NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-27-2024 6AM EST

Episode Date: December 27, 2024

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Otograph Collection is part of the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio of hotel brands. Find the unforgettable at autographcollection.com. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korova Coleman. South Korea's parliament has impeached Prime Minister Han Dok-soo, who is also serving as the country's acting president. Han has been acting president for fewer than two weeks. That's because South Korean President Yoon Sang-yul was also impeached and suspended from office. That was after his botched attempt to impose martial law.

The BBC's Jean McKenzie reports from Seoul. As the opposition party voted to impeach Prime Minister Han using its sizeable majority in parliament, MPs in the ruling party crowded around the Speaker of the House shouting, angry with his decision to even let this vote go ahead. The opposition have decided to remove Mr. Han after he refused to appoint the judges they'd chosen to oversee President Yun's impeachment trial. They argued Mr. Han was protecting the president and was therefore not fit to run the country. But his removal just deepened South Korea's political turmoil. Decision-making here is

gridlocked and the economy is suffering. The BBC's Jeanne McKenzie reporting. South Korea's finance minister Choi Sang-mok has now been installed as the country's new acting president and acting prime minister. A U.S.-funded group that tracks food security around the world has taken down its latest report on northern Gaza. The report said a famine was unfolding there. But NPR's Michelle Kellerman tells us U.S. officials raised doubts about the information. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network says its latest alert on Gaza is under review and will be re-released with updated data and analysis in January.

The alert had warned of an impending famine in North Gaza, but U.S. officials say the group had inflated the number of people living in the area. The U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, called it irresponsible. The U.S. Agency for International Development, which created the famine monitoring group, says it requested the report to be updated. A spokesman says the U.S. is still deeply concerned about the scale of food insecurity in Gaza and the quote minimal amount of assistance that has reached Palestinians in the north. Michelle Kelliman, NPR News, Washington.

U.S. health officials are warning pet owners their animals could be at risk of contracting bird flu if they consume raw milk or raw pet food. Dr. Michael Bailey is the incoming president of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 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. Officials warn raw pet food made with turkey or poultry can also harbor the bird flu virus.

Meanwhile, a Washington state animal sanctuary says bird flu has killed 20 of its big cats in the past month. That includes four cougars and a half Bengal tiger. This is NPR. Germany's president is dissolving the country's parliament. This makes way for national elections in February. It comes after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a vote

of confidence this month. Officials in Kazakhstan say they've recovered flight data recorders from the passenger jet that crashed on Christmas Day. Dozens of people aboard were killed. Images of the crash appear to show damage to the plane's tail, consistent with explosives. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has signed into law a bill that creates a state climate superfund. It allows New York to find major emitters of greenhouse gases. And Piers Alejandro

Barrundo reports the money is used to better protect people from extreme weather. Human-caused climate change is expensive. This year alone, New York State saw eight weather disasters that cost more than $1 billion each, and that cost is likely to increase as the planet heats up. New York's new law works like the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund program, where polluters pay the cost of cleaning up an environmental problem they caused. The state will be able to fine climate polluters some $3 billion each per year over the next 25 years. Vermont signed a similar bill into law earlier this year. Legal experts say it's likely New York's new law will be challenged in court. Alejandra Burunda,

NPR News. The National Weather Service has confirmed tornadoes touched down in central Louisiana yesterday. Several more tornadoes were spotted in Texas near Houston. Forecasters are warning there could be an elevated risk for severe storms from East Texas, across Mississippi, and north into Tennessee. That risk could last through tomorrow night. This is NPR.