NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-17-2024 8AM EST

Episode Date: November 17, 2024

NPR News: 11-17-2024 8AM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Jile Snyder. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jile Snyder. President Biden is taking a trip today to the Amazon rainforest, and as NPR News in Washington. I'm Giles Snyder. President Biden is taking a trip today to the Amazon rainforest. And as NPR's Asim Khalid reports, his visit comes as he tries to cement his legacy on climate conservation. Biden will be the first sitting US president to visit the Amazon. The president plans to visit the Brazilian city of Manaus and take an aerial tour of the rainforest. And while there Biden is expected to announce that his administration has dramatically

increased US international climate finance, fulfilling a pledge to reach over 11 billion dollars a year. But this all comes on the heels of Donald Trump's victory. The former and now future president is unlikely to maintain Biden's commitment to combating climate change. Asma Khalid, NPR News. — Amid concern about North Korea's entry in the war in Ukraine, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says language barriers and inexperience may hamper North Korean troops on the battlefield. — I think that a force like this will undergo the challenges that we would expect in that there's a language issue that

they have to overcome in working with their Russian counterparts. Austin spoke this weekend in Australia where he was meeting with his Australian and Japanese counterparts. North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia's Kursk region. Austin says he believes they'll be joining the fight soon. Israeli strikes in central Gaza this weekend killed at least a dozen people, according to Palestinian medical officials. The attacks come days after the U.S. said it would continue supplying weapons to Israel,

despite the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza. Here's MPR Scott Newman reporting from Tel Aviv. Officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza say six people were killed in a strike at Nusrat and another four at Burayj, two locations where there are refugee camps. The hospital officials say they have also received the bodies of two others killed in an Israeli strike along Gaza's main north-south highway. The Biden administration had earlier threatened to curtail U.S. weapons to Israel unless it allowed substantially more aid to flow into Gaza. But last week, a 30-day deadline passed with what

aid groups say is little improvement. And the State Department said it won't reduce arm shipments, after all. Also last week, Human Rights Watch issued a report accusing Israeli authorities of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Israel has labeled the report, quote, completely false and detached from reality. Scott Newman, NPR News, Tel Aviv. Israel has carried out more airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, where the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has a strong presence. Israeli warplanes were launched early today after the military used social media to warn

people to evacuate at least seven buildings. One strike said to have hit the pro-Hezbollah bath party offices in central Beirut. Hezbollah says its main spokesman was killed. This is NPR. A wildfire burning near the New York-New Jersey border has flared up again. Windy conditions yesterday fanned the flames of the Jennings Creek fire, leading to the voluntary evacuation of some 165 homes in Warwick, New York. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The National Hurricane Center is warning of potentially catastrophic flooding and mudslides in parts of Central America. The latest advisory says tropical storm Sarah is nearing landfall along the coast of Belize with heavy rains moving inland over portions of the Yucatan Peninsula. Sarra initially made landfall Thursday on the coast of Honduras. Hurricanes can have long-lasting effects on coastlines. Gabrielle Dawkins of Houston Public Media has the latest from a geologist who's been monitoring locations along the Texas coast for several years. 80% of the coast is eroding, 80%. And the average rate for that is 1.27 meter per year.

Shuhab Khan, professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences at the University of Houston, shared year-over-year statistics. He says keeping a keen eye on the coast is a must, especially after hurricanes like Barrel earlier this year. Follett Island and from there on all the way to Sargent, there were a lot of damages. And then you go towards Metagoda, it decreased, and finally Mustang and North Padre.

We had minimal changes, if any. Khan says data being collected will help to quantify coastal erosion, track recovery process, and improve predictive models for storm damage. I'm Gabrielle Dawkins in Houston. And I'm Giles Snyder. This is NPR News.