Donald Trump; George Stephanopoulos; Israel-Hamas: NPR

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Today’s top stories

There is renewed hope for a ceasefire agreement with Israel and Hamas, which have been at war for 14 months. Senior Biden administration officials were in the region pushing for negotiations. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is back from his latest trip to the Middle East and says this is the moment to end the conflict.

Children stare at the destruction after an Israeli attack in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Thursday.

Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images

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Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images

• 🎧 There is optimism about a possible agreement as Hamas has been degraded to the point where it cannot carry out another attack like the one on October 7thtells NPR’s Michele Kelemen First up. Hamas is now more flexible. A source told NPR that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to focus more on Iran and is therefore more interested in a deal in Gaza. It would be a long-term ceasefire agreement: up to two months. Hamas would release some hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons. This deal would be just a start, says Kelemen.

ABC News has agreed to pay $15 million for President-elect Donald Trump’s future presidential library to resolve a lawsuit over comments made by anchor George Stephanopoulos during an interview with Rep. Nancy Mace This week. The television station also released a statement of regret. Trump sued for defamation after Stephanopoulos said Trump had been “convicted of rape,” misrepresenting the verdicts in two lawsuits filed against him by E. Jean Carroll.

• 🎧 Trump was blamed for the sexual assault on Carrollclarifies NPR’s David Folkenflik. After speaking with six First Amendment media lawyers, Folkenflik said they agreed with his gut feeling that Stephanopoulos had made a mistake. The lawyers said they expected the network and Stephanopoulos to clarify the distinction in a timely manner. They also said that this should have been a fairly easy lawsuit in court since Stephanopoulos’ testimony was close to what the judge said, but the TV station is happy to have this lawsuit behind it. The agreement comes at a time when the new government has expressed a strong intention to use government power against the press.

Trump has signaled he will try to roll back the consumer tax credit for electric vehicles, which his new government has described as wasteful spending. Drivers can currently receive a tax credit worth up to $7,500 for purchasing or leasing an electric vehicle. This year alone, buyers claimed more than $2 billion in electric vehicle credits. Some buyers are considering whether they should act quickly. NPR’s Camila Domonoske talks to experts to find out what buyers need to know about the uncertain future of the electric vehicle tax credit.

Behind the story

Sarah Abdel Hamid al-Aami is searching for her four brothers, who were kidnapped by government troops on their way to work years ago on what she says were false charges of terrorism.

Clare Harbage/NPR

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Clare Harbage/NPR

This essay was written by Morning Edition senior editor and reporter Arezou Rezvani. Rezvani and a team of
Morning Edition is on the ground in Syria reporting on the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

For decades, Syrians have lived in a state of constant fear and paranoia. For 54 years, under the rule of dictator Bashar al-Assad and his father before him, there was zero tolerance for criticism of the government. Those who spoke out often disappeared into Syria’s notorious prison system, known for soul-destroying torture and murder. The repression took an even worse turn in 2011 after the Assad regime crushed pro-democracy protests and suppressed any association with emerging opposition groups. During the 13-year civil war that followed, friends, neighbors and colleagues avoided political discussions. Even in the privacy of their own homes, Syrians remained taciturn. Parents withheld their true feelings from their own children for fear that they would say something at school, where they were closely monitored by teachers and staff who reported on families if they noticed signs of disloyalty at home. In Syria it was commonly said: “The walls have ears.”

With Bashar al-Assad now gone, Syrians are slowly starting to come out and share their secrets. Are long-time friends They revealed details about their lives that they had long kept secretsuch as their incarcerations, the rebel-controlled cities their families originally come from, their religions, political leanings, dreams, aspirations, unfiltered thoughts and ideas. After so many decades of oppression, many Syrians say that this newfound freedom of speech is not a given, that it is almost as if they had to be deprogrammed.

Beneath the thrill of the moment lurks a lot of fear. There are still many questions about the rebel groups that toppled Assad. Will they accept criticism? Will they hold free and fair elections? Are all religious and minority groups protected? Have they really abandoned all ties to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State? Syrians celebrate the end of Assad’s rule, But they hold their breath for what is to come.

Life advice

A father teaches his child to swim in a pond in Sylhet, Bangladesh. Drowning is one of the leading causes of death among children worldwide, according to the World Health Organization’s first report on drowning as a public health problem.

Md Rafayat Haque Khan/Eyepix Group/Future Publishing via Getty Images

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Md Rafayat Haque Khan/Eyepix Group/Future Publishing via Getty Images

More than 300,000 people die from drowning every year. A new report from the World Health Organization concludes that almost all cases are preventable. For its first-ever report on drowning prevention, the WHO collected data from 139 countries. Children are the group at highest risk. Almost a quarter of all drowning deaths occur in children under 4 years of age. The threat is increasing as climate change leads to more frequent and severe flooding. Caroline Lukaszyk, technical officer for injury prevention at WHO, shares some insights with NPR.

• 🌊 Much of the drowning burden lies in Southeast Asia and Africa. There are bodies of water throughout communities that people need for drinking, cooking, washing and bathing. However, they pose a danger to unsupervised young people.
• 🌊 It is good to have life jackets on board boats. Work is underway to use local materials such as empty two-liter plastic bottles as flotation devices.
• 🌊 Swimming lessons that teach safety in the water and survival skills can be cost-effective solutions.
• 🌊 Bystander training and safe rescue and resuscitation are also recommended. It can be crucial to teach CPR to older children and adults who are around children playing in bodies of water.

3 things you should know before you go

Caroline Davis said a stranger’s generosity reminded her of her father.

Caroline David

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Caroline David

1. Last summer, Caroline Davis worked on a DIY project that required 1,500 pounds of gravel. As she was loading her car with 50-pound bags, a stranger entered and warned her about the damage this could cause to the vehicle. The unsung hero then helped her load it. The interaction reminded her of her father, who died in 2017.
2. Indian tabla player Zakir Hussain, whose career spanned five decadesdied yesterday at the age of 73. Hussain is revered as a national treasure.
3. Two men were arrested on Saturday for allegedly flying a drone “dangerously close” to Logan International Airport, Boston police said. The arrests came as drones were spotted on the East Coast.

This newsletter was published by Suzanne Nuyen.