NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-12-2024 12PM EST

Episode Date: November 12, 2024

NPR News: 11-12-2024 12PM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hey, it's Aisha Harris from Pop Culture Happy Hour. If you love NPR podcasts, you'll want the new NPR Plus podcast bundle. Enjoy an all-you-can-eat selection of NPR Plus podcasts with sponsor-free listening and bonus episodes. Plus, you'll be supporting public radio. Check it out at plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. Republicans are on the cusp of retaining control of the House, which would give the GOP a trifecta come January, control over both chambers of Congress and the White House. Speaker Mike Johnson says it's time to move on and turn the page in the next Congress.

This is something that the American people desperately need and deserve. We are going to raise an America First banner above this place. And you saw a demographic shift that I was talking about on the campaign trail for over a year who came on board with us because they believed in what we were saying. They believed the answers that we were providing for all the great challenges facing the country. Republicans are closer to claiming House control. 218 seats are needed to hold the majority. President-elect Donald Trump has signaled there could be big changes coming to the Justice

Department and the FBI. NPR's Carrie Johnson reports on the transition process. The Attorney General is going to be the most important job after the president's and the next administration. That's according to Vice President-elect J.D. Vance. Trump's considering a number of candidates, including Senators Mike Lee of Utah and Eric Schmidt of Missouri. Longtime Washington lawyer Mark Paoletta, a close friend of Justice Clarence Thomas,

is also in the mix to lead the Justice Department. FBI Director Chris Wray has more than two years left on his term, but he's had a tense relationship with Trump who may want to replace him. An FBI official tells NPR Wray continues to oversee day-to-day operations and is actively planning to lead the Bureau into next year and beyond. Carrie Johnson, N PR News, Washington. Saudi Arabia has hosted leaders from the Middle East and Muslim-majority countries for a summit. They ended with a statement calling for a halt of global arms shipments to Israel and

for its suspension at the United Nations. NPR's Ayeh Betraoui reports the summit did not commit nations to abide by specific measures. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman opened the summit by reaffirming support for a Palestinian state, denouncing Israeli attacks on Iran, and accusing Israel of carrying out a quote genocide in Gaza, which Israel denies. Arab leaders, many of whom are opposed to Hamas, have been divided on how to contain the war, which has spread to Lebanon. And countries like Egypt and the UAE

have kept ties with Israel, even using their ports for Israeli shipments throughout the war. The summit is the second of its kind to be held in Riyadh since the Hamas-led attacks of last year that killed 1,200 people in Israel. Israel's military has since killed at least 43,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry.

Aya Boutraoui, NPR News. On Wall Street, the Dow was down 252 points. This is NPR. Commercial airline flights in and out of the Haitian capital are suspended for a second day after Spirit Airlines and JetBlue each reported damage from gunfire to one of its planes. The Spirit Airlines flight was diverted to the Dominican Republic yesterday after gunfire over Port-au-Prince left one crew member with minor injuries.

Gang violence in Haiti has been escalating across the island for more than a year. A Dutch appeals court has overturned a case that climate change activists brought against oil giant Shell. NPR's Jeff Brady reports a lower court had ordered the company to dramatically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. The judicial decision is a defeat for the group Friends of the Earth Netherlands. Three years ago, a court ruled Shell would have to reduce its climate warming greenhouse gases 45% from 2019 levels by the end of the decade.

The appeals court ruled, while Shell has a responsibility to reduce emissions, there wasn't enough scientific consensus to require the specific reduction. Friends of the Earth Netherlands says it will keep fighting, quote, the big polluters. The oil company welcomed the court's decision. Shell says it already aims to zero out its emissions by 2050. That's in line with the landmark Paris climate agreement. Jeff Brady and Pierre News. Stocks are trading lower across the board on Wall Street at this hour. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 239 points. The Nasdaq Composite also trading lower, down

33. The S&P down 18 points. This is NPR News from Washington.