NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-12-2024 9PM EST

Episode Date: November 13, 2024

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. President-elect Donald Trump is moving rapidly to put together his leadership team. He's filling a number of key positions, including nominating an Army veteran and Fox News host, Pete Hegseth, to be his new Pentagon chief. He does have a military background. He's a major in the Army National Guard. He served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has degrees from Princeton and Harvard, and he's written about the military, including a recent book, The War on Warriors, where he argues that US troops have been poorly served by military leaders who have become too liberal in his view. He's a staunch supporter of Trump when he's on Fox, and he has on many occasions argued in defense

of U.S. troops who've been accused of war crimes. And PRS Greg Myrie. Other major picks pending Senate approval include John Ratcliffe to head the CIA, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee as his ambassador to Israel, and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem to run the Department of Homeland Security. Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, entrepreneur and Republican primary candidate, will lead a new government agency being called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

An apparent wink to the cryptocurrency by the same name and the meme of Ashiba Inu, and announcing the creation of a new government agency whose purpose is to reduce the size of government. Trump called it the Manhattan Project of our time. On the campaign trail, Trump spoke of creating a role in the federal government for Musk, while Maswami campaigned on cutting 75%

of the federal workforce. Representatives from around the world spoke at the COP29 UN climate negotiations in Azerbaijan today. Several island nations called on wealthier countries to help those on the front lines cope with climate change. More from NPR's Nate Perez. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Moore Motley told the conference that the world is in the middle of a climate crisis.

These extreme weather events that the world is facing daily suggest that humanity and the planet are hurtling towards catastrophe. Barbados and other island states are facing immediate impacts like rapid sea level rise. Marshall Islands president Hilda Hyne said countries who have burned the most fossil fuels need to play a bigger role. Those that have benefited from extractions have an obligation to provide the climate finance that is desperately and urgently needed. Hyne said climate change will affect every aspect of life in vulnerable countries, from education to health care and to the economy.

Nate Perez, NPR News. With money continuing to pour into cryptocurrency on the heels of a Trump presidential victory, the value of one of the most closely watched cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, has soared, the value of a single Bitcoin, hitting $87,000 for the first time ever this week, and will stay the prospect of a more crypto-friendly administration is largely responsible for the rise. Stocks lost ground on Wall Street today, the Dow fell 382 points. This is NPR. With 17 weeks at the top of the Billboard chart, Shibuzy's A Bar Song, Tipsy, has

been number one for longer than any other song this decade. NPR's Stephen Thompson has this report. Last year, Morgan Wallen's song, Last Night, posted 16 weeks at number one, the longest run of any song this decade. Last week, Shibuzy pulled into a tie. ["Double Shot of Weed"] ["Double Shot of Weed"] Now, a bar song has the decade's longest run so far, and it's two weeks from tying the all-time chart record

set by Lil Nas X's Old Town Road featuring Billy Ray Cyrus. ["Old Town Road"] But holiday competition's coming. Billy Ray Cyrus. But holiday competition's coming. If Shibuzy can fend off Mariah Carey and Brenda Lee in the weeks to come, he'll have earned the all-time record with bragging rights to spare. Steven Thompson, NPR News. A network of European art forgers whose work included fake Picasso's, Banksy's, and

Warhol's has reportedly been shut down by Italian authorities. Italian officials say a total of 38 people have been arrested on charges. They tried to sell the works with the help of complicit auction houses. Authorities say they've recovered more than 2,100 forged works. They believe caused more than 200 million in economic damage by flooding the market with fakes. Phony art was seized in Italy, Spain, and Belgium. Critical futures prices remained at recent lows after declining by 5% over the past two sessions. Oil barely budged today up 0.08 a barrel to 68.12 a barrel in New York. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.