NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-28-2024 10AM EST

Episode Date: December 28, 2024

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Ho ho ho! Santa here, coming to you from the North Pole. We're the elves in our podcast division of just completed work on this season's best gift for public radio lovers, NPR Plus. Give the gift of sponsored free listening and even bonus episodes from your favorite NPR podcasts, all while supporting public media. Learn more at plus.npr.org. Ho ho ho! Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologized to Azerbaijan's leader for this week's crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane. It's been widely claimed that Russia accidentally shot the plane down as it tried to land in Grozny on Wednesday.

The BBC's Steve Rosenberg is in Moscow. According to the Kremlin readout of their conversation, President Putin apologized to President Aliyev for what the Kremlin calls a tragic incident in Russian airspace and expressed condolences to the families of the dead. 38 people were killed when Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243, having failed to land at Grozny Airport in the Russian North Caucasus, was redirected over the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan where it crash-landed. The Embraer 190 is widely believed to have been damaged by missiles fired by a Russian

air defense system. Today's Kremlin statement stops short, though, of saying Russian air defenses were to blame for the crash. To New York now, where the state attorney general has released video of a fatal prison beating of an inmate. The video shows several white corrections officers punching and kicking a black handcuffed inmate who died the next day. The NPR's Ava Pukach reports an investigation could lead to criminal charges for some or

all of the 14 individuals involved. Attorney General Letesha James says the body cam footage shows officers at Marcy Correctional Facility in upstate New York repeatedly punching and kicking inmate Robert Brooks in the face and groin and choking and striking him in the chest of a shoe as he lies on a medical examination table. During the incident, he was handcuffed with his hands behind his back. He was pronounced dead at Wynn Hospital in Utica

on December 10th. Initial autopsy reports listed the cause of death as a fixia due to the compression of the neck. Governor Kathy Hochul has ordered the termination of the 14 individuals involved. Eva Pukac, NPR News. President-elect Donald Trump asking the Supreme Court to delay the law that requires a ban in the U.S. on the short video sharing app TikTok. Trump has filed a brief with the court

saying he wants to pursue a political resolution as the court is set to hear arguments early next month on whether the ban violates free speech rights. Here's in Pierce Bobby Allen. In a brief supporting TikTok groups, including Columbia University's Knight First Amendment Institute, compare the TikTok ban to China's Great Firewall, which makes popular news sites and social media services like X, Instagram and YouTube inaccessible. But the Department of Justice says TikTok poses a unique national security threat because its corporate parent company is based in Beijing and thus Americans are vulnerable to foreign manipulation. TikTok says it has cordoned off

the American version of TikTok from Chinese influence. President-elect Donald Trump has at times voiced support for saving TikTok and the law would grant Trump leeway to interpret its enforcement. Bobby Allen, NPR News. This is NPR. The Gaza Health Ministry says Israel's army has detained the director of one of the last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza. The announcement comes after the Israeli military forcibly shut down the Kamal Adwan Hospital, saying it was being used as an operating base for Hamas fighters. Israel denies claims it entered the hospital or set fire to it. The ministry says staff and patients were forced outside to strip in winter weather.

India held a state funeral today for former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Singh died Thursday at age 92. He was prime minister for 10 years, leaving office in 2014 after his party was defeated by the nationalist BJP, led by current Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Argentinian-born actress Olivia Hussey, who first gained fame as a 16 year old in Romeo and Juliet, has died at the age of 73. Here's Steve Futterman. Hussey burst upon the big screen in 1968 as a fresh teenager. She was just 15 years old when she was cast to play Juliet in the Shakespeare classic. It was a worldwide success. Hussie won a Golden Globe for most promising female

newcomer. She would appear in numerous other films including the cult classic slasher film Black Christmas and Death on the Nile. Although for years Hussie defended a brief nude scene in Romeo and Juliet, last year she was part of a $500 million lawsuit accusing Paramount Pictures of sexual harassment and abuse. The lawsuit was later dismissed. For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Los Angeles. And this is NPR News.