The Headlines - A Perilous Time for Europe, and a Brazen Assassination in Moscow

Episode Date: December 17, 2024

Plus, a school shooting in Wisconsin.   Tune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. On Today’s Episode:German Government Collapses at a Perilous Time for Europe, by Christopher F. Schuetze and Jim TankersleyBomb Kills General Who Led Russia’s Nuclear Defense Force, by Anton Troianovski and Constant MéheutJudge Denies Trump’s Bid to Throw Out Conviction Over Immunity Ruling, by Ben Protess and Kate ChristobekConfidence in U.S. Courts Plummets to Rate Far Below Peer Nations, by Adam LiptakWhat We Know About the Madison School Shooting, by Mitch SmithZakir Hussain, Tabla Virtuoso Who Fused Musical Traditions, Dies at 73, by Jon Pareles

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Tuesday, December 17th. Here's what we're covering. In Europe, a crisis of leadership is spreading. Yesterday, the German government collapsed after the country's chancellor, Olaf Scholz, lost a confidence vote. The country will now hold a snap election, months earlier than voting was planned.

The turmoil in Germany comes as France has also been flailing. Its prime minister resigned after a vote of no confidence in the government there just weeks ago. France is now on its fourth prime minister this year, a record level of turnover. And across Europe, growing polarization has made it exceptionally difficult to build political coalitions, and the rise of far-right parties has scrambled the balance of power. Germany and France are also facing a complex array of hot-button issues, with fierce debates over how to fix their struggling economies, immigration policy, and national defense. Germany in particular, one of the most divisive questions heading into the elections will be how much to continue supporting Ukraine, with some politicians calling for more and others warning

that aggressive support could provoke Russia, which has been ramping up its threats against Europe. Meanwhile, in Moscow early this morning, a Russian general was killed in one of the most brazen assassinations there in years. Igor Kirolov, the head of Russia's radioactive, chemical, and biological defense forces, died after a bomb planted in a scooter exploded outside of an apartment building. One of his aides was also killed. Kirolov helped develop an advanced rocket launcher that's been repeatedly used by Russia against Ukraine. The Ukrainian security official

told the Times that Ukraine was behind the killing. In response to the assassination, a leader of the Russian Security Council promised retaliation against Ukrainian military and political leaders. One of the big differences between the first term and the first term everybody was fighting me. In this term, everybody wants to be my friend. I don't know. My personality changed or something.

President-elect Donald Trump held his first press conference since the election yesterday, riffing that he seems to be getting better treatment this time around. The entire Republican Party is basically on board with his agenda. World leaders have been flying to Mar-a-Lago to meet with him, and billionaire tech executives have been writing multi-million dollar checks to support him. Trump talked for more than an hour about vaccines, the border wall, foreign policy, and even the mysterious drone sightings haunting New Jersey.

Our military knows and our president knows. And for some reason, they want to keep people in suspense. He accused the Biden administration, without evidence, of withholding information about the sightings. I can't imagine it's the enemy because it was the enemy that blasted out, even if they were late, that blasted. Trump also praised two of his most controversial picks for cabinet members, Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Secretary of Health and Human Services,

indicating he's standing by them for now, even as they face potentially difficult confirmation hearings in the Senate. Hours after the press conference, Trump was dealt a legal setback. A judge in New York rejected his attempt to clear his felony record. Trump's legal team had argued that the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity should apply in the Manhattan case, where he was convicted of covering up hush money payments. The judge disagreed, saying the acts in question were, quote, decidedly personal, not the kind of official actions that are covered by the Supreme Court ruling. Trump's likely to appeal that, potentially all the way up to the Supreme Court itself.

He still hasn't been sentenced in the case, though he cannot be sent to jail while he's president. though he cannot be sent to jail while he's president. A poll out this morning shows that Americans' confidence in the legal system has plummeted. From 2020 to 2024, confidence in the courts dropped from 59% to 35%, according to a new Gallup survey. One legal expert told the Times the drop is stunning, saying developments from the overturning of Roe v. Wade to the multiple prosecutions of Trump seem to have left people with the perception that the justice system has become impossibly politicized. Only a few other countries in the world have seen sharper drops than the U.S. in recent

years. Those include Myanmar, Syria, and Venezuela. At 1057 a.m., a second-grade student called 911 to report a shooting had occurred at school. Don't let that soak in for a minute. A second grade student called 911. In Madison, Wisconsin, police say that a student opened fire at a small Christian school yesterday, killing two people, a student and a teacher, and injuring at least six more. The shooter has now been identified as 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, who went by the name Samantha. She was a student at the school, and evidence suggests she died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A female suspect in a school shooting is exceedingly rare. Madison Police Chief Sean Barnes said investigators have searched her home and are still looking into how she got the weapon and what may have been behind the attack.

He said her parents were cooperating with police. My colleague Julie Bosman got to the scene yesterday as rattled parents were reuniting with their children. I spoke with one man who told me that he was at work nearby when he heard of what had happened. And he, of course, immediately started sprinting out to his car, got in his car, drove as close to the school as he could. And when he realized that he couldn't get close enough to the school, parked his car and then just started racing through people's backyards to try to get to the school because he just needed to get to his children. This year more than 260 people have been injured or killed in school shootings across the country. And finally, And finally, the legendary percussionist, Zakir Hussein died this week at 74.

He was a virtuosa at the tabla, tuned drums from classical Indian music. But he played a lot of other instruments as well. Over his career, he fused musical styles with a lot of different collaborators, playing with Ravi Shankar, sitting in on Grateful Dead jam sessions, collaborating with Yo-Yo Ma. Growing up in Mumbai, he heard a little bit of everything,

studying Indian classical music for three hours every morning, reciting the Koran at a madrasa, singing hymns at a Catholic church. He played his first paid concert at 12, and went on to appear on hundreds of albums and win multiple Grammy Awards. When I was a young man, I wanted to wear blingy outfits at 12 and went on to appear on hundreds of albums and win multiple Grammy Awards. When I was a young man, I wanted to wear blingy outfits and have people screaming and shouting at every move I make. When accepting a lifetime achievement award a few years ago, he talked about how he once

told George Harrison from The Beatles that he wanted to be a rock and roll drummer like him. But Harrison told him there were a million of those. Playing the tabla for the world was what could make him stand out. He said, you are here with me because you have this unique ability to be able to take your instrument, the tabla, and make it talk the language of the present. Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, tens of thousands of Syrians disappeared under the rule of Bashar al-Assad.

Times reporter Christina Goldbaum goes inside one of the prisons where people were searching for their friends and family. That's next in the New York Times audio app, where you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. The headlines will be back tomorrow.