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

Episode Date: November 18, 2024

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On the TED Radio Hour, on December 24th, NASA's Parker Solar Probe will touch the sun. The spacecraft will hit the closest approach ever to the sun. Astrophysicist Noor Wawafi leads the mission. We will be making history. To this day, it's still like magic to me. Ideas about the sun. That's on the TED Radio Hour podcast from NPR. Live from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Hurst. For the first time, President Biden has given Ukraine the green light to use powerful American

long-range weapons for strikes inside Russia. NPR's Julianna Kim has more. The Biden administration had long resisted allowing Ukraine to fire American long-range missiles into Russian territory for fear that it would only escalate fighting. But on Sunday, a U.S. official told NPR that the Biden administration has reversed its policy and will now allow Ukraine to use those weapons to strike in and around the Russian region of Kursk. It's the same area where North Korea sent some 10,000 troops to help Russia last month. The U.S. official was not authorized to speak publicly about the decision,

but said Britain will likely follow suit and allow Ukraine to use their long-range missiles at Russia. The British needed U.S. approval because these missiles contain U.S. components. Julianna Kim, NPR News. J.D. more has come to light about Secretary of Defense nominee Peter Hegseth's religious affiliation. NPR's Oda Youssef reports some scholars say it falls on the extreme end of Christian nationalism. ODA YOUSSEF, NPR NEWS ANCHOR Peter Hegseth is a veteran, perhaps best

known for co-hosting a weekend show on Fox News. He often attacks diversity and inclusion initiatives, public education, and has said women should not have combat roles in the military. As a professor of religious studies, Julie Ingersoll has looked at Hegseth's positions through the lens of his faith. She says he belongs to a Christian Reformation church that seeks to impose Old Testament biblical law across society. Certainly, in keeping with the theological system and the culture that he supports, he

sees his role in history and culture as bringing Christianity to bear on all of life across the globe. NPR attempted to reach Hegseth, but did not hear back. Odette Youssef, NPR News. President Biden is in Brazil today, the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Amazon rainforest, where he announced an additional $50 million in funding for the Amazon fund to mitigate climate change. We all know there's much more we can do and must do at home and abroad. That's why today I issued an official proclamation to support the conservation of nature around the world, because the fight to protect our planet is literally a fight for humanity for generations to come.

He took an aerial tour of a region that's been through two years of drought. Biden is in Brazil to attend the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro that gets underway tomorrow. U.S. futures contracts are trading higher. Dow futures up a fraction. NASDAQ futures up a half percent. This is NPR. Climate change has contributed to the rapid expansion of dengue fever around the globe in recent decades. That's according to a new study. NPR's Alejandro Burunda has more.

Dengue fever or breakbone fever can sometimes be fatal, and global case numbers have skyrocketed in recent years. It has even cropped up recently in the US. Dengue is spread by two species of mosquitoes which thrive at a particular Goldilocks temperature around 82 degrees Fahrenheit. A new study presented at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Meeting in New Orleans shows that climate change has expanded

that just right for mosquitoes temperature worldwide. In fact, climate change is linked to almost 20% of recent cases. Erin Mordecai is a researcher at Stanford University and an author of the study. So it's a very large share of the existing dengue and in some places it's more like 30 to 40%. That also means that keeping future climate change in check could have major health benefits for people worldwide. Alejandra Burunda, MPR News.

At the weekend box office, the big-budget, star-driven action comedy, Red One, took the top spot with an estimated $34 million in ticket sales. The Christmas-themed movie, starring Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans, cost over $200 million to produce. And while that ratio would normally be considered a flop, this movie is an Amazon MGM Studios release with the luxury of playing the long game rather than relying solely on global box office receipts. Amazon has some 250 million worldwide subscribers. I'm Janene Herbst, NPR News in Washington.