--:-- Asma Khaled: Good morning and happy holidays. Thanks for starting your day with us. I'm Asma Khaled. Whether you're squeezing in a quiet moment before the kids wake up or whether today's workday for you, like it is for me, Up First is here for you, no matter what your day has in store.
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--:-- Asma Khaled: Alrighty, now on to the news. It's a subdued Christmas in Bethlehem with the war in neighboring Gaza. We need to live in peace and dignity in our land. What it's like for local Palestinians in the city Christians celebrate as the birthplace of Jesus. I'm Asma Khaled and this is Up First from NPR News.
--:-- Asma Khaled: Famine has spread in Sudan where people are experiencing one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters. People are eating peanut shells, animal fodder, grasses. Nearly two years into a civil war, the hunger crisis is getting worse. And with so much going on down here on Earth, it's always good to remember to look up at the stars. We look up at the year in space. Stay with us. We'll give you all the news you need to start your day.
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--:-- Asma Khaled: It's Christmas in Bethlehem, where Christian tradition says Jesus was born. For the second year in a row, official celebrations have been canceled. Palestinian leaders say they cannot rejoice as the war wages on in neighboring Gaza. In Bethlehem, which is located in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, people are also hurting, and tourism has plummeted since the war began. We go now to NPR international correspondent Carrie Kahn, who is in Bethlehem.
--:-- Carrie Kahn: Well, it's difficult to cancel Christmas, but the mood is very somber. Official ceremonies have been very muted here. Usually, Bethlehem is full of lights, these amazing decorations. Zasma, a huge tree in the center of Manger Square, and there are crowds, crowds and tourists and pilgrims. This year it is empty barren. You know, I was here last year, and if it's possible, it feels even more empty and more somber. I heard from so many people; they all say the same thing: We just never thought the situation, the war, would last till another Christmas.
--:-- Asma Khaled: So how are people celebrating this year? On Christmas Eve, there was the traditional parade of the Latin patriarch entering Bethlehem. It was quiet, though. There's usually these very cute scout troops that lead the procession in, and they were playing drums, no drums this year, no bagpipes. Some held signs reading, we want peace. Others held pictures of the destruction in Gaza. The latest figures from the Ministry of Health in Gaza puts the known death toll there now at more than 45,000 people.
--:-- Asma Khaled: Last night, of course, there was midnight mass in the Church of the Nativity, and I want to play you some of the Catholic service for you. And I also went to the grotto, the cave-like structure inside the church where Christians say Jesus was actually born, and the faithful were singing there. It was beautiful. It was so moving. Let's hear a little bit of that. Gloria...
--:-- Carrie Kahn: And I think the most amazing thing I just want to tell you is that I was able to go to both of those services so easily. Usually, the crowds are so huge and nearly impossible to experience Christmas in Bethlehem that close. That singing is really beautiful to listen to. Thanks for sharing, Carrie.
--:-- Asma Khaled: Without the crowds and tourists, what are residents, what are officials telling you in Bethlehem? How are they doing? The economy here is devastated. Bethlehem is dependent on tourism. Hotel occupancy is in the single digits. Stores have closed. Unemployment throughout the West Bank is nearly at 50 percent. The deputy mayor I spoke with, Hannah Haniyeh, told us Palestinians feel like the world has turned their backs on them and they're suffering. And always we are asking the international community to bring back this message to Bethlehem and to the Holy Land because we need to live in peace and dignity in our land.
--:-- Asma Khaled: Since the war began after Hamas attacked Israel, killing around 1,200 people on October 7th in 2023, Israel has imposed tough restrictions in the West Bank with new checkpoints and barring Palestinians from working in Israel. And we're seeing Palestinian groups fighting each other here, too. The Palestinian Authority has launched a rare crackdown on militants in the West Bank and is making for a tense and complicated situation here. Thanks so much for your reporting, Carrie.
--:-- Carrie Kahn: You're welcome.
