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In the present day’s high tales
Iran’s capital has been in dismay after the sudden collapse of the Syrian regime. Iran, a longtime enemy of Israel and the U.S., relied on Syria as one in every of its greatest allies in a bid for energy throughout the Center East. Iran propped up Syria’s now-ousted ruler, Bashar al-Assad. Syria supplied a connection to Iran’s proxies in close by Lebanon.
Syrian residents in Turkey wave Syrian opposition flags as they have fun the President Bashar al-Assad’s rule in Syria after insurgent fighters took management of Damascus in a single day, on the Fatih Mosque, in Istanbul, on December 8, 2024.
Yasin Akgul/Getty Photographs/AFP
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Yasin Akgul/Getty Photographs/AFP
- 🎧 Syria allowed Iran to arrange a vital land bridge to Lebanon to funnel weapons to Hezbollah for a few years, NPR’s Jackie Northam tells Up First. With the antigovernment rebels in charge of Syria, the strategic route is probably off-limits to Iran, impacting its long-term objectives within the area. Iran had two primary agendas: to destroy Israel as a Jewish state and to counter any affect the U.S. has within the Center East. Iran’s regime may additionally be anxious a few menace of upheaval from its inhabitants as they see what is going on in Syria, Northam says.
A number of U.S. faculties are advising worldwide college students planning to depart the nation for the vacation break to return earlier than Inauguration Day to keep away from points on the border. Universities, together with USC, the College of Pennsylvania and Cornell, have contacted college students as they put together for President-elect Donald Trump’s second time period.
- 🎧 Kirk Carapezza from NPR community station GBH says he believes this choice is being made as college directors and worldwide college students revisit Trump’s observe document. Throughout his first time period, new international scholar enrollment dropped by 12%. Trump carried out a journey ban concentrating on majority-Muslim international locations and briefly prohibited worldwide college students from remaining within the U.S. in the event that they took solely on-line lessons through the pandemic. Trump is now promising stricter policies, however there aren’t any concrete proposals. Carapezza says that behind closed doorways, directors and college students are anxious.
For weeks, New Jersey residents have reported seeing dozens of drones flying within the night time skies. Officers have few concrete explanations about the place the drones are coming from, who’s flying them and why. The White Home says there’s no evidence that the drones pose a security threat or have any international ties, which has left many residents and officers with extra questions.
- 🎧 The FBI and different federal companies say there may be an energetic investigation into the matter, Giulia Heyward of NPR community station WNYC says. The federal authorities is sending specialised radar know-how to native police departments within the state to assist decide what is going on. Native New Jersey lawmakers have expressed concern over how safe people really are, a distinction to federal and state officers who’ve stated residents ought to stay calm and the drones pose no threats. The drones are beginning to pop up in different states, together with Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland and Connecticut.
Deep dive
Scientists have recognized two varieties of mind cells within the stomach that seem to regulate totally different features of digestion.
inkoly/Getty Photographs/iStockphoto
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inkoly/Getty Photographs/iStockphoto
Scientists have recognized two varieties of neurons within the stomach that seem to regulate components of digestion. The discovering, reported within the journal Nature, helps clarify how clusters of neurons within the physique play a key position within the gut-brain connection. Similar to within the mind, it adds evidence that neurons in the body can take on specialized functions.
- 🧠 Though the analysis concerned mice, Yuki Oka, one of many research’s authors, says human digestive tracts are related and possibly comprise an identical system.
- 🧠 The research centered on the sympathetic nervous system, a subset of the peripheral nervous system that turns into extra energetic when the mind detects hazard. Consequently, your adrenaline goes up, and glucose ranges within the blood rise.
- 🧠 The analysis helps scientific views that specialised neurons within the physique play an necessary position within the gut-brain connection, which impacts all the pieces from starvation to temper.
- 🧠 Specialised neurons supply potential targets to deal with hypertension, despair, irritable bowel syndrome and extra.
Weekend picks
Try what NPR is watching, studying and listening to this weekend:
🍿 Motion pictures: The horror-comedy Get Away follows the Smith household, who embark on a vacation to a fictional Swedish Island the place nobody appears completely happy to see them. Oh, and by the top there is a form of slash-fest.
📺 TV: Jamie Foxx not solely brings laughter in his new Netflix particular What Had Happened Was, he explains the “medical emergency” that landed him within the hospital final yr.
📚 Books: NPR’s annual year-end ebook information, Books We Love, had an urge for food for excellent meals. Here are 11 cookbooks with an array of recipes.
🎵 Music: Uncover 10 of the best classical albums of 2024 and an honorable point out — all of which NPR Music’s Tom Huizenga says introduced him pleasure, introspection and hope.
❓ Quiz: The final quiz of the yr is all about testing your data of how a lot you bear in mind from 2024. Apparently I bear in mind much more than I believed. Do you suppose you will get a passing rating like me? Test your luck.
3 issues to know earlier than you go
India’s grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju reacts after successful towards China’s chess grandmaster Ding Liren in recreation 14 of the 2024 FIDE World Championship in Singapore on Thursday.
Simon Lim/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
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Simon Lim/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
- Gukesh Dommaraju has change into the brand new world chess champion. The 18-year-old chess prodigy from India is now the youngest world champion of all time.
- An American man who recognized himself as Pete Travis Timmerman was discovered wandering the Syrian capital of Damascus yesterday. He was last seen in Budapest, Hungary, in June.
- Stanley is recalling about 2.6 million of its journey mugs as a result of a difficulty with the lids. The corporate is offering free replacement lids.
This article was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.
