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

Episode Date: December 27, 2024

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Hurst. The White House says it's monitoring the investigation into the Azerbaijani passenger plane that crashed in Kazakhstan Wednesday. And Piers Windsor-Johnston says preliminary reports show the jet went down because of quote physical and technical external interference. The passenger jet was traveling from the Azerbaijani capital to Chechnya, Russia, when it was diverted. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says it's possible that Russian weapons hit the plane. We have seen some early indications that would certainly point to

the possibility that this jet was brought down by Russian air defense system. That said, we have offered our assistance to that investigation, should they need it, should they want it. Images of the plane's tail show damage consistent with explosives. Azerbaijan Airlines has suspended flights to airports inside of Russia. Moscow has denied any wrongdoing. Windsor-Johnston and PR News, Washington. Less than a month since South Korea's Parliament voted to impeach President Yun Song-yol for imposing martial law, the Parliament has now voted to impeach

his replacement, Han Deok-su. It's the first time South Korea has impeached an acting president, showing the seriousness of the political crisis gripping one of Asia's key democracies. And Piers Anthony Kuhn has more. The opposition party, which controls the parliament, says that Han refused to appoint three justices to fill vacancies on the Constitutional Court, and that's the court which will rule on President Yun's impeachment. Han says he didn't appoint them because that's up to the president to do. But the opposition points out that he did veto bills to appoint special counsels to investigate President Yun and his wife, and he didn't oppose martial law. So basically, he's protecting Yun.

And here's Anthony Kuhn. Finance Minister Chesun Mock is now acting president. The number of people experiencing homelessness in the U.S. has hit another record high to more than 770,000. Ampere's Jennifer Ludden reports the annual federal count cites high housing costs and the recent surge in migrants as key factors. The homelessness count is up a whopping 18% from last year. Jeff Olivett recently stepped down as head of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. A lot of families, a lot of households, a lot of individuals are still struggling.

I think we're still in, for deeply poor people, a real recovery from the pandemic. Still, the count is made in January, and the federal housing agency that puts it out says it's likely the numbers have come down since then. Denver and Chicago, for example, saw a big drop in migrants after President Biden limited asylum seekers at the border. And in some places, they note rising rents have finally stabilized or even dropped. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reporting. This is NPR News. The Broadway revival of Gypsy, starring six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald, has canceled its performance this evening, the fifth performance

of the show to be canceled during the lucrative holiday season. Producers cite illness in the company. Jeff Ludden reports Gypsy opened on December 19th. Jeff Ludden Gypsy opened on December 19th. GYPSY opened on December 19th. And everything was coming up roses. The reviews were raves, audiences were flocking to see GYPSY on Broadway. And then on December 22nd, Audra McDonald posted a picture of herself on Instagram breathing through a humidifier mask, asking audiences to be understanding as a bug was making its way through the cast and crew The next night the show canceled its performance and hasn't played since

It comes at a critical time as the week between Christmas and New Year's is the highest grossing one every year When tickets are sold at a premium for holiday theatergoers. For NPR News, I'm Jeff London in New York. Lylea Hickman Delta Airlines is again apologizing after an unticketed passenger boarded a flight from Seattle to Honolulu on Christmas Eve. It's the airline's second stowaway incident in less than a month. The rogue passenger was found as the flight taxied from the gate and removed. The person fled and was found by authorities hiding in the restroom before being arrested for trespassing.

The individual had passed a TSA security checkpoint and also the boarding gate ticket check. I'm Janene Herbst, NPR News in Washington.