NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-22-2024 11AM EST

Episode Date: November 22, 2024

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Hey, it's Aisha Harris from Pop Culture Happy Hour. If you love NPR podcasts, you'll want the new NPR Plus podcast bundle. Enjoy an all-you-can-eat selection of NPR Plus podcasts with sponsor-free listening and bonus episodes. Plus, you'll be supporting public radio. Check it out at plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News, I'm Koriva Coleman. President-elect Donald Trump has chosen former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to be his

U.S. Attorney General. Bondi is a deeply experienced prosecutor. She was also on Trump's legal team during his first impeachment trial in the Senate. Bondi was tapped after Trump's first choice, former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, dropped out. Gaetz has been investigated by the House Ethics Committee on allegations of sexual misconduct, allegations he denies. Some lawmakers have called on the committee

to release the findings. Illinois Democratic Congressman Sean Caston says, in years past, the committee has continued investigating members who resigned and sometimes released its findings. No workplace would allow that information to be swept under the rug simply because someone resigned for office. The House Ethics Committee is scheduled to meet December 5th to further discuss the issue.

Mexico's president says her government is preparing for Donald Trump to follow through on his pledge to carry out mass deportations from the U.S. once he returns to the White House. From Member Station KJZZ, Nina Kravinsky has more. Mexican President Claudia Schoenbaum says her country is prepared to receive deportees if there are mass expulsions next year. But she says her first step is to show the incoming administration that immigrants from her country are an important part of the U.S. economy, and said that immigrants shouldn't

be treated as criminals. Trump has promised deportations starting at the beginning of his new administration in January. He confirmed this week that he plans to declare a national emergency and use the military to carry out those deportations. According to the Pew Research Center, there are around 4 million unauthorized immigrants from Mexico and the US. For NPR News, I'm Nina Kravinsky in Edmosillo, Mexico. The death toll in Gaza from Israel's war against Hamas has now surpassed 44,000 people. The Gaza Ministry of Health says more than half are women and children. In northern Gaza, dozens of people were killed in Israeli airstrikes in the last 24 hours. There's little help for wounded victims because the main hospital there hardly functions.

NPR's Anas Baba interviewed a health worker in the hospital, and NPR's Ruth Sherlock prepared this report. Dr. Eid Sabah in Kamal-ud-wan Hospital in North Gaza says the wounded arrive on animal carts. The hospital's ambulances have been destroyed. And once in the hospital, there's often little the doctors can do to help. A month ago, Israeli soldiers entered the hospital grounds

and destroyed many of the medical supplies, he says, and the anesthetists have been arrested. Lives that would have been saved in normal circumstances, he says, and the anesthetists have been arrested. Lives that would have been saved in normal circumstances, he says, don't make it now. The Israeli military did not respond to NPR's request for comment. Ruth Sherlock, NPR News, Tel Aviv. You're listening to NPR News. Forecasters say California could get several more inches of rain