Opposition Forces in Syria, Crypto's Milestone Week, New York City's Housing Plan
12:26 Share

Syrian opposition forces swept into another government stronghold as the Syrian army withdrew. This puts the fighters closer to their goal of taking Damascus. Can they topple the Syrian regime? I'm Leila Fadil, that's Michelle Martin, and this is Up First from NPR News. The value of a single Bitcoin hit $100,000 for the first time ever this week. This will create a short-term boom over the next couple of years.

But it's going to be a sugar high. Will the momentum behind crypto last? And New York City has a new plan to address its housing crisis. The greatest city in the world has just passed the greatest housing legislation in our history. Will it be enough to address soaring costs and homelessness? Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.

This message comes from BetterHelp. This holiday season, do something for a special person in your life. You. Give yourself the gift of better mental health. BetterHelp Online Therapy connects you with a qualified therapist via phone, video, or live chat. It's convenient and affordable and can be done from the comfort of your own home. Having someone to talk to is truly a gift, especially during the holidays. Visit BetterHelp.com slash NPR to get 10% off your first month.

This message comes from Thuma. Create your oasis with Thuma, a modern design company that specializes in furniture and home goods. Thuma's core collection, the Classic Bed, Nest Dresser, and Pillar Bookshelf, combines craftsmanship, simplicity, and functionality, bringing inspiration and purpose to every home. To explore Thuma's entire collection, visit Thuma.co or the flagship location in New York City.

Pieces ship quickly and arrive straight to your door. To get $100 towards your first bed purchase, go to Thuma.co. This message comes from NPR sponsor, Mint Mobile. From the gas pump to the grocery store, inflation is everywhere. So Mint Mobile is offering premium wireless starting at just $15 a month. To get your new phone plan for just $15, go to mintmobile.com slash switch.

Syrian opposition forces are storming ahead with their largest offensive in years against the government of Bashar al-Assad. The rebel push started last week when fierce fighting led to the stunning capture of Syria's second largest city, Aleppo. Then, as of yesterday, they swept into the city of Hama, a major government stronghold on the road south to Damascus. NPR's Hadil Al-Shalchi is with us now with more. Good morning, Hadil. Good morning. So where does this rebel advance stand now? They seem to be moving so fast.

They really are. I mean, it's been a week of violent fighting between the rebel forces and pro-government factions, which are backed by Russia and Iran. Army troops withdrew yesterday from the fringes of the city of Hama, and the opposition forces were seen celebrating in the city center. We do know that Syrian groups have said that more than 100 civilians have been killed in the fighting. I understand that Hama has been considered a key city since before the Syrian civil war that broke out in 2011. Could you just remind us of what makes it important?

Yeah, so Hama has been a notorious city since President Bashar al-Assad's father, Hafez al-Assad, ruled the country. In 1982, government security forces massacred thousands of people in an uprising led by the Muslim Brotherhood at the time. And last night, a video online showed people toppling over a statue of Hafez al-Assad. I mean, we couldn't verify the video independently.

And Hama has regional significance. The city is a main supply route that Iran uses to move weapons to its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, who's fighting a war with Israel right now. The Israeli military said that it conducted strikes on what they are calling weapon smuggling routes used by Hezbollah at the Syrian-Lebanese border last night. Haddaf, remind us, who is leading this offensive?

Right. So the main group is called Hayat al-Tahrir al-Sham. It's also known as HTS. HTS used to be affiliated with Al-Qaeda, but broke off years ago. But the U.S. and other Western countries still designated a terrorist group. So, Michelle, for years, they've sort of moved away from a jihadist ideology. And while it's still a fundamentalist and not a democratic group by any stretch, they've

become a bit more pragmatic, focusing on civilian rule, you know, setting up services, running a stronger economy in areas they control. HTS's leader, Mohamed Jolani, told CNN in an interview today that, quote, the revolution has evolved from chaos and randomness into a state of order, both militarily and civilian matters. But there are questions whether this HTS branding is real or just a PR campaign. Given their background, do we have a sense of what civilians in Aleppo City and Hama have been saying?

