NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-29-2024 9AM 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. A plane carrying 181 people has crashed on landing at an airport in South Korea. Officials say there were only two survivors, both of them flight crew. Officials say their conditions are non-life threatening. The BBC's Jonathan Head reports on what happened.

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 crash is one of the worst aviation disasters in South Korean history. The government has

declared a week-long national mourning period. At least two people have died and six are injured after tornadoes touched down in Texas and Mississippi this weekend. And Peresava Pukac reports that tens of thousands remain without power as storm systems move east today. National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Chouinard says there were numerous reports of tornadoes Saturday as the storm system moved east from Texas to Alabama. And there's a possibility of more tornadoes today across the southeast U.S. There is an expectation that there could be some tornado threat across the Florida panhandle into Georgia, maybe even into portions of South Carolina as we go through the morning and into the afternoon hours. Shennard says along the east coast they're forecasting wet travel conditions, which could

lead to more delays than normal on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. Eva Pukac and PR News. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is undergoing prostate surgery today. He's undergoing the procedure as Israel continues to grapple with the fallout of its war in Gaza. The surgery means Netanyahu had to cancel testimony he was supposed to give this week in an ongoing corruption trial against him, impures 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, NPR News, Tel Aviv, Israel. And from Washington, you're listening to NPR News. President-elect Donald Trump has weighed into the debate over H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers. Speaking to the New York Post, he appeared to side with Elon Musk and tech industry supporters in the dispute that has divided his base. The debate blew up online, with Musk saying he will go to war on the issue.

Trump has criticized the visa program in the past, but he told the Post that he has always liked the visas and is a believer in them. England may be known as a nation of dog lovers, but according to one of the UK's oldest and best-known animal rescues, abandoned pets are hitting record levels. 2023 was a record year for pets adopted during the pandemic being given up. But as Vicki Barker reports from London, the cost of living crisis in Britain has meant 2024 is shaping up to be even worse. New arrivals at British animal shelters tend to reflect the latest influencer and celebrity trends. The French Bulldogs, beloved of Leonardo DiCaprio and Lady Gaga,

are now among the most likely to be abandoned along with Shih Tzu's and Dalmatians. And the staff at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home in London say the recent re-release of a 2009 Richard Gere film called Hachi A Dog's Tale has resulted in an influx of the featured Akita dog breed. Money isn't the only reason pets are being abandoned though and some shelters are now offering training to inexperienced owners. For NPR News, I'm Vicki Barker in London. And I'm Giles Snyder. This is NPR News from Washington.