NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-27-2024 1AM EST

Episode Date: December 27, 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. The Finnish government is calling for additional measures against Russia's so-called shadow fleet of registered cargo vessels. The call comes after authorities say one of the ships may have damaged a power cable in

the Baltic Sea. Terry Schultz reports that police have seized and boarded the vessel. The Finnish border guard escorted the Eagle S oil vessel into Finnish waters on Wednesday after a power cable linking Finland and Estonia under the Baltic Sea went out when the ship crossed over it. Police say they're treating it as a case of aggravated vandalism. The ship is believed to be part of a fleet Russia uses to transport oil in violation of international sanctions,

and which, Finnish Prime Minister Petter Jorpoh notes, may serve other malign purposes. This underlines the danger of the S shadow fleet for the Baltic Sea. We need to find new, strong measures to tackle this. In total, four cables were broken or damaged in this latest incident, but Finnish authorities confirmed the electricity supply and telecommunications connections are working. For NPR News, I'm Terry Schultz. The CDC says its analysis of samples from the first severe case of bird flu in the country

shows mutations not before seen in the U.S. The samples were taken from an infected backyard flock that was on the patient's property. And as bird flu continues to spread here, Dr. Michael Bailey says that pet owners should be cautious about just what they feed their animals right now. We do have many reports of cats, particularly. There have been some reports of dogs also, but cats particularly acquiring bird flu predominantly from raw food sources. So this goes with raw milk as well as raw meat. So I'm going to say raw proteins.

Bailey is the incoming president of the American Veterinary Medical Association. As the year wraps up, folks who are interested in outer space are looking ahead to what 2025 has in store for them. But as NPR's now Greenfield Boys reports, the main event, which is a trip back to the moon, has been delayed. NASA has a big new rocket that's been on one test flight without people on board, and the space community has long been waiting for its first flight with a crew. The plan is to send a capsule out to orbit the moon and return. This will be the first time humans have visited the moon in more than half a century. There's already been delays, but this mission was supposed to launch next year. A few weeks

ago, however, NASA announced more delays because of technical challenges with the capsule's heat shield. The flight is getting pushed to 2026. What's more, actually landing astronauts on the moon now isn't expected until 2027 at the earliest now Greenfield voice NPR news stocks finished up today was a Dow up and the Nasdaq down You're listening to NPR news The head of the World Health Organization says he was in Yemen at the airport when it was hit by Israeli airstrikes. NPR's Fatma Tannis has more. Dr. Tedros Adnan Gebreyesus said he was just about to board a plane in the Yemeni city of Sana'a when the airport came under bombardment. One crew member was injured, he said, and two other people were reportedly killed. He said the air traffic control tower, the departure lounge and the runway were all damaged.

Tedros said he was in Yemen to negotiate the release of detained UN staff there and to assess the humanitarian situation in the country. Israel said it hit the airport, two power stations and ports on the coast as it vowed to target Houthi leaders and infrastructure in Yemen after the group's repeated missile attacks at Israel since the beginning of the war in Gaza last year. Fatma Tanis, NPR News. One of corporate America's top black executives has died. Richard Parsons had held top posts at Time Warner and Citigroup. He died at his home in Manhattan. He was 76 years old. He'd

been diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2015. Parsons was remembered as a great mentor and friend and as a tough and brilliant negotiator. A new record for overtimes during a college football bowl game was set Thursday when Toledo survived six overtimes to beat Pittsburgh 48 to 46. Tucker Gleason threw four touchdowns and regulation play for the Rockets and ran for another score during overtime play. Kansas State meanwhile came from behind to beat Rutgers on Thursday night 44 to 41. I'm Dale Wilman, NPR News.