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

Episode Date: December 28, 2024

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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. The UN says the Israeli military launched an airstrike in North Gaza overnight and troops raided a hospital there. An airstrike near Kamal Adwan Hospital in North Gaza Governorate last night reportedly

killed dozens of people, including health workers. Today, we're also told by our colleagues that staff patients and their companions were forced out of the facility. That's UN spokeswoman Stephanie Tremblay. The Gaza Health Ministry says once the patients and staff were taken outside Israeli troops forced them to remove their clothes. Israel's military says the hospital is used by Hamas fighters as a base but it's offered no evidence of that. Hospital officials have denied the charge. Hospital officials also say the facility has been hit many times in the past three months. Severe weather across the southern U.S. is causing

damage and disrupting holiday travel. Matt Bloom with Member Station WWNO has more. Storms Thursday night canceled or delayed hundreds of flights out of Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and tornadoes damaged an RV park north of Houston and several homes across southeast Texas and Louisiana. As that system moves east, officials are preparing for another round of severe weather to hit the south on Saturday. Joe Ruah with the National Weather Service says parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama could see more tornadoes and flash flooding.

The threat for severe weather will shift farther east on Sunday in parts of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, and parts of North Carolina that were hit hard by Hurricane Helene in September. For NPR News, I'm Matt Blum in New Orleans. The U.S. homeless population has grown by 18 percent in the past year. That's according to a new report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. NPR's Sundiiah Dirks reports. People of color are significantly overrepresented among individuals experiencing homelessness, according to the report. Almost 70% of people without homes in America are people of color.

Black Americans and indigenous people are the groups most disproportionately impacted. For example, while Black people make up almost 14% of the US population, they make up 32% of the homeless population. And that disparity also holds true for the growing number of homeless families with children under 18. 38% of those are Black families. While those in families experiencing homelessness are more likely to be women and girls, overall more than two-thirds of the homeless population identified as men. Sandhya Dirks, NPR News. President-elect Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to delay the implementation

of a ban on TikTok until his administration can pursue a political resolution to the issue. That request came Friday as TikTok and Biden administration filed opposing briefs in court. A federal law requires the TikTok divest from its China-based company or face a total ban in the U.S. in January. You're listening to NPR News. Longtime CBS sportscaster Greg Gumbel has died. The network announced his death today and said Gumbel died from cancer. He was 78 years old. Gumbel broke many barriers in a career that spanned more than 50 years. In 2001, he became the first black announcer in the U.S. to call play-by-play of a major sports championship when he announced Super Bowl 35 for CBS. His wife and daughter said he leaves behind a legacy of love, inspiration, and dedication.

The World Health Organization says it's diagnosed a mystery disease that began circulating in October in a remote part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. MPR's Gabriela Emanuel has more. Nearly 900 people fell ill and 48 died. Symptoms include fever, weakness, coughing, and difficulty breathing. International health experts spent days getting to the far-flung villages to collect samples. Now diagnostic tests have been run on 430 samples and the disease isn't a new one, but acute respiratory infections like influenza and COVID complicated by malaria and a severely malnourished population. Health authorities say there are ongoing efforts to support the health needs of people in the remote area. Gabriella Emanuel, NPR News.

A collision between a bus and a truck on Mexico's Gulf Coast Friday killed eight people and injured 27 others. Most of the victims were passengers on the bus. Prosecutors in Veracruz state say the accident took place before dawn. The cause of that accident remains under investigation by Mexican police.