NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-29-2024 3AM EST

Episode Date: December 29, 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. A plane carrying 175 people and six crew members has veered off the runway, crashed and caught fire in South Korea, killing at least 127 people. NPR's Anthony Kuhn has this update 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, Choe Sang-mok, ordered rescuers to do their utmost to rescue

the passengers. Anthony Kuhn in PR News, Seoul. Finland is continuing its investigation into damage to undersea cables allegedly caused by an oil tanker with links to Russia. As Terry Schultz reports, the ship, which Finnish authorities seized on Thursday, has now been taken closer to shore. Finnish police say the Eagle S oil tanker was escorted to a new location which would provide better conditions for the ongoing investigation into suspected sabotage. A one-nautical-mile exclusion zone and no-fly zone are being enforced around the ship, which is believed to have

cut a major electricity cable running between Finland and Estonia, possibly with an anchor which authorities say was missing when it was detained. Four other cables, which transmit telecommunications data, have also been damaged, with disruptions beginning around the same time as the electricity outage on Christmas Day. At the request of the Finnish and Estonian governments, NATO has stepped up its surveillance in the Baltic Sea. For NPR News, I'm Terri Schulz in Brussels. A fire truck drove around a train crossing barriers on Saturday morning and was hit by

a high-speed train. The accident happened in Delray Beach, Florida. Three firefighters and 12 passengers were injured and the fire engine was cut in half. During the busy holiday shopping season, people spent 3.8% more in stores and online compared to last year. That's according to early results from MasterCard, which tracks payment transactions, and Piazalina Seljuk reports. Holiday spending is roughly in line with what economists had expected, and it's largely surpassing inflation, meaning people are actually buying more

things this year, not just paying higher prices for the same amount of stuff. This is particularly true about restaurant meals. MasterCard's data shows spending at restaurants growing more than 6% this year compared to last year. Shoppers did pay particular attention to deals and discounts. Surveys suggest this was one of the reasons the holiday shopping season was quite busy, because people were hoping and waiting to snag things on sale. In fact, MasterCard says people waited a lot, with the last five days before Christmas accounting

for 10% of all holiday season spending. Alina Seluk, NPR News. And you're listening to NPR News. Norovirus infections are growing across the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there were 91 outbreaks of the stomach virus during the week of December 5th. That's 26 more than during the same period over the past few years. Symptoms of the virus include diarrhea and sudden vomiting.

Nonprofits that help undocumented communities have shifted to disaster aid after three major hurricanes hit the southeast this year. That's because many undocumented people do not qualify for federal disaster aid. MPR's Nate Perez has more on that story. Only US citizens, a person born in the US 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 Badez, NPR News. For the second day in a row, fog Saturday caused problems for holiday travelers in the

UK. Officials at Gatwick Airport outside London say at least 40 flights faced delays Saturday morning while in Heathrow passengers were told to check their airlines in case of delays. Flights across the region were delayed by as much as three hours on Friday night because of fog. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.