NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-30-2024 1AM EST

Episode Date: December 30, 2024

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Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. Jimmy Carter, the 39th President of the U.S. and the winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, has died. His family says he died peacefully at home surrounded by his family. He was 100 years old. Carter faced a number of challenges during his presidency, from an oil crisis to high inflation. But NPR's Marlaiasson says Carter is being remembered for much more. Historians of Jimmy Carter say he was ahead of his time. He put a solar panel on the White House roof. Of course, it was a symbolic solar panel.

But he also, he was focused on reducing fossil fuel use way ahead of his time. He expanded the number of people of color who had federal judgeships. But the other thing that was interesting is when Jimmy Carter ran for the presidency, his motto or his tagline was, I'll never lie to you. And that was very significant because the country had just gone through the experience of Richard Nixon, who lied to the country. That's in Piers Maher-Liason reporting. Tributes to former President Carter are being heard from across the country and around the world. In Georgia, many people are remembering Carter not only as the 39th president, but also as

a native son. Sam Greenglass from Member Station WABE has more. Before the White House and a prolific post-presidency, Carter cut his teeth in Georgia politics, on his local school board, in the state legislature, and as governor. After running for that office as a conservative Democrat, he surprised his supporters when he declared that the time for racial discrimination is over. Democratic U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock is remembering Carter as a moral powerhouse who moved us closer toward our highest ideals.

Republican Governor Brian Kemp said the former president showed the world the impact our state and its people have on the country. Carter will be laid to rest in his Southwest Georgia hometown of Plains, near the home he shared with former First Lady Rosalynn Carter for more than six decades. For NPR News, I'm Sam Greenglass.

Syria's new leader says that holding new elections in that country could take as long as four years. NPR's Diye Hadid reports from Damascus. Ahmad al-Sharah spoke to Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya to lay out his vision for the country barely three weeks after his rebels overran Damascus earlier this month, forcing the former leader Bashar al-Assad to flee. Shara said elections would take time because the country had not had a proper census in years and because Syria needs a new constitution.

Sharaa says he hopes to hold a national conference with Syrian representatives who can set the agenda. He says at the conference he'll dismantle the group he leads, HTS or Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Shara also told Arabia that the time of the Syrian revolution was over and the time of nation building had begun. Health officials in Gaza say a fourth infant has died of hypothermia there. The 20-day old child was found dead Sunday morning by his father. His twin brother is now in intensive care at a Gaza hospital. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who've been displaced by the war between Hamas and Israel are living in tents along the rainy coast as winter moves in. A former professional soccer player has been sworn in as the new president in Georgia,

but the outgoing president insists she's still the country's legitimate leader. As Terry Schultz reports, European Union leaders are calling on Georgian authorities to consider holding new elections because of claims of improprieties. Salome Zurabishvili left the presidential palace Sunday, but she refuses to concede to Mikhail Kavila-Shvili, insisting the October parliamentary elections and his election as president this month were invalidated by fraud perpetrated by the ruling Georgian Dream Party. The party has taken Georgia off its path to membership in the European Union, sparking anger from pro-EU citizens who've staged demonstrations in the streets for months.

Nine EU governments, the Nordic and Baltic countries plus Poland, issued a joint statement Sunday, calling for a full investigation into election irregularities and suggesting new elections. Thousands of people joined hands across Georgia as well as in other countries Saturday to protest both the parliamentary and presidential elections, but George and Dream shows no sign of backing down. For NPR News, I'm Terry Schultz in Brussels. Peru's Navy has rescued about 30 fishermen who had been stranded for the past two days at sea. Giant waves hitting the country's northern coast prevented the fishermen from bringing their boats back to shore.

Many boats capsized because of those waves and several ports in the country were forced to close. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.