NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-28-2024 11PM EST

Episode Date: December 29, 2024

NPR News: 12-28-2024 11PM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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. A plane carrying 175 people and six crew members veered off the runway, crashed and caught fire in South Korea, killing at least 62 people. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Seoul.

A flight belonging to budget carrier Jeju Air was returning from Bangkok, Thailand. It landed at Muang Airport in southwest Chola Province, about 179 miles southwest of Seoul. The Yonhap News Agency reports that the plane's landing gear malfunctioned. It veered off the runway, crashed into a fence, and caught fire. Firemen extinguished the flames and rescuers tried to get passengers off the plane. Authorities are investigating the exact cause of the crash and the fire. South Korea's president and acting president have been impeached in recent weeks. The current acting president, Chae Sang-mok, ordered rescuers to do their

utmost to rescue the passengers. Anthony Kuhn in PR News, Seoul. The head of the World Health Organization says he and colleagues who were at Yemen's main airport earlier this week escaped death narrowly when an Israeli airstrike targeted that facility. Empire's Scott Newman has more. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says he's lucky to be alive after Israeli airstrikes hit the Sanaa International Airport on Thursday, including a missile that struck the terminal where he was waiting for a flight. There was a very heavy explosion, very close. It felt like actually he was just next to me.

Israel's military says the strike was aimed at infrastructure used by Iran and Yemen's Houthi rebels. The military says it wasn't aware of the presence of the UN delegation at the airport. Scott Newman, NPR News. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says the government will reach its debt limit by mid-January and will have to adopt special measures to continue paying its bills. And as NPR's Rafael Nam reports, that puts pressure on Congress to take action. Sometime between January 14th and January 23rd, the U.S. will hit its debt limit. That's according to a letter sent by Yellen to Congress on

Friday. But Yellen says the US can adopt so-called extraordinary measures to continue paying its bills. These are essentially accounting moves to conserve cash, like suspending some planned investments. Yellen did not say how long the US can do that for. Some analysts believe the US could stretch its money until summer, but it would likely be up to the incoming Republican Congress and the next President, Donald Trump, to raise or suspend the debt ceiling. Otherwise, the U.S. risks a devastating default. Rafal Nam, NPR News. Three firefighters and 12 passengers were injured early today after a fire truck drove

into the path of a high-speed passenger train in Florida. The fire truck was torn in two and debris from the crash was spread for several hundred feet. The three firefighters are listed in stable condition. You're listening to NPR News. Most of the top grossing movies of 2024 were huge franchise films with familiar names and characters. And as NPR's Nita Ulibi reports, the year's biggest box-office hits include Deadpool and Wolverine and Despicable Me 4. Unlike last year, when originals like Barbie and Oppenheimer were among the top-grossing films, we saw lots of number twos at the movies this year.

Moana 2, Dune Part 2, and Inside Out 2, about a young girl named Riley and the squad of emotions inside her mind. I'm Anxiety. I'm one of Riley's new emotions and we are just super jazzed to be here. Anxiety was likely not far from the minds of Hollywood executives who backed the year's biggest flops. Those included the latest Joker movie that barely broke even and the video game adaptation Borderlands. It cost more than $100 million to make and sold only slightly more than $30 million worth of tickets.

Nata Ulibi, NPR News. Fire officials in southern Australia are still working to contain a blaze that's burned more than 180,000 acres. In and near the Grampians National Park. The fires destroyed several homes and sheds and damaged farmlands. Number 18 Iowa State won 11 games in the season for the first time today beating Miami 42 to 41. Rocco Bech scored from a yard out on fourth and goal with 56 seconds left to win the game. In New York, Dylan Raola passed for 228 yards and a touchdown as Nebraska hung on to beat Boston College 20-15. TCU easily handled Louisiana 34-3. Miami of Ohio beat Colorado State 43-17 and East Carolina beat NC State 26-21.

I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.