NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-29-2024 5AM 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 in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. The crash of a passenger plane carrying 181 people is being called one of South Korea's worst aviation disasters. The plane skidded off the runway, slammed into a concrete wall and burst into flames. Officials now say at least 176 people were killed.

NPR's Anthony Kuhn is in 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. President Biden says Russian leader Vladimir Putin is apparently taking responsibility for last week's

deadly crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane in Kazakhstan. The Kremlin says Putin apologized to Azerbaijan's president without acknowledging fault. Israel has detained the director and almost 240 people who were at the last functioning hospital in North Gaza. The Israeli military shut down the hospital despite insistence by medical staff that some patients could die if moved. MPR assembly Fang reports. Kamal Adwan hospital had been the target of deadly Israeli strikes and shelling at or near the hospital for nearly three months. And on Friday, Israel's military closed it down.

Two hundred and forty people out of the approximately three hundred and fifty doctors, patients, and their families at the hospital were taken in for questioning because they were suspected of terrorism. That is an accusation the hospital's director vehemently denied. That director, Hussam Abu Safiyah, had been one of only a handful of doctors left at Kamal Adwan Hospital after a previous Israeli raid in October led to dozens of medical staff being arrested. This week, five of his staff were killed in an Israeli strike. Emily Fang and Pira News, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Pete Slauson Texas now where Attorney General Ken Paxton has blocked the Biden administration from disposing of border wall materials before President-elect Trump takes office. Texas Public Radio's Jerry Clayton has more. John Deere A federal judge on Friday granted Paxton's request to halt the Biden administration from disposing of any more of the raw material for 30 days. Despite Paxton's claim that Biden is trying to thwart Trump's immigration agenda, the sale of the material was approved by Congress in 2023. U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the states of Texas and California received around 60 percent of the material through a donation process, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Paxton told Fox News recently that Texas purchased an additional $12 million dollars

of the unused material this past summer, enough to build about four miles of border wall. I'm Jerry Clayton in San Antonio. This is NPR. In Tennessee, a new law is set to go into effect in the new year to give parents more control over their kids online activities. Brian Trojum lives in Tennessee and supports the move saying it should serve as a reminder that parents have a responsibility to keep tabs on their kids safety online. With the social pressures, peer pressure and with all the discussions today around mental health that's definitely a big issue. A lot of peer pressure comes from social media, so that's one of the things that we want to make sure that we are very aware of.

The law is called the Protecting Children from Social Media Act. It will require social media platforms to obtain parental permission or verify age before allowing users under 18 to create accounts. Archaeologists have unearthed a well-preserved sixth century sword from an Anglo-Saxon cemetery near Canterbury in south-east England. An NPR's Chloe Veltman reports that experts have also found other historically significant objects at the site. The weapon has an intricately decorated silver and gilt hilt.

Its blade is embossed with runic script. Parts of the sword's scabbard, which is made of leather and wood, is lined with beaver fur. Historian Irina Menea spoke about the find this week on her YouTube channel about Viking and Nordic history. Truly an elite object shaping the identity and prestige of the person bearing it. Other treasures discovered nearby include a golden pendant inscribed with a serpent or dragon. Archaeologists have excavated 12 early medieval graves in the area so far and believe many more exist. The BBC plans to feature the sword in an upcoming episode of the series Digging for Britain in January.

Chloe Valtman, NPR News. And this is NPR News.