NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-29-2024 2PM EST

Episode Date: December 29, 2024

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Oh, oh, oh, 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 dot NPR dot org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rahm. South Korea's government has declared a seven-day period of national mourning.

Following the deadly crash of a passenger plane this morning, 179 people were killed. Only two people survived. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Seoul. Video shot by eyewitnesses show the airplane skidding fast down the runway. On its fuselage, its landing gear still up. It slammed into a concrete fence and exploded into flames. Firemen and soldiers combed through the wreckage in search of survivors and victims.

Authorities say all but the two who were rescued are presumed to have been killed. The Boeing 737-800 crashed at Muwan International Airport in South Chala province about 180 miles from Seoul. The budget carrier Jeju Air flight was returning from Bangkok, Thailand. Two passengers were Thai nationals, the rest were South Koreans. Jeju Air's CEO publicly apologized for the crash. The cause of the disaster is under investigation. Anthony Kuhn in PR News, Seoul. Syria's new Islamist leader has said it may take three years to draw up a constitution for the country and organizing elections may take four years.

Ahmed al-Shahra made the comments three weeks after Bashar al-Assad was ousted. The BBC's Steve Jackson has more. As Syrians face all the hope and uncertainty of the post-Assad era, Ahmed al-Sharah is trying to manage expectations. In his Al-Arabiya interview, he warned that it could be a year before people see any drastic changes to the services they receive, and he gave his clearest indication yet that elections are still years away. Syria would need a comprehensive population census, he said, for elections to be valid and would also need to rebuild its legal system. He insisted that he did not see himself as the liberator of the country and that the Syrian people had saved themselves.

The BBC's Steve Jackson. Several tornadoes swept through Texas and Mississippi overnight. Officials say at least two people died and six others were injured. Nonprofits that help undocumented people have shifted to disaster aid after three major hurricanes hit the southeast this year since many of them don't qualify for federal disaster aid. NPR's Nate Perez reports. Only U.S. citizens, a person born in a U.S. territory, a green card holder, or refugee can apply for FEMA's cash aid after an extreme weather event. Michael Mendez teaches environmental policy and planning at the University of California

Irvine. He says micro-organizations step in to help undocumented people when federal, state, and local governments ignore these communities. So they were forced to become disaster organizations on top of the other missions and programmatic work. With human-caused climate change increasing the intensity of hurricanes, nonprofits will need to grow to assist communities most vulnerable to weather disasters. Nate Perez, NPR News. This is NPR News. This is NPR News.

French authorities say at least three migrants died early this morning while trying to cross the English Channel to Britain. Another 45 people were rescued. Local officials say it appears their boat could not accommodate all who tried to cross. This has been a deadly year for migrants attempting the perilous journey between France and England to flee conflict or poverty. This week Belgium will become the first European Union country to ban disposable electronic cigarettes or vapes. Belgium is also tightening existing limitations on smoking in public areas. Authorities want to discourage smoking and to protect people from second-hand

effects. The TV show House of the Dragon was popular this year among pirates. The series was one of the most illegally downloaded in 2024. NPR's Neda Ulibi reports. It was the most illegally torrented show by far in 2024. Torrenting is not as widespread as it was before the rise of streaming, but pirates still use the protocol to download and distribute very large files, like ones filled with stories about dragons. House of the Dragon is a prequel to HBO's Game of Thrones. According to the website TorrentFreak, it was the number one pirated show, followed by the series The Boys,

Shogun, and Arcane. It came as something of a surprise, the website said, that the series Lord of the Rings, The Rings of Power did not even crack the top ten most pirated list this year. Nettou Ulubi, NPR News. And I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News in Washington.