News Wrap: American Airlines temporarily grounds flights amid busy holiday travel season

William Brangham:

Welcome to the "News Hour."

We start our coverage today with a pair of holiday disruptions. In a moment, we will hear about air travel headaches, but, first, coffee. A strike by Starbucks employees expanded to some 5,000 baristas nationwide today.

Protester:

No contract!

Protesters:

No coffee!

Protester:

No contract!

Protesters:

No coffee!

William Brangham:

Their union says the walkout shut nearly 300 stores across 45 states. Starbucks says fewer than 200 stores were affected. Workers say they're protesting unfair labor practices like retaliatory firings and cuts to hours. They also called out the company's recent wage offer, which one employee called insulting.

Ruby Walters, Starbucks Workers United:

It's not enough to support any person living by themselves, let alone the Starbucks barista or shift supervisors who have one, two, three kids to put food on the table for. They don't have enough money to support their families.

William Brangham:

Starbucks said yesterday the strike had had no significant impact on its operations. The employees say they will go back to work tomorrow morning.

Airline passengers also faced disruptions today after American Airlines briefly grounded flights nationwide due to a technical issue. Passengers crowded terminals as operations were put on hold for about an hour. American blamed a problem with the technology that maintains its flight operating system. It comes in the thick of the busy holiday travel season.

Overall, flight trackers cited more than 3,200 flight delays and at least 28 cancellations today. Snow, ice and thunderstorms were also factors in the disruptions.

The man accused of burning a woman to death in the New York City subway appeared in court today. The suspect was charged with three counts of murder and arson at the Brooklyn Criminal Court. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. Federal officials say the 33-year-old Guatemalan migrant set the sleeping woman's clothes on fire on Sunday.

The crime has sparked new worries about safety on New York's transit system, even as officials note that crime is down from last year.

Turning overseas to Sudan, famine conditions are spreading as the country's ongoing civil war shows no signs of letting up. That's according to the integrated food security organization IPC. The global monitoring group says five areas are affected, including the country's largest displacement camp, Zamzam, in the North Darfur province, where some 400,000 people live.

The IPC also says five other areas in North Darfur are expected to experience famine conditions in the next six months. U.N. experts say the biggest challenge is getting aid to people in need.

Dervla Cleary, U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization: It is unacceptable in a world like today, where there's so much prosperity, that you are seeing people dying of hunger. This should never be happening in today. We need the violence to stop so people can access food, water, health, nutrition, and agriculture.

William Brangham:

The U.N. says more than 24,000 people have died during 20 months of fighting in Sudan and 14 million people have been forced from their homes. That's about 30 percent of the population.

Swiss Olympic snowboarder Sophie Hediger has died in an avalanche at a mountain resort. The country's skiing federation says the incident happened yesterday at the Arosa resort in Switzerland. The 26-year-old competed at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics in the women's snowboard cross and the mixed team version of the same event.

In California, weather officials are warning of dangerous surf and flooding after a series of violent storms. Some waves may be as high as 35 feet today. Two people had to be rescued after a pier partially collapsed in Santa Cruz yesterday. A third swam to safety.

In a separate incident, one man was killed by a large wave that trapped him under debris. Another remains missing after likely being pulled into the surf. Californians will get a brief break from the wild weather on Christmas Day before more storms roll in.

Bill Clinton has been discharged from a Washington, D.C., hospital where he had been treated for the flu. The former president had been admitted on Monday afternoon for testing and observation after coming down with a fever. The 78-year-old has had a history of health problems. He underwent a quadruple bypass operation in 2004.

Pope Francis has officially kicked off the 2025 holy year and with it the jubilee that occurs once every 25 years. With a knock from the pontiff today, the great Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican swung open and he crossed the threshold to begin Christmas Eve mass. More than 32 million people are expected to make a pilgrimage to Rome for this jubilee, which Pope Francis has dedicated to the theme of hope.

On Wall Street today, stocks bounded higher in a shortened Christmas Eve session. The Dow Jones industrial average added nearly 400 points on the day. The Nasdaq jumped about 1.33 percent, closing back above the 20,000-point level. The S&P 500 also ended firmly in positive territory.

And a NASA spacecraft is attempting to fly closer to the sun's surface than ever before. The Parker Solar Probe will endure blistering temperatures and extreme radiation as it passes within four million miles of the sun. That's nearly seven times closer than any previous missions.

Scientists won't know whether the probe survived its fiery flyby for another few days. But, if all goes according to plan, the probe will keep circling the sun through at least September, providing a better understanding of how the sun actually works.

Still to come on the "News Hour": the new Food and Drug Administration rules aim to redefine what's considered healthy; our critics' take on this year's must-see Hollywood hits and a few lesser-known gems; and, on Christmas Eve, a special look at the origins of NORAD's Santa tracker.