For sure. So the main sentiment has been cautious optimism. Syrians living under government control have long complained about severe oppression. Some people I spoke to in Aleppo said the rebel forces were able to restore order back to the city as soon as they took it over. Video circulating online showed fighters and civilians celebrating in the streets and Jolani driving through being greeted with joy. There's also been images of prisoners being released from Hamas jails where dozens of people were detained for anti-government activities.

But then there are also thousands of people fleeing Hama, afraid. Kurds who hold their own rival territory in the northeast and many Alawites, they're the sect that Assad family comes from. What are we going to be looking at next?

Our sites are all on the next big city, Homs, where there are reports that there's fighting on the outskirts already. The regime has also tried to destroy strategic bridges leading to Homs. We're on the road to Damascus. And if the rebels keep up this momentum, they'll be inching closer to the Syrian government's seat of power. That is NPR's Hadil Alshanti. Hadil, thank you. You're welcome.

President-elect Trump has announced a White House AI and crypto czar. Longtime Silicon Valley venture capitalist David Sachs will take up the role and is tasked with guiding the administration's policies towards the technologies. This comes after the value of a single Bitcoin hit $100,000 this week for the first time in its young history. On this milestone week for digital currency, we thought this would be a good time to call NPR's senior business editor, Raphael Nam. Raphael, good morning. Good morning, Michelle. So,

So much momentum behind crypto this week. What's going on? It's really this excitement of what Trump could mean for cryptocurrencies. He has promised to make the U.S. the crypto capital of the planet.

And he's promised to nominate regulators who are friendly to the industry. So a very different approach from the Biden administration. David Sachs, like you just mentioned, Michelle, for example. He was a top executive at PayPal and is known to be close with Elon Musk. And now he's expected to be part of that friendlier approach to crypto. And earlier this week, Trump nominated a former financial regulator, Paul Atkins, as the new chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. And he's also known to be a friendlier approach to crypto.

Atkins is also a public advocate of cryptocurrencies, and he's in line now to become the next Wall Street cop. So it seems as though the U.S. government is going to become a big supporter of crypto now. Well, that's certainly the hope for crypto investors. And it's kind of incredible because let's remember here the history of Bitcoin and what it actually is. It's only over 15 years old, and it's basically a digital currency made up of computer codings.

It was created by somebody or maybe a group of people going by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto. And to this day, we don't know who Satoshi is. Bitcoin was created around the global financial crisis. And Satoshi's idea was to create a currency for the people.

A currency that's not controlled by one country or one central bank. That's not how it's turned out. You can't really use Bitcoin today to go buy a cup of coffee, for example. So what do people use it for? Well, Bitcoin may have been intended as a currency. And yes, there are some businesses and even some cities like Detroit that are starting to accept cryptocurrencies.

But really, it's become a speculative investment for people on Wall Street and for average people too. A way to make money, essentially. The thing is, cryptocurrencies are incredibly volatile, and they've created a lot of financial pain. So critics like Dennis Kelleher from advocacy group Better Markets are concerned that this latest rally could end really badly. This will create a short-term boom over the next couple of years, but it's going to be a sugar high.

And the clock will start ticking on a coming catastrophic financial crash that, in my view, will be much worse than 2008. And it's only a matter of time. Worse than the global financial crisis. And if that prediction does come true, it would be ironic given that Bitcoin was created in part as a response to the crisis. And isn't Bitcoin associated with all kinds of shady activities?

Indeed, cryptocurrencies have become widely used by all kinds of illegal actors, from hackers looking for ransomware to drug dealers. So yes, there is a lot of excitement about Bitcoin, but there's also a lot of people who are alarmed. That is NPR's Rafael Nam. Rafael, thank you. Thank you, Michelle. Thank you.

