NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-15-2024 3PM EST

Episode Date: November 15, 2024

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This message comes from Wondery. Some of the craziest conspiracy theories are actually classified government operations. To hear more about these hidden truths, listen to redacted, declassified mysteries with Luke Lamanna on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. As President-elect Trump prepares to occupy the Oval Office once again, the current U.S. role in global climate action initiatives is in question at the annual climate summit in Azerbaijan. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm addressed the gathering today. NPR's Michael Copley reports Granholm says the world will keep shifting to cleaner sources of energy no matter who's in the White House. Granholm touted a climate law passed under President Biden called the Inflation Reduction

Act that's delivering big investments, including in Republican districts. She also said companies, along with states and cities, will keep taking steps to cut U.S. climate pollution and called on other nations to strengthen their efforts. This is the time to accelerate, to fill that gap that may be left by leadership in the United States. President-elect Trump says he'll adopt policies to boost US production of fossil fuels, the main source of heat trapping emissions.

And activists expect he'll pull the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement. Michael Copley, NPR News. President-elect Trump's appointing his campaign communications director, Stephen Chung, to be the White House communications director. Chung worked on both of Trump's previous campaigns and worked in the White House for part of Trump's first term.

The Texas Supreme Court is blocking a state house committee's attempt to delay the execution of a man convicted of killing his two-year-old daughter in 2002. Talawani Osibamowo from Embersation KERA reports the court ruled that lawmakers lack the authority to override death row inmate Robert Robertson's execution. TALAWANI OSIBAMOWO, KERA REPORTS, TALAWANI OSIBAMOWO, KERA REPORTS, TALAWANI OSIBAMOWO, KERA REPORTS, TALAWANI OSIBAMOWO, KERA REPORTS, TALAWANI OSIBAMOWO, KERA REPORTS, TALAWANI OSIBAMOWO, KERA REPORTS, TALAWANI OSIBAMOWO, KERA REPORTS, TALAWANI OSIBAMOWO, KERA REPORTS, TALAWANI OSIBAMOWO, KERA REPORTS, TALAWANI OSIBAMOWO, KERA REPORTS, TALAWANI OSIBAMOWO, KERA REPORTS, TALAWANI OSIBAMOWO, KERA REPORTS, TALAWANI OSIBAMOWO, KERA REPORTS, TALAWANI

OSIBAMOWO, KERA REPORTS, TALAWANI OSIBAMOWO, KERA REPORTS, TALAWANI OSIBAMOWO, KERA REPORTS, TALAWANI OSIBAMOWO, KERA REPORTS, TALAWANI OSIBAMOWO, KERA REPORTS, TALAWANI OSIBAMOWO, KERA REPORTS, TALAWANI OSIBAMOWO, KERA REPORTS, TALAWANI OSIBAMOWO, KERA death. But the scientific validity of shaken baby syndrome has been disputed since then. The state's highest criminal court cleared the way for Roberson's execution. The Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence issued a subpoena just before Roberson was to be put to death in October, requiring him to testify on the use of the state's junk science law in his case. The Texas Supreme Court, the highest court for civil cases, paused Roberson's execution to honor the subpoena.

Roberson ultimately never testified before the state house, and the high court ruling clears the way for the execution to take place. For NPR News, I'm Toluwani Ocbamolo in Dallas. More than a week after Trump's election, bond investors say they're alarmed by parts of the president-elect's economic agenda. The bond market affects everything from interest rates to inflation. And Piers Rafael Nam has more. Although Trump has promised to lower inflation, many bond investors believe he could actually

do the opposite. Take tariffs. Trump is proposing a wide range of tariffs, and the U.S. imports a lot of things. Tariffs obviously make those things more expensive. Trump also wants to cut taxes. All of that could make the country's finances a lot worse. And they are already pretty bad. The budget deficit in the last fiscal year was $1.8 trillion, the third highest on record. It's NPR News. The oldest member of Japan's royal family, Princess Yuriko, has died at the age of 101.

NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports that Japan's royal family has now dwindled to just 16 people. Princess Yuriko was the wife of Emperor Hirohito's brother. Hirohito reigned from 1926 to 1989. She was born into an aristocratic family in 1923. During World War II, her Tokyo home was destroyed by U.S. air raids, and she lived in an air raid shelter. Yuriko did social work and philanthropy. She outlived three sons and is survived by two daughters. Japan has the world's oldest continuous monarchy. It's also one of the few where women cannot inherit the throne. Advocates of reform point out that throughout its history, Japan has had eight empresses,

and the royal family now has only three male heirs left. But conservative politicians in Japan's ruling party have staunchly opposed such changes. Anthony Kuhn in PR News, Seoul. Hundreds of housekeepers, cocktail and food servers, bellhops and other employees of Virgin Hotel's Las Vegas are on strike. The Culinary Workers Union, which represents about 60,000 people, says its members have walked off the job over a labor contract dispute with management. Retail sales gained four-tenths of a percent last month.

Today's government report offering an upbeat sign about consumer spending and the overall strength of the US economy heading into the busy holiday shopping season. This is NPR.