--:-- Asma Khaled: That's NPR's Carrie Kahn in Bethlehem. In Sudan, the severity of the famine has worsened. Hunger experts say the country is experiencing one of the worst starvation crises in modern times. Since April of last year, a brutal civil war between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary group has fueled a near-unprecedented humanitarian crisis. NPR's West Africa correspondent, Emmanuel Akanwotu, has been covering this and joins us now.
--:-- Emmanuel Akanwotu: Good morning, Asma. Good morning, Asma. And a Merry Christmas to you. Merry Christmas to you. So earlier this year, famine was declared in one part of Sudan, but it's now spread to five areas. What do we know so far?
--:-- Asma Khaled: Yes, in August, famine was declared in what's the largest refugee camp in Sudan, in the western region of Darfur. But now it's been confirmed in three other refugee camps in the same proximity. And overall, it's now five areas in Sudan, affecting about half a million people and counting. And over the last week, I've spoken to experts about just what this famine looks like on the ground, just to make sense of it. And one of them is Nathaniel Raymond. He's the executive director at Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab. And he talked about Zamzam Camp the first region where famine was declared Zamzam is in a condition called IPC5 or Integrated Phase Classification 5 which is the highest level of food insecurity. And children in particular have been dying from a lack of food. People are eating peanut shells, animal fodder, grasses. The level of desperation is unprecedented in Sudan, and the number of areas suffering famine is likely to actually double over the next six months.
--:-- Asma Khaled: We were mentioning this ongoing civil war. How has the war made the humanitarian crisis more severe?
--:-- Emmanuel Akanwotu: Well, both sides of the war have been accused of blocking aid in the areas that they each control, and that's the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces or RSF. For example, the RSF control most of Darfur and that's the region where there was a genocide 20 years ago and there's been an outbreak of similar ethnic violence against African ethnic groups since the war started. There are millions of displaced people in this region, but they're almost completely isolated. I spoke to Azadeh Hassani, she's a director at Relief International and they're one of the few aid groups still operating in Darfur, particularly in North Darfur, which is currently under a siege by the RSF. To get supplies to North Darfur has been a huge challenge. Since the conflict started, North Darfur has been completely cut off and we lost all our access from inside Sudan. So there are no official humanitarian corridors that the RSF and the Sudanese army have agreed on. And there's been really small amounts of aid coming in from the border with Chad, but the conflict makes getting that aid in so precarious.
--:-- Asma Khaled: How have the Sudanese authorities responded?
--:-- Emmanuel Akanwotu: Well, essentially with denials. The Sudanese army is seen by most people as the de facto government in Sudan, although they've lost control of large parts of the country. But the existence of famine is really a direct challenge to its legitimacy because people will hold them accountable for why this has been allowed to happen. Famine is declared by this independent body called the Integrated Food Security Phase, or IPC, and they rely on countries to support their networks. And Sudan has now pulled out of that system.
--:-- Asma Khaled: That's NPR's West Africa correspondent Emmanuel Akanwotu. Thanks so much.
--:-- Emmanuel Akanwotu: Thank you.
--:-- Asma Khaled: Here on Earth, a lot of things happened in 2024. But for a couple of minutes, let's leave our planet and consider what happened this year in space. NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfield-Boyce is here to remind us of the highlights and the lowlights.
--:-- Nell Greenfield-Boyce: Good morning, Asma. Hey there. So I've got to imagine that a big highlight must have been that solar eclipse back in the spring. That's right. Millions of people saw the total solar eclipse, or maybe they saw this big solar storm that caused widespread auroras in the night sky. But, you know, there were also lowlights. So I guess if you wanted to talk about that, the main one would have to be those astronauts. You know, those astronauts that NASA says are definitely not stranded. OK, so they are still in orbit, though, right? They are. They are. So if you recall, they went up there in June on what was supposed to be this short test flight of a spacecraft made by Boeing called Starliner. And then NASA decided it was too risky for them to come home in it. So they had to just chill on the International Space Station waiting for a return ride. And so, you know, they're there. And NASA said initially they'd be able to return to Earth in February, but they just said it's going to be longer than that, probably like March. That's a bummer for them. It is.
--:-- Asma Khaled: So how are they eventually going to get home?
