NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-17-2024 5AM EST

Episode Date: November 17, 2024

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Support for this podcast and the following message come from Autograph Collection Hotels, with over 300 independent hotels around the world, each exactly like nothing else. Autograph Collection is part of the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio of hotel brands. Find the unforgettable at autographcollection.com. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. President Biden is set to become the first sitting president to visit the Amazon rainforest. He plans to visit the Brazilian city of Manaus today and take an aerial tour of the rainforest after meeting yesterday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific

Summit in Peru. We haven't always agreed, but our conversations have always been candid and always been frank. We have never kidded one another. We've been level with one another. The meeting between Biden and Xi was their third and final meeting of Biden's presidency. Xi did not directly name President-elect Trump, but he told Biden that he is ready to work with the new administration. Beijing opposes Trump's pledge to adopt 60 percent tariffs on U.S. imports of Chinese products as part of a package of trade measures. Trump has named the CEO of a fracking company as his pick for his secretary of energy. NPR's Julia Simon reports

that Chris Wright has said he does not think the world needs to transition away from fossil fuels. Wright, the CEO of Liberty Energy, has said publicly that there is no climate crisis. Here he is on a video on LinkedIn. The only thing resembling a crisis with respect to climate change is the regressive opportunity squelching policies justified in the name of climate change. The overwhelming scientific consensus is that climate change is primarily caused by humans burning oil, coal, and gas. Scientists link more intense heat waves, wildfires, hurricanes, and flooding to global warming. Under President Biden, the Department of Energy has pushed to move the U.S. economy towards less

polluting energy sources like solar, wind, and large-scale batteries. Environmental groups think right as the leader of this department means the U.S. will invest less in climate solutions. Julia Simon, NPR News. Trump took a break from naming cabinet picks last night. He and a number of allies were at Madison Square Garden in New York City to attend the UFC heavyweight championship fight in which John Jones successfully defended his title. Some Americans concerned about what the incoming administration will mean for Social Security. NPR's Winsor and Johnson reports that Trump has put forward an agenda to keep the program Some Americans concerned about what the incoming administration will mean for social security.

NPR's Wynter Johnson reports that Trump has put forward an agenda to keep the program solvent, but some experts are skeptical of his proposals. Charles Blathaus specializes in social security at George Mason University. He says while Trump's proposals, including eliminating taxation on Social Security benefits would likely accelerate its insolvency. The program has been facing a funding shortfall for years. There has been more damage done to Social Security finances by the delay of the last several decades than would be done by a proposal like this. A proposal like that would be damaging to Social Security finances but not at the same order of magnitude

what we're already living with. Trump has promised not to raise the Social Security retirement age or reduce benefits. Windsor-Johnston, NPR News, Washington. And you're listening to NPR News. Israeli police say three suspects are in custody after flares were fired at the private residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A motive is not clear, but Netanyahu has faced months of mass protests over his handling of the hostage crisis.

Tens of thousands again gathered in Tel Aviv this weekend, where Sahar Moore, a relative of one of the hostages, made an appeal to President-elect Trump. President Trump, please, we need you to step in and take charge of the situation today. Meanwhile, Palestinian medical officials say Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip overnight killed at least a dozen Palestinians. In the UK, a Yorkshire village has been overrun by bird watchers after a rare American songbird was spotted there, Vicki Barker reports from London. The song of the scarlet tanager normally heard only in the deciduous eastern forests of North

America or in its winter grounds of lowland South America. So when a scarlet tanager was spotted in West Yorkshire, it didn't take long for hundreds of birdwatchers, or twitchers as they're called in Britain, to converge on an unremarkable suburban street in the town of Shelf. While some locals are complaining about the resulting disruption to daily life, others say they're excited to see their village put on the map and made a footnote to history with what's believed to be the first such sighting in the UK in 10 years and only the eighth in recorded history. For NPR News, I'm Vicki Barker in London. And I'm

Giles Snyder. This is NPR News.