NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-21-2024 7AM EST

Episode Date: November 21, 2024

NPR News: 11-21-2024 7AM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Otograff Collection is part of the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio of hotel brands. Find the unforgettable at autograffcollection.com. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korova Coleman. Ukraine's military says Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile today at a major city in central Ukraine. NPR's Polina Litvinova reports from Kyiv. If confirmed, it would be the first time Russia has struck Ukraine with this type of missile. Ukraine's air force says Russia launched the advanced missile from the Astrakhan region

in southeastern Russia. Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, or ICBMs, are designed to carry nuclear warheads. Ukraine's Air Force says the ICBM was one of nine other rockets Russia shot at the central city of Dnipro, damaging civilian infrastructure. The military says it shot down six of them. This is the second attack in a week when Russia uses missiles. Ukraine has returned to scheduled power cuts because of damage the attacks have caused to energy facilities. Experts say Russia may increase the number of attacks and attempts to destroy Ukraine's energy system as the winter approaches. Polina Litvinova, NPR News.

The House Ethics Committee has not released its investigative report on former Congressman Matt Gaetz. President-elect Donald Trump has nominated him for attorney general. Gaetz is accused of sex trafficking and having sex with an underage girl. He has denied the allegations. The committee will take up the issue again in early December. Some senators are calling for the report's release. Gaetz joined Vice President-elect J.D. Vance yesterday to meet with senators on Capitol Hill about his nomination.

This is going great. The senator has been giving me a lot of good advice. I'm looking forward to a hearing. Folks have been very supportive. They've been saying we're going to get a fair process. So it's a great day of momentum for the Trump-Vance administration. Separately, there are more questions about Trump's nominee for defense secretary Pete Hegseth.

His lawyer says he paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault. He says he paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault. He says he paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault. He says he paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault. He says he paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault. He says he paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault. He says he paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault. He says he paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault.

He says he paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault. He says he paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault. He says he paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault. He says he paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault. He says he paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault. for the Trump-Bance administration. Separately, there are more questions about Trump's nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. His lawyer says he paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault, but he has denied the assault allegation. A California police report released yesterday had more details of the woman's allegation. The report says the woman alleged Hegseth blocked her from leaving a hotel room and took away her phone

before assaulting her. The state of Texas is offering president-elect Trump some land to build mass deportation centers. And Pierceria Martinez Beltran has more. The 1,400 acres of land are to be used to construct deportation facilities. That's in a letter to the president-elect from Texas General Land Commissioner Don Buckingham. The land is in Starr County, which includes towns on the US-Mexico border. The county flipped Republican for the first time in more than a century on November 5th. Buckingham says her office is ready to enter into an agreement with the federal government

to build a facility for the processing, detention and, quote, largest deportation of violent criminals in the nation. Trump has said he'll declare a national emergency and use the military to assist with deportations. Sergio Martinez Beltran, NPR News, Austin. You're listening to NPR News. Officials with the Health Ministry in Gaza say Israeli attacks have now killed more than 44,000 Palestinians since Israel war with Hamas started last year.

The Israeli military continues its attacks on the enclave. Relief organizations warn that conditions in northern Gaza are beyond catastrophic. A new study in the journal Nature revealed that people who were in its sample preferred poems that were written by artificial intelligence over poems that were written by human beings. As NPR's Neda Ulibi reports, the study from the University of Pittsburgh used work by ten famous writers. Here is NPR's Scott Simon reading a poem about the Mississippi River. I do not know much about gods, but I think that the river is a strong brown god, sullen,

untamed and intractable. That's by T.S. Eliot, one of the writers used in the study along with William Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer and Emily Dickinson. The study found that not only did people have a hard time distinguishing A.I. poetry from the work of these canonical writers, they preferred the work of A.I. and tended to think it was human-authored. The researchers said the simplicity of A.I.-generated poetry might be easier for readers today to understand. Complex language in the poems was misinterpreted

by some as A.I. incoherence. Neda Ulibi, NPR News. The Justice Department is asking a federal judge to force big tech company Google to sell off its search engine Chrome. This comes after a judge ruled this year Google is using Chrome to keep an illegal monopoly going. I'm Korva Kuhlman, NPR News.