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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst. The Secretary of State says negotiations for a ceasefire and a hostage deal in Gaza are intense. Antony Blinken made his comments in Jordan at the end of a Middle East trip that focused mostly on the situation in Syria. NPR's Michelle Kellerman has more.
Blinken huddled with Arab leaders in Jordan to agree on some basic principles for a new Syrian government after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Our message to the Syrian people is this. We want them to succeed, and we're prepared to help them do so.
Speaking about the war in Gaza, Blinken says U.S. officials are trying to get a ceasefire and hostage deal over the finish line.
This is the moment to finally conclude that agreement.
He says Israel has achieved its core military objectives, degrading Hamas so that it can't repeat the kind of attack it led on Israel on October 7th of last year. Hamas still holds 100 hostages, seven of whom are Americans. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, Tel Aviv.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi underwent successful hip surgery in Germany after falling during a congressional delegation trip. And here's Claudia Grisales reports she was part of a group commemorating a World War II site.
Former Speaker Pelosi was part of a congressional visit to Luxembourg to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. At the time, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul was leading the bipartisan delegation of more than a dozen members ahead of the anniversary on December 16th.
During an official engagement on Friday, Pelosi fell and was admitted to a nearby hospital for evaluation. She was transferred about two hours away to the medical center at Landstuhl Army Base, to undergo hip replacement surgery Saturday morning. A Pelosi spokesman said she was well on the mend, and she thanked the U.S. military staff for their care. Claudia Rizales, NPR News.
ABC News and anchor George Stephanopoulos settled a defamation lawsuit with Donald Trump for $15 million that will be paid to Trump's future presidential foundation and museum, plus $1 million to his lawyer, along with an apology. Trump sued, claiming Stephanopoulos and the network defamed him when the anchor said a jury found Trump civilly liable for raping E. Jean Carroll.
The writer, whose case is against Trump, led to him being found liable for sexual assault and defamation, but neither verdict involved a finding of rape. As defined under New York law, Trump is appealing both Carroll verdicts.
Trump is also filling out his incoming administration with new picks, including Truth Social CEO, former Congressman Devin Nunes, as chair of the president's intelligence advisory board. You're listening to NPR News from Washington.
Storms in the Midwest have covered Iowa and eastern Nebraska in ice, leading to treacherous driving conditions and prompting temporary closures of Interstate 80 after several vehicles slid off the road, this from a wide swath of freezing rain. The National Weather Service has issued ice storm warnings and winter weather advisories for parts of Iowa. A wintry mix is expected in the upper Midwest.
Meanwhile, downtown San Francisco got its first tornado warning today as a strong storm system passed through a week after a tsunami warning after an earthquake off the coast triggered widespread panic. Some damage was reported today, including downed trees and power outages. The popularity of obesity drugs is on the rise.
A new report from ZocDoc, the online platform for booking appointments, shows patients are asking their doctors about them more and more. NPR's Sydney Lubkin has more.
ZocDoc, an online scheduling platform, says a lot more patients are booking consultation appointments with their doctors to ask about semaglutide. That's the active ingredient in blockbuster obesity drug Wagovi and type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic. ZocDoc says there were 53% more of these appointments in 2024 than in 2023. The company's data showed some insights.
For instance, ZocDoc says the day Oprah did a special about Ozempic, it saw a bump in appointments. More weight loss consultations were also virtual compared with most other ZocDoc appointments, which are in person. The report has its limitations, however. ZocDoc doesn't show whether patients were able to get and fill their prescriptions for these drugs. Sydney Lepkin, NPR News.
And I'm Janine Herbst, NPR News in Washington.
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