NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-27-2024 8PM EST

Episode Date: December 28, 2024

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Herbst. North Korean troops are suffering major losses in Russia's war against Ukraine. NPR's Michelle Kellerman reports that's according to the Biden administration, which has been watching their involvement closely. 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. The Israeli military has forced the evacuation of one of the last functioning hospitals in Northern Gaza, calling it a Hamas

terror center. Staff at the hospital say airstrikes overnight that targeted the area killed at least 50 people. Dr. Mimi Syed is an American emergency physician in Gaza. We do expect a large influx of patients coming into central Gaza where I am here. This hospital is nowhere near equipped to take care of that number of patients or acuity. We are heavily burdened. There are no resources here at the hospital for the patients that are already coming here. I can't imagine what's going to be happening in the next few days. Speaking there to the BBC. New York State Attorney General Letitia James released what she called shocking and disturbing body camera videos earlier today that show the beating

of a handcuffed man in state prison who later died. From WNYC, Charles Lane reports. The videos capture the moment Robert Brooks was carried to a medical exam room at the Marcy Correctional Facility in northern New York. Multiple corrections employees can be seen punching and kicking Brooks in the head, groin, and other body parts. He appeared delirious during the beating. Of the 14 employees present during the incident, only four had body cameras that were turned

on but they weren't activated and only recorded in standby mode without audio. Governor Kathy Hochul ordered the termination of the 14 employees involved in the incident or who failed to intervene. Criminal charges are also possible pending the outcome of James' investigation. For Imperial News, I'm Charles Lane in New York. Danielle Pletka President-elect Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to pause enforcement of a law that bans TikTok nationwide on January 19th, the day before Inauguration Day. The High Court is set to hear oral arguments

on whether the ban is constitutional January 10th. But Trump's filing claims he possesses, quote, the consummate dealmaking expertise to negotiate a way to save TikTok while dealing with national security concerns. This is NPR. Singer Sugar Pie De Santo has died. She recorded with her friend, Etta James, and toured with James Brown, and she had a few solo hits of her own. She was 89 years old. And Pierce Elizabeth Blair has this appreciation. Sugar Pie De Santo was a 4 foot 11 dynamo. Doing backflips on stage was one of her trademarks. my best when I put on my soul for red. Now watch out there boy.

Doing backflips on stage was one of her trademarks. Born Paliah Ballentine, her mother was a concert pianist. DeSanto once said her father couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. She and Etta James were childhood friends who eventually recorded together. In the basement, down in the basement. recorded together. In 2008, Sugar Pie De Santo was given a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News. 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 then fled and was found by authorities hiding in the restroom before being arrested for trespassing. The individual had passed a TSA security checkpoint and the boarding gate ticket check. It's similar to an incident a few weeks ago when a Russian national boarded a Delta flight from New York to Paris without a boarding pass during the busy Thanksgiving holiday travel rush. I'm Janene Herbst and you're listening to NPR News from Washington. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies.

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