NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-18-2024 6AM EST

Episode Date: November 18, 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 Korva Coleman. The Biden administration will permit Ukraine to fire certain long-range U.S. missiles deep into Russian territory. NPR's Greg Myrie says President Biden had previously held back approval because of concern this could escalate the war.

He seems to be acting now because Russia is using some 10,000 North Korean troops in a bid to push Ukrainian forces out of Russian territory. This is according to a U.S. official who spoke to our NPR colleague Tom Bowman. Now Ukraine captured a chunk of the Kursk region in western Russia about 500 square miles back in August. These Russian and North Korean forces are clawing back some of that territory in heavy fighting. The Ukrainians will now be able to use these U.S. missiles, known as Atacams, to try to hold this territory. NPR's Greg Myrie reporting.

President-elect Donald Trump has picked a new chief for the Federal Communications Commission. NPR's David Falkenfleck reports it is Brendan Carr, a veteran Republican member of the FCC and a Trump loyalist. Allies and adversaries tell NPR that Brendan Carr is smart, personable, and highly qualified to become the next FCC chairperson. For years, Carr took a classic Republican line in favor of sweeping away regulations that limit the consolidation of media ownership. More recently, he has embraced Trumpian positions on regulating big tech companies and punishing

broadcast television networks for how they covered the presidential race. Carr also authored the FCC portion of Project 2025, a blueprint written by pro-Trump Republicans. The FCC is considered a semi-autonomous agency. Trump says he'll bring it under more direct White House control, which would almost certainly prompt litigation. David Falkenfleck, NPR News. The Wisconsin Supreme Court holds a hearing today to look at whether Republicans can fire the state's top election official. Some conservatives falsely blame her for Donald Trump's loss of Wisconsin in the 2020 presidential election. From member station WUWM, Chuck Krumbach reports.

Wisconsin's GOP-controlled Senate tried last year to remove Megan Wolfe as Wisconsin's elections administrator, arguing the non-Protestant official's term had expired. The party-controlled Senate tried last year to remove Megan Wolf as Wisconsin's elections administrator, arguing the non-Portisans' term had expired. But a circuit judge has allowed Wolf to stay in her job as a holdover appointment. Now the state Supreme Court is reviewing Wolf's case. University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist Barry Burden says her status is important for some upcoming spring races.

Arbitrarily removing someone and doing away with the kind of experience and skills and credibility they've established is a problem almost whenever it happens. Wolfe hasn't said if she wants to stay on the job into next year. For NPR News, I'm Chuck Quirmbach in Milwaukee. Spirit Airline says it is seeking federal bankruptcy protection. The low-fare airline carrier has had a bunch of setbacks, including its failure to merge with JetBlue Airlines. A federal judge blocked that move in January.

This is NPR. The Israeli military confirms it has killed the chief of communications, Fort Hezbollah. Mohammed Afeef died in an airstrike in Beirut over the weekend. Hezbollah has also confirmed his death. The U.S. and the Philippines have agreed to share military intelligence just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated. NPR's Emily Fang reports the intelligence pact is meant to help Manila in its territorial spat with China. Discussions over the intelligence sharing agreement started in 2021.

And this week, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Philippines counterpart, Gilberto Teodoro, signed what's called the General Security of Military Information Agreement. The agreement shores up security ties between Washington and Manila as tensions with China and the nearby South China Sea continue and a new commander-in-chief is set to enter the White House. Both China and the Philippines, as well as a host of other Southeast Asian countries,

have overlapping claims to the sea. Though an international tribunal ruled in the Philippines' favor in 2016. That has not stopped China from continuing to claim most of the sea. Emily Fang and Pure News, Taipei, Taiwan. What was super typhoon Mani is pulling away from the northern Philippines. This is the sixth hurricane-intensity storm to hit the Philippines in a month. Officials say a landslide triggered by the typhoon has killed at least seven people today. Forecasters say what was Tropical Storm Sarah is now breaking up

fast off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. It has dropped several inches of rain from Honduras to Guatemala. I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News.