--:-- Nell Greenfield-Boyce: So SpaceX. So SpaceX has this capsule that regularly takes astronauts to and from the space station. And this was a big year for SpaceX. Not only did it sort of like take over Boeing's return flight, but it finally got its mega rocket into space. This is SpaceX's starship. It's the biggest rocket ever built. So that was a big deal. SpaceX also did the first ever private spacewalk. So basically there was this orbiting capsule and two crew members opened the hatch and kind of stuck their heads outside. I mean, until then, like only national space programs had ever tried these so extravehicular activities. So that was a really big deal. And I understand that one of those spacewalkers might become the new head of NASA. What can you tell us about that?
--:-- Asma Khaled: So that's Jared Isaacman. He's this wealthy entrepreneur. He's a private astronaut. And he's Donald Trump's pick to lead the space agency. And, you know, Donald Trump has this alliance with Elon Musk of SpaceX, who supported his campaign. And Musk and Isaacman have this financial connection through SpaceX. And so it'll probably be an interesting confirmation process in the Senate. No one knows what all of this might mean for NASA and this expensive rocket that NASA has got to try to get people back to the moon.
--:-- Asma Khaled: So speaking of NASA, where do things stand with its efforts to return to the moon? So NASA had been planning to send astronauts to orbit the moon next year. But a couple of weeks ago, officials announced that that trip has been pushed off to 2026 at the earliest. And so that means actually landing on the moon wouldn't happen until like 2027. At the earliest. Right. Okay. So we have been talking about people in space. What about robotic missions? So this year we got the first rock samples returned from the far side of the moon. I mean, that was a robotic mission from China. And then NASA also now has this probe that's going to Europa. That's this moon of Jupiter. It launched in October. And, you know, Europa seems to have this liquid water ocean underneath a layer of ice. And so that place could have ingredients for life. So it's a cool mission. But Jupiter is so far away, spacecraft won't get there till 2030. What about 2025? What will we get to see in the new year in space? So we can look forward to SPHEREX. So that's a NASA telescope. It's going to create like a 3D map of the entire sky, mapping hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies. And The information it will gather will tell us more about this really brief but powerful moment just after the Big Bang. That's when the newborn universe just like suddenly and dramatically expanded. That sounds really interesting. So you're going to have to come back on the show when that happens and tell us all about it.
--:-- Asma Khaled: Definitely will. All right. That's NPR's Nell Greenfield-Boyce. And that's Up First for Wednesday, December 25th. I'm Asma Khaled. For your next listen, consider, consider this from NPR. Whether you play it on loop or whether it drives you crazy, there is no question some songs are permanent fixtures in the Christmas canon. What makes a song a holiday hit? Listen to Consider This from NPR.
--:-- Asma Khaled: Today's episode of Up First was edited by Andrew Sussman, Miguel Macias, Giselle Grayson, Lisa Thompson, and Ali Schweitzer. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Yadjou Mas, Claire Murashima, and Anna Perez. We get engineering support from Nisha Hines, and our technical director is Andy Huther. Join us again tomorrow. Support for this podcast and the following message come from MidiHealth. Women's midlife health issues have often been trivialized and ignored. It's time for a change. It's time for Midi. Midi is covered by major insurance companies, making expert care accessible and affordable. Clinicians provide one-on-one consultations where they listen to your unique needs and offer data-driven solutions tailored for you. MIDI works to make you feel seen, heard, and prioritized. Visit JoinMIDI.com to book your virtual visit. MIDI. The care women deserve. This message comes from Lisa. Lisa mattresses are meticulously designed and assembled in the USA for exceptional quality. And each mattress is designed with specific sleep positions and feel preferences in mind. Plus, they back it all up with free shipping, easy returns, and a 100-night sleep trial. Visit Lisa.com for 25% off mattresses, plus get an extra $50 off with promo code NPR. That's L-E-E-S-A dot com, promo code NPR. This message comes from Grainger. For the ones who get it done, Grainger offers access to over a million products and the scale to deliver when and where you need them. The right tools and supplies are never far away. Call, click grainger.com, or just stop by.
