Pope urges ‘people of all nations’ to silence arms on Christmas : NPR

Pope Francis waves before delivering the Urbi et Orbi (Latin for ‘to the city and to the world’ ) Christmas’ day blessing from the main balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024. Andrew Medichini/AP hide caption toggle caption Andrew Medichini/AP VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis in his traditional Christmas message … Read more

Morning news brief

Biden commutes the sentences of 3,740 people on federal death row. NIH invests $300 million to research treatments for long COVID. Officials in Lebanon assess war’s damage to cultural heritage sites. Source link

Big dreams: He's the founder of a leading African photobook library

<img src='https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3000×1997+0+0/resize/3000×1997!/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb2%2Ffa%2F8339e4224b7abba026f8860417b9%2Fdikan-center-11.jpg' alt='Paul Ninson of Ghana embraced photography as a career — and was inspired to create a library of photobooks about Africa. Above: Ninson in the Dikan Center in the capital city of Accra, which marked its second anniversary this month. He's holding a copy of the center's oldest book, The Gold Coast Yesterday … Read more

What are biodiversity credits and how could they save Paddington Bear? : Planet Money : NPR

Ferns are growing where there used to be cattle pastures at the El Globo habitat bank and nature reserve in Antioquia, Colombia. In the background are hills that neighbors cleared for cattle pasture. Stan Alcorn/NPR hide caption toggle caption Stan Alcorn/NPR Ferns are growing where there used to be cattle pastures at the El Globo … Read more

Explosion kills the head of Russia’s nuclear defense forces in Moscow : NPR

Maj. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the chief of the Russian military’s radiation, chemical and biological protection unit, attends a briefing in Kubinka Patriot park, outside Moscow, Russia, on June 22, 2018. AP/AP hide caption toggle caption AP/AP MOSCOW — An explosive device planted near an apartment building in Moscow killed the head of Russia’s nuclear and … Read more

Will Sectarian Groups Get Along in a New Syria?

As the future of Syria begins to emerge, one minority group is particularly fearful about how they’ll be treated. The Alawites feel like they were mistreated by now-deposed dictator Bashar al-Assad, but because he was a member of that sect, they are also unfairly tied to him in the minds of other Syrians. We go … Read more