Dale Willman. North Korean troops are suffering major losses in Russia's war against Ukraine, as NPR's Michelle Kellerman reports. That's according to the Biden administration, which has been closely watching North Korea's

involvement there. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says that 1,000 North Korean troops have been killed or wounded in the past week alone. He says Russia treats them as expendable. He's also raising doubts about Russian President Vladimir Putin's latest comments about possible peace talks with Ukraine. I mean just over Christmas days launching waves of missiles and drones against Ukrainian infrastructure. This is not a man who anyone should take seriously when it comes to saying he's ready for a negotiated settlement, he has proven quite the contrary in

almost every single possible way. Kirby says the Biden administration is trying to put Ukraine in a stronger position ahead of any potential peace talks. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, Washington. An unusual coalition that included MAGA supporters alongside tech industry leaders helped Donald Trump win the November presidential election now that coalition may be pulling apart over the issue of immigration. At stake are H-1B visas used by tech companies to hire skilled workers. Some conservatives though want those visas restricted along with other immigration. MPR Stephen Fowler says Congress will be getting involved next year.

There's also interest on reforming the visa process, not just for these tech workers, from lawmakers across the aisle who say it's an overly complex system chock full of carve-outs that benefit certain industries and, like Trump has said, are being abused. But there's also a lot of conservatives, especially among the base of the GOP that shape primary elections, who believe Trump's hardline immigration stances means reform should primarily come in a reduction of immigrants. That's NPR's Stephen Fowler. Detected cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, in wild birds rose

this month in Texas. Texas Public Radio's Marianne Navarro has our details. A database from the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports more than two dozen infected birds in several Texas counties. Most cases were discovered by Hunter Harvest. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department also announced earlier this month several bird mortality events due to the virus in areas near Galveston and Houston. Disease experts say that the virus has circulated among wild birds in Texas as water birds and water fowl migrate to their wintering grounds. At least one

person in Texas has been diagnosed with bird flu. I'm Marian Navarro in San Antonio. Health officials in Gaza say Israeli troops have raided one of the last hospitals operating in North Gaza and forced many patients and staff outside. The troops then made them to remove their clothes in the winter weather. The incident is the latest Israeli assault on Kamal Adwan Hospital. Staff members there say it's been hit many times in the past three months by Israeli troops. You're listening to NPR News.

Tennessee is preparing to resume state-sanctioned executions. Catherine Sweeney from Member Station WPLN reports that the state is ending a two-year break from the death penalty after rewriting its lethal injection protocol. Tennessee will become the ninth state to use a single drug process that essentially overdoses people on the sedative pentobarbital. That's in place of a more common practice where where executioners use three drugs—a sedative, a paralytic, and a drug to stop the heart. Several states have pivoted to this model since lethal injection drugs have become more difficult to source.

The federal government also used it for a few years, when the Trump administration briefly resumed executions. The drugs are hard to source because pharmaceutical companies refuse to sell them for use in the death penalty. Governments have come to rely on secrecy laws and small unregulated labs, a combination critics call dangerous. For NPR News, I'm Catherine Sweeney in Nashville. Two top Canadian cabinet ministers met with President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Commerce Secretary at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home today. They're hoping to avoid sweeping tariffs on Canadian goods when Trump takes office next

month. Vanderbilt got its first winning season since 2013 with a 35-27 win today over Georgia Tech. Diego Pavia threw three touchdown passes in the win and ran for two more scores. Blake Horvath, meanwhile, set a record for Navy with a 95-yard touchdown run as the midshipman beat Oklahoma 21-20, Arkansas beat Texas Tech 39-26. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.