NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-14-2024 9AM EST

Episode Date: November 14, 2024

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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, on Korova Coleman, President-elect Donald Trump is continuing to surprise many with his cabinet nominees.

He'll tap former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz for attorney general. Gaetz was investigated by the Justice Department and the House for sex trafficking allegations, but the probes were ended. Trump also tapped former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and Fox News host Pete Hegseth as defense secretary. And Pierce Chairman Keith says the nominees have a similar characteristic. They all lack relevant management experience but they have the most important qualification of all which is loyalty to Trump and a willingness to execute on his vision. And

all of this is in line with Trump's lessons learned from the first time in office, when he surrounded himself with people who were generally very well qualified for their jobs, but who ultimately stood in the way of the norms-busting things that Trump was trying to do. Now the question is, can he get these people confirmed by the Senate? And going back to norms and traditions, there is generally a deference to the president's choices, especially from those in his own party, and Republicans will control the Senate come January. And Piers Tamer-Keith reporting. A militant group in Gaza has released a video. It shows one of the Israeli hostages who has been held for more than a year. And Piers Kat Lonsdorf reports this is the first hostage video to be released in several months.

The video showed 29-year-old Sasha Trefanoff, a Russian-Israeli dual citizen, who had a birthday earlier this week. It was unclear when the video was filmed. The video's release comes after Trofanov's girlfriend, Sapir Cohen, who had been held hostage in Gaza but was released last year, publicly urged President-elect Donald Trump last week to, quote, ensure that rescuing these hostages remains a top priority. A ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza and bring remaining hostages home has stalled. There are a hundred and one Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza. Around a

third of them are confirmed dead according to Israel. Meanwhile at least 47 Palestinians were killed in Gaza by Israeli strikes in the past day, according to the Ministry of Health. Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Tel Aviv. A lawsuit filed by a group of young people against the federal government over climate change has suffered another setback. NPR's Jeff Brady reports the Supreme Court declined to order a lower appeals court to reverse its decision from earlier this year. The case is Juliana vs. the United States.

In last May, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the federal government and dismissed the case. In the decade-old lawsuit, young people argue the country's reliance on fossil fuels that are warming the climate violates their constitutional rights. The last three presidential administrations have all opposed the lawsuit. Now the group heading the lawsuit, Our Children's Trust, says it still has options and plans to file a request next month for the Supreme Court to hear the case. Jeff Brady, NPR News.

You're listening to NPR News from Washington. Aircraft maker Boeing says it is starting to lay off 17,000 workers. That is about 10 percent of its global workforce. The action comes after Boeing production slowed this year until a machinist strike was settled. The price of Bitcoin is skyrocketing to new record highs as cryptocurrency investors continue to bank on the results of last week's elections. As NPR's Maria Aspin reports, the crypto industry poured serious money

into federal campaigns. The crypto industry was the biggest corporate donor in this year's elections, and it got what it wanted. Pro crypto candidates won big, including President-elect Donald Trump. They've promised friendlier regulations for the industry after President Biden's administration sued and fined many companies. But consumer advocates are sounding the alarm. Dennis Kelleher is the CEO of Better

Markets, a nonpartisan financial watchdog. He's worried about fewer guardrails on crypto. And unfortunately, that means more scams, frauds, and criminals running amok with those regulators and prosecutors mostly ignoring it all. Crypto executives, on the other hand, are calling this election, quote, a huge win. Maria Aspin and PR News New York. Authorities in Brazil say a man killed himself in explosions after he failed to break into the country's Supreme Court yesterday evening. Officials say two blasts were heard.

The Brazilian justices and their staffs were able to leave the building safely. I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News in Washington.