NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-30-2024 4PM EST

Episode Date: December 30, 2024

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On NPR's Book of the Day podcast, we hear from all sorts of writers making bold arguments, like the late President Jimmy Carter on Citizens United. So I think it's completely distorted the democratic purity or legitimacy of our elections in the United States. We hear about his life as a writer and from his biographer about President Carter's complex legacy. Listen to Book of the Day from NPR wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to Book of the Day from NPR wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Louise Schiavone. A state funeral is scheduled for January 9th at Washington National Cathedral for former

President Jimmy Carter, who died yesterday at the age of 100. President Biden has declared that day to be a national day of mourning. As the nation and the world recall the highs and lows of the late former president's life before, during, and after his presidency, his grandson, Jason Carter, offered this take on Jimmy Carter's legacy. I think my grandfather was really driven by his faith and his desire to do what he could to help others and particularly the most marginalized people in the world. And so for him, the Carter Center was really designed to be a place of peace and ultimately to be a place of fighting disease.

The late president will be buried in his hometown, Plains, Georgia. Ukraine's foreign minister has met with Syria's new ruler in Damascus. This as Kiev tries to build relations with a country once allied with Russia and Piyars Diyahid reports. Syria was once a close ally of Russia, so close that the former Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia as rebels overran Damascus in early December. But Syria's new leader, Ahmad al-Sharah, says he wants the country to have good relations with the West, including Ukraine. And Ukraine also wants to build ties with Syria as Russia's influence now wanes.

That point was driven home when the Ukrainian Foreign Minister said they had donated 500 tons of desperately needed flour to Syria. The Minister contrasted that with Russia, which he said had only given Syria weapons and bombs. The minister says his country is also ready to share its experience in conducting investigations to hold war criminals accountable. Diya Hadeed, NPR News, Damascus. A New York federal appeals court has upheld a $5 million verdict, finding Donald Trump liable for defaming and sexually abusing the writer, E. Jean Carroll.

Samantha Max of Member Station WNYC reports. A jury ordered Trump to pay advice columnist E. Jean Carroll after a civil trial last year. Trump argued the judge overseeing the case made errors and that he should get a new trial. He said the judge shouldn't have allowed testimony of two other women who accused him of sexual abuse. He also said the jury shouldn't have been allowed to hear a recording of him talking about grabbing women by the genitals. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled

that Trump didn't prove the judge made any errors that affected his rights. Trump's attorney called the case a hoax. For NPR News, I'm Samantha Max in New York. On Wall Street, approaching the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 418 points. The Nasdaq was down 235 points, and the S&P 500 lost 63. This is NPR News in Washington. LeBron James of the L.A. Lakers is celebrating a milestone. He turns 40 today.

He's now the first player in NBA history to play in his teens, 20s, 30s, and 40s. 2024 brought more dramatic changes in abortion rights across the United States. It's been over two years since the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion, leaving the issue up to states. NPR's Alyssa Nadwarni reports. The number of abortions in the U.S. continues to go up, despite the fact that access to it in the U.S. is really a patchwork. In the South, from Texas over to Florida up to South Carolina, there's very limited access. But then in the Northeast or on the West Coast, there's protections. This fall, 10 states put abortion rights on the ballot, and for the most part, they voted

in support of abortion rights. And yet, many states have GOP opposition in legislatures. Meanwhile, it's unclear what the incoming Trump administration will do. Trump says he doesn't support a national abortion ban and he doesn't want to limit abortion medication, but anti-abortion groups who support him are urging him to use existing laws and regulations to make abortion less accessible nationwide. Alyson Adwani, NPR News. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the world population increased by more than 71 million people in 2024 and will be 8.09 billion people on New Year's Day. The U.S. population will be 341 million people on New Year's Day.

The U.S. is expected to have one birth every nine seconds and one death every 9.4 seconds in January. I'm Louise Schiavone, NPR News, Washington.