NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-29-2024 8AM EST

Episode Date: December 29, 2024

NPR News: 12-29-2024 8AM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Jiles-Knighter 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. Giles-Knighter 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. Officials now say 179 people were killed and that emergency workers were able to pull two

survivors to safety. 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. 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. Azerbaijan's president says a passenger plane that

crashed last week had been damaged by fire from the ground in Russia. President Ilham Aliyev said today that Russia did not shoot down the plane intentionally, but he did accuse Russia of trying to hush it up. Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to Aliev yesterday, but stopped short of acknowledging responsibility. The Kremlin's air defense systems were deflecting a Ukrainian drone strike when the plane was hit over southern Russia. Desolation to deep cold nearly doubled in the U.S. from 2017 to 2022, even as annual temperatures rose.

From member station WBUR, Martha Bebinger has more on the study in the journal JAMA. 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. Liu 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 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. New Georgian President Mikhail Kavalezh-Fili has been sworn in as hundreds of people again protest in the capital. Here's the BBC's Rohan Dimitri. Georgia's pro-Western part of the society, they are saying that the elections were stolen and they have been demanding since the end of October for Georgian Dream government

to agree to hold new elections. We have seen nightly protests in the capital, Tbilisi, in other parts of the country. And the latest kind of wave of this mass protest was triggered by a statement that was made by the country's prime minister when he said that Georgia's EU integration process would be postponed for four years. This is NPR. Croatians are going to the polls to elect a new president today. Terry Schultz reports that the incumbent, who is often compared to President-elect Donald Trump for his combative style and opposition to international organizations, is leading

the race. Croatian President Zoran Milanovic faces seven opponents in his battle for re-election. Polls put him comfortably ahead, but unlikely to gain 50% of the vote, requiring a second round in January. Milanovic is often compared to Donald Trump. He calls immigration the country's biggest challenge. Despite Croatia being a member of both the European Union and NATO, Milanovic is critical of EU and NATO support for Ukraine and has blocked Croatia's participation in the EU

mission training Ukrainian soldiers. Milanovic's main rival, Dragan Primorets, labels the president as pro-Russian and says Croatia's place is in the West, not the East. While a largely ceremonial role, the Croatian president is the supreme commander of the country's military. For NPR News, I'm Terri Schulz in Brussels.

To Tennessee now, where a new law is set to go into effect in the new year to give parents more control over their kids' online activity. Brian Trochum lives in Tennessee and he supports the move. 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. I'm Trial Snyder, NPR News.