NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-31-2024 6PM EST

Episode Date: December 31, 2024

NPR News: 12-31-2024 6PM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. New York and other cities along the East Coast are gearing up to ring in the New Year. Hundreds of thousands of people are packing Times Square to watch the crystal ball drop at midnight. Mayor Eric Adams says the city has been preparing to host one of the world's biggest New Year's Eve celebrations for weeks. The NYPD, FDNY, Emergency Management, DOT, Sanitation, and just so many other agencies are

going to be out there with the Times Square Alliance. They have been a real partner with the administration. And these major events, I don't think anyone does it better. Other countries, including Australia, New Zealand, and nations throughout Southeast Asia and the Middle East have already welcomed 2025. Many European cities are ringing in the New Year at this hour, with fireworks displays and live performances. The war in Gaza is continuing into the new year with no ceasefire agreement in sight.

NPR's Emily Fang reports that negotiations between the two sides have yielded little progress. There's still disagreement about which Palestinian prisoners and detainees Israel would release for surviving hostages in Gaza. Plus Hamas wants a permanent ceasefire. Israel wants a temporary truce first. Jamal Zahaka, a former member of Israel's parliament who worked closely with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, says he thinks the Prime Minister is no longer in a rush to secure a ceasefire. I think Netanyahu is waiting for Trump.

He says Netanyahu believes he can get more concessions after Trump becomes U.S. president again because he sees Trump as a closer political ally. Emily Fang, NPR News, Tel Aviv, Israel. Investors on Wall Street are celebrating the end of a pretty good year for the financial markets. NPR's Maria Aspin reports all the major U.S. stock indices soared in 2024. The artificial intelligence boom sent tech stocks soaring. Big tech companies are investing billions of dollars in AI

and in the hardware that will power it from chip companies like Nvidia. And 2024 was a good year for the overall economy. Inflation cooled, unemployment remained low, and the Federal Reserve cut interest rates three times this fall. Investors rejoiced, but inflation-weary consumers continued to feel the hangover of high prices.

Investors also welcomed the election of Donald Trump. But some of the president-elect's promised policies, especially tariffs and mass deportations, risk reigniting inflation. Maria Aspin, NPR News, New York. This is NPR News in Washington. The National Transportation Safety Board has sent a team of aviation experts to South Korea. The HOP investigates Sunday's plane crash that killed 179 people. In the meantime, South Korea's acting president has ordered improvements to the country's

airline operation system. The country has already started an emergency aviation safety inspection. Recent hurricanes may have spread some invasive plants and animals across Florida and Georgia. A preliminary map released by the US Geological Survey shows there are more than 200 possible non-native species that may have spread during flooding, during Hurricane Helene in September. Jessica Mazaros with member station WUSF has more. 90 of those non

native species are considered invasive like Burmese pythons and alligator weeds. Ian Fingsten is a botanist with USGS and author of the map. The hope with these maps is to provide that information to people that care about managing species that could cause impacts in their area so that they can pinpoint where to potentially look for them once they arrive and address the issue before it becomes a high-cost management problem. The researchers used existing data on known locations for non-native species, combined with recent

storm flood data. Kingston hopes to update the maps in January. For NPR News, I'm Jessica Mazaros in Tampa. At the close on Wall Street, the Dow was down 29 points. This is NPR News.