NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-17-2024 3PM EST

Episode Date: November 17, 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, I'm Nora Rahm. A U.S. official has confirmed that President Biden has authorized the use of U.S.-supplied long-range missiles to strike inside Russia. The missiles are to be used against targets in and around Kursk.

Biden had held off on their use in Ukraine in Russian territory for fear that would escalate the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been urging Biden for months to allow their use within Russia to stop Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities and electrical grids. Zelensky said today Russia had launched 120 missiles and 90 drones across Ukraine targeting energy infrastructure. A senior Hezbollah official, the head of its media operations, has been killed in an airstrike in Beirut. The attack on the Arab Socialist Bath Party followed a wave of Israeli airstrikes in the

Lebanese capital today. NPR's Jane Arraff reports. Jane Arraff, NPR News Anchor The airstrike, one of several Sunday morning, hit the office of a Hezbollah-aligned political party in a densely populated Beirut neighborhood. Lebanon's health ministry said one person was killed and others wounded. It did not identify the fatality, but the head of the Arab Socialist Bath Party, Ali Hejazi, said in a social media post that Mohammed Afif, the Hezbollah media chief, had been killed in its offices.

Afif had been media adviser to the head of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli attack in Beirut in late September. In his last press conference earlier in November, Afif said that the militant group was prepared for a long war against Israel. Jane Araf and Peer News, Beirut. Leaders of the 20 richest countries are arriving in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil today for a summit that begins tomorrow. The UN wants climate change to be a major topic of discussion. The G20 countries are responsible for much of the greenhouse gas emissions.

President-elect Donald Trump has announced more than two dozen names for his next administration. Few have been more polarizing than his choice of former representative Matt Gaetz for attorney general NPR's Luke Garrett reports. Trump's pick for the nation's top cop was being investigated by the House Ethics Committee for various allegations, including sexual misconduct. Gaetz has since resigned from Congress, making it unclear whether the committee's investigation will be released. On Sunday, House Speaker Mike Johnson made his wishes clear on CNN.

The report is not finished. It's in a rough draft form, was not yet ready to be released. And since Matt Gaetz left the Congress, I don't think it's appropriate to do so. Speaker Johnson went on to say he has not discussed this with Trump. The president and I have literally not discussed one word about the ethics report, not once. In the past, the House has at times released ethics reports on former members of Congress. And some Senate Republicans are now saying they want to see this report on Gates. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington.

This is NPR. A wildfire prompted the evacuation of about 165 houses in Warwick, New York yesterday, near the border with New Jersey. The blaze had been mostly contained, but windy conditions helped it spread again. The fire is burning mainly in the sterling Forest State Park. It's black in more than 5200 acres between New York and New Jersey. One park worker has died assisting fire crews. The cause of the blaze is under investigation.

Safety advocates across the country are marking today's World Day of Remembrance for road traffic victims. NPR's Joel Rose reports. More than 60 communities are planning rallies, bike rides, and visual memorials, pushing for policies to lower the number of deaths and injuries on U.S. roads. In the nation's capital, Daniel Langenkamp will host the third annual Ride for Your Life, ending with a rally at the Lincoln Memorial in honor of his wife Sarah, a U.S. diplomat who was killed while riding

her bike in Maryland in 2022. The number of Americans killed on U.S. roads has declined slightly since 2021. But roadway crashes still kill more than 40,000 people a year and injure millions more. Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington. A gold pocket watch sold for nearly $2 million yesterday. It had belonged to a ship captain who had rescued survivors of the Titanic. Captain Arthur Rostron had diverted his ship to the site where the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank. The watch had been given to him by widows of three wealthy businessmen who went down with the ship. It's believed to have

brought the highest price for any Titanic memorabilia. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News in Washington.