NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-03-2024 4PM EST

Episode Date: November 3, 2024

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Noor-Eran Noor-Ram Enjoying the podcast so far? Get more from shows like this one with NPR+. For a simple recurring donation, you'll get perks from over 20 NPR podcasts, including sponsor-free listening, bonus episodes, early access, shop discounts, and more. Join us in making the world a more curious and well-informed place at plus.npr.org. Noor-Ram Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rom. With just two days until election day, Republican Donald Trump is campaigning in the swing states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia today.

In Pennsylvania, at a rally in Lidditz in the central part of the state, Trump repeatedly criticized the election process in the U S. You ought to damn well go to paper ballots. You ought to go to voter ID. And you ought to have the election over by nine o'clock. I'm hearing now they're going to take weeks. Can you imagine? They spend all this money, all this money on machines, and they're going to say we may take an extra 12 days to detect. And what do you think happens during that 12 days? What do you think happens?

Many states use paper ballots and require identification when voting. Vice President Harris's campaign has debuted a closing TV spot, a positive ad in which she pledges to be a president for all Americans. But the real message of the ad might be more in where and when it's airing. NPR's Eric McDaniel has more. First, sports news. The Packers play the Lions on Sunday, an NFL matchup expected to draw millions and millions of viewers in Green Bay, in Detroit, and throughout the swing states of Wisconsin and Michigan.

And the Harris campaign believes that putting this ad in front of Sunday NFL fans is a good way to reach Americans who are less than tuned in to the election. Here's Harris campaign chair, Jen O'Malley-Dillon, in a call with Reporters Saturday, speaking about undecided voters. We still know there's some left, and we want to make sure we are the last people that voters are hearing from before they go vote. The ad shows in part Harris speaking directly to viewers asking for their support.

Eric McDaniel, NPR News. At least six people were injured and nearly 100,000 are without power following a damaging spate of tornadoes in central Oklahoma this morning. Robbie Korth from member station KOSU reports the tornadoes were part of a widespread storm system. The National Weather Service issued more than a dozen tornado warnings overnight Saturday into early Sunday. The severe weather ripped through parts of Oklahoma City and leveled buildings nearby.

Strong winds flipped vehicles and downed trees and power lines, leading to tens of thousands of outages. Further complicating recovery efforts was the sheer amount of rain, which led to flooding. Some communities received almost five inches from the storms. For NPR News, I'm Robbie Korth in Oklahoma City. Moldova is holding a runoff presidential election today. The pro-Western incumbent Mayan Sandhu is being challenged by a former prosecutor general who favors closer ties with Russia. She won 42% of the vote in the first round, not enough to win outright. Her national security advisor

claimed today authorities are seeing massive interference by Russia in the election. This is NPR News. Researchers have found the oldest tadpole fossil to date. NPR's Jessica Young reports the fossil shines new light on the evolutionary history of frogs. Researchers have discovered a tadpole fossil that is 161 million years old, which is 20 million years earlier than scientists previously knew of. The tadpole stage lasts only a few months, and the tadpole body is delicate. And yet this fossil is in great shape.

Seeing it for the first time amazed researcher Mariana Chuliver. I said, okay, this is the best tadpole ever, because up to now, there wasn't any other fossil tadpole with the gill skeleton preserved. She says this discovery suggests that metamorphosis in frogs is probably a successful survival strategy, which may be why it has lasted for so many millions of years. The paper is published in the journal Nature. Jessica Young, NPR News. The Serbia activists gathered in the capital Belgrade today to protest a deadly accident at a train station in the northern part of the country last week.

A roof at the station's entrance suddenly gave way. Fourteen people were killed, including a six-year-old girl. The protesters blame negligence and corruption by the Serbian government for the accident. The king and the queen of Spain visited the town of Pajporta today, devastated by flash floods last week that killed more than 200 people. The royals were greeted by angry residents who hurled mud and insults at them. They're upset about the slow response by the government to the disaster. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News in Washington.