New York City has more than 3.5 million homes, but finding one to rent or buy, well, that's a challenge. Yeah, most are occupied and prices outpace nearly every other place in the country. Officials have taken a step toward addressing the city's housing crisis by approving a housing plan that could pave the way for 80,000 new homes over the next 15 years. Here to tell us more about it is reporter David Brand from member station WNYC. Good morning, David. Good morning. So first, why?

Walk us through the plan. The plan is called City of Yes, and it would increase the amount of housing that could be built in every part of the city.

Now, when people think of New York City, they may picture the skyscrapers of Manhattan, but the landscape here is really diverse. Big sections look more like suburbs, and many neighborhoods are made up of three- to four-story apartment buildings. This plan has tweaks that will permit more housing in pretty much all of them. Some homeowners will be able to add extra units on their properties. Developers can build bigger buildings near subway stations.

And the rules will make it easier to convert empty offices into condos and apartments. I think one of the things that's really become clear is that a lot of places around the country have a housing shortage, David. But is the feeling that this will solve the problem in New York City? No, this is significant, but it's not going to solve New York City's housing shortage, especially for the lowest income New Yorkers.

That's been a big concern for a lot of the council members who voted on this plan. City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams says zoning alone doesn't automatically create affordable housing. So she got the mayor to commit more funding for rental assistance and low-income housing. People needed to know that they would have places that they could afford, not just market rate, anything. We have that already. We had to go farther than zoning.

Rents and home prices are soaring and homelessness here is at a record high. And David, I think people might remember that New York City's mayor, Eric Adams, was indicted in September on federal corruption charges. He is running for re-election. What does this mean for him? Does this change the narrative for him? Yeah, he's touting it as a signature achievement. The greatest city in the world has just passed the greatest housing legislation in our history.

You're right that this has been a perilous political time for Adams. He's facing criminal charges for allegedly accepting illegal campaign contributions and doing favors for foreign benefactors. Many of his top aides and even top police officials have been tied up in a series of separate state and federal investigations.

So this is definitely a win. And like you said, a chance to change the narrative. But New York City is not exactly a national leader on bold moves to address housing shortages. California already permits property owners to add an extra unit on their lots. Columbus, Ohio, Minneapolis and Austin have all approved major changes to fuel more development in

And those are far more ambitious plans than the one that New York City just passed. Even having said that, though, when will New Yorkers start to see construction on all these new units? Well, housing takes a long time to build, and this is a 15-year plan. So, you know, developers and property owners need to submit plans. They need to get permits, and construction takes years to complete. So I don't think we're going to be seeing cranes going up on our blocks tomorrow, but in the near future.

That is David Brand of Member Station WNYC. David, thank you. Thanks for having me.

And that's Up First for Friday, December 6th. I'm Michelle Martin. And I'm Leila Falded. And don't forget, Up First airs on the weekend, too. Ayesha Roscoe and Scott Simon have the news. It'll be here in this feed or wherever you get your podcasts. Today's episode of Up First was edited by James Hyder, Pallavi Gogoi, Andrea DeLeon, Lisa Thompson, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Nia Dumas, and Ben Abrams. We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent, and our technical director is Carly Strange. And...

We're saying goodbye today to our executive producer, Erica Aguilar. We're sad. Yeah, very sad. We're going to miss your leadership, your tirelessness, your passion, and we're excited for your next chapter. But we're sad for us.

But we hope you will join us again on Monday. Want to hear this podcast without sponsor breaks? Amazon Prime members can listen to Up First sponsor-free through Amazon Music. Or you can also support NPR's vital journalism and get Up First Plus at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.

This message comes from Bombas. Their socks are super plush, designed to support your arches and support people in need. One purchase equals one donated to those experiencing homelessness. Go to bombas.com slash NPR and use code NPR for 20% off your first order.

This message comes from GiveWell. GiveWell provides rigorous, transparent research about the best giving opportunities so that donors can make informed decisions about high-impact giving. To learn more, go to givewell.org and pick podcast and enter NPR at checkout.