NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-19-2024 5AM EST

Episode Date: November 19, 2024

NPR News: 11-19-2024 5AM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dave Mattingly. President-elect Donald Trump is nominating former Republican Congressman Sean Duffy to lead the Transportation Department. Duffy served in the House for eight years representing Wisconsin. He's been a contributor and show host at Fox News for the last four years. NPR's Kirk Sigler says Trump's selection of his Interior Secretary nominee suggests the President-elect is hoping to fast-track energy development on public and private lands after he returns to the White House. Trump has

tapped North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum to lead the Department of Interior which manages roughly a fifth of all the land in the US. The President-elect also wants Burgum to lead a newly formed National Energy Council that will oversee all U.S. regulatory and permitting agencies with an eye toward fast-tracking everything from oil and gas drilling to renewable projects. Burgum is also expected to sit on Trump's powerful National Security Council.

In a press release, Trump takes a swipe at the outgoing Biden administration and its climate goals, which he says stifled drilling on federal land. But last year under Biden, federal data showed the U.S. actually produced more crude oil than any other country ever. Kirk Ziegler, NPR News. President Biden and the other leaders attending the G20 summit in Brazil are calling for an end to the ongoing wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. They issued a joint declaration yesterday where they also called for more humanitarian aid to reach Gaza amid the fighting between Israel and Hamas. The Biden administration

is imposing sanctions on an Israeli settler organization. It's also speaking out against plans by Israel to annex parts of the West Bank. As NPR's Michelle Kellerman reports, Trump is appointing officials who support those settlements. At the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield says that proposals to annex the West Bank or build settlements in Gaza, in her words, sow the seeds of further instability and create new obstacles to the full integration of Israel into the region.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller is announcing new targeted sanctions on several individuals and companies, including Amana, which he says is the largest organization involved in settlement development in the West Bank. That policy could be reversed next year, though. The previous Trump administration did not consider Israeli settlements illegal as the Biden administration does. Michelle Kelliman, NPR News, the State Department. A suspect is under arrest in New York City after police say three people were stabbed to death at separate locations in Manhattan.

Police say they arrested a 51-year-old man, described as carrying two kitchen knives with blood on his clothing. They say he has an extensive criminal record and a history of mental health issues. This is NPR News from Washington. It appears hackers have broken into the networks of the Library of Congress. That's according to a message sent to congressional offices. Emails between library staff and congressional offices were apparently breached by the unidentified hackers.

House and Senate networks and the U.S. Copyright Office were not affected. SpaceX will try again today to launch its giant Starship rocket on another test flight from its facility in Texas. NPR's Jeff Brumfield says NASA hopes to eventually use Starship to carry astronauts to the moon and to Mars. Jeff Brumfield Starship is the largest rocket ever built. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk hopes it will someday carry people to Mars. But first, the rocket has to be put through its paces closer to Earth.

SpaceX's testing has been slowed by environmental concerns. Earlier this year, the EPA found its launches were in violation of the Clean Water Act. But with the soon-to-be return of President Trump, who counts Musk as a close ally, regulations may no longer be an obstacle. This next launch aims to see Starship fly partway around the world before landing in the southern Indian Ocean. Jeff Brumfield, NPR News. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says its vehicle safety ratings will be expanded with the 2026 model year. NHTSA says the additions will include driver assistance technologies

and tests designed to better protect pedestrians. The changes were mandated in legislation passed by Congress three years ago. The new technologies will also be a factor in NHTSA's five-star crash test ratings. I'm Dave Mattingly in Washington.