NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-16-2024 7AM EST

Episode Date: November 16, 2024

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. The ongoing COP29 climate talks mark nearly three decades of world leaders meeting annually to hash out plans to limit planet warming emissions. But the earth is still on track for a dangerous amount of warming. NPR's Michael Copley reports there are calls to change the United Nations process for addressing climate change going forward. A group of scientists and advocates say countries need to shift from negotiations to action on the climate commitments they've already made. The group is pushing for smaller, more frequent meetings that hold countries accountable. And it says the meeting should be hosted by nations that support a transition from fossil

fuels, the main source of climate pollution. The lead negotiator for the presidency of this year's climate meeting in Azerbaijan, Yalkin Rafyev, defended the negotiations. It's better than any alternative, taking into account that we don't have any alternative processes. Rafyev urged negotiators to move faster on a plan to help developing countries deal with climate change. Michael Copley, NPR News. China has issued a diplomatic offensive warning the world against descending into an economic protectionism. The BBC's Mickey Bristow reports this appears to be a response to the election of Donald

Trump for a second term. Speaking at the APEC summit in Peru, the Chinese leader Xi Jinping said the world faced turbulence and transformation. He warned against unilateralism and protectionism. Mr. Trump has promised to levy tariffs of at least 60% on Chinese imports, a serious threat to China's economy. Speaking in Hong Kong, the Chinese ambassador in America took a similar line. Later on Saturday, Mr. Xi will meet the outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden. The Chinese message is aimed at the man who will replace him.

That's the BBC's Mickey Bristow reporting. Stocks on Wall Street lost ground this week despite news of strong consumer spending. The Dow lost 315 points on Friday. NPR's Scott Horsley reports that investors gave back some of the big gains that followed last week's election. Giddy investors got a little more cautious this week, especially after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank doesn't need to be in a hurry to make further cuts in interest rates. Today's relatively high interest rates haven't put much of a damper on consumer spending. On Friday, the Commerce Department said retail sales had grown more than expected in October.

Investors are still betting the Fed will cut interest rates at its next meeting just over a month from now, but they're less certain about that than they had been for the week the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.25 percent. The broader S&P 500 index fell 2.1 percent and the tech heavy Nasdaq dropped more than 3 percent. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. Video streaming platform Netflix is back up and running this morning after disruptions lasting for about six hours in the United States last night.

The website DownDetector says at the peak of the outage there were more than 90,000 reports of problems. The outage took place on the night of a highly anticipated boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul. Netflix has suffered outages during live or highly anticipated events in the past, with spikes in user traffic often contributing. The first day of trial has concluded for the man accused of murdering Georgia nursing student Lagan Reilly.

Emily Wu-Pearson of member station W-A-B-E reports prosecutors told the judge that Jose Ibarra encountered Riley while she was running on the University of Georgia campus in Athens and killed her after a struggle. A Superior Court judge heard a full day of testimony from Riley's roommates and law enforcement detailing the morning that Riley was killed. Prosecutors for the state showed video from the doorbell cameras in the apartment complex where Ibarra lived. It showed a man they said is Ibarra throwing something into a recycling dumpster. Officers later recovered a dark hooded jacket with blood that turned out to be Riley's on it. Ibarra is charged with murder, kidnapping,

aggravated assault, and tampering with evidence. Ibarra's status as a Venezuelan national who crossed into the US illegally pushed Riley's death into the national spotlight. The trial resumes Monday with evidence from the medical examiner. For NPR News, I'm Emily Wu-Pearson in Atlanta. This is NPR News.