NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-29-2024 1PM EST

Episode Date: December 29, 2024

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Oh 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+. 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 Nora Robb.

A plane carrying 181 people crashed while trying to land at an airport in South Korea today. Officials say there were only two survivors, both members of the flight crew, said to be in non-life-threatening condition. The BBC's Jonathan Head reports. The authorities say the Boeing 737 airliner, on a scheduled route from Bangkok, made an emergency landing at Muang Airport after a bird strike damaged one engine. Video taken near the airport shows the airliner moving at high speed along the runway with

its landing gear retracted, the engines scraping against the tarmac before ploughing into a wall at the airport perimeter and bursting into flames. It's not clear why the pilots were unable to lower the landing gear. The BBC's Jonathan Head, the government has declared a week-long national mourning period. Palestinian authorities say at least seven people were killed today in an Israeli airstrike in a health clinic in the Gaza Strip. Israeli officials say the building was a Hamas command center. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is undergoing prostate surgery today.

This means Netanyahu's had to cancel testimony he was supposed to give this week in a corruption trial against him. NPR's Emily Fang has more. Netanyahu's office said the surgery is to remove a benign growth on his prostate. His office also said he had a related urinary tract infection. This is not the first time the prime minister has had health problems while Israel is fighting on multiple fronts. In Gaza, against Houthi militants in Yemen, and in Syria,

where Israeli troops have occupied more territory. Netanyahu also is in the middle of testifying in his own corruption trial. A Jerusalem court agreed he could postpone several days of testimony this coming week due to surgery. At 75 years old, Netanyahu was among the more senior end of world leaders. He was fitted with a pacemaker last year and earlier this spring had surgery for a hernia. Emily Fang and Peer News, Tel Aviv, Israel. Deaths linked to deep cold nearly doubled in the U.S. from 2017 to 2022, even as annual temperatures rose. That comes from a study in the journal JAMA. For Member Station WBUR,

Martha Bebinger reports. The findings may be counterintuitive, but researchers say the U.S. is seeing periods of extreme heat and cold as the atmosphere warms. Study co-author Michael Liu says there's been a lot of focus on health risks linked to heat, but cold is dangerous as well. And I think that's especially important as we move into the winter season and many, if not most, of these deaths are entirely preventable as well. Lu says many factors may have contributed to more deaths from cold.

The population of adults aged 50 or older who are less able to withstand deep cold is rising. And at the same time, there's an increase in the number of Americans who do not have stable housing. For NPR News, I'm Martha Bebbinger in Boston. This is NPR News, I'm Martha Biebinger in Boston. This is NPR. The president of Azerbaijan said today that Russia shot down the Azerbaijan airliner that crashed last week and has tried to hide that fact for days. Ilham Aliyev said that he's not saying that it was done intentionally, but says it's clear the aircraft was hit by fire from the ground in Russia and rendered

uncontrollable by electronic warfare. The crash in Kazakhstan on Wednesday killed 38 of the 67 people on board. On January 1, Belgium will become the first European Union country to ban disposable electronic cigarettes, often called vapes. Terri Schulz reports. Belgium is significantly tightening regulations on all smoking, including the prohibition on sales of disposable e-cigarettes. Tobacco products may no longer be sold at temporary locations like festivals. Beginning April 1st, that will include large food establishments. As of December 31st, new restrictions will tighten existing limitations on smoking in public areas like parks and sports fields and around entrances to schools, hospitals,

and public libraries. Authorities want to discourage people from picking up the habit and to protect non-smokers from second-hand effects. Belgian Health Minister Frank Van den Broek is calling on the EU to update tobacco legislation in all its 27 countries. For NPR News, I'm Terri Schulz in Brussels. Tens of thousands of homes and businesses are still without power after tornadoes swept through Texas and Mississippi overnight. Officials say at least two people died. Severe weather is expected to continue today.

Forecasters say tornadoes are possible in Georgia and Florida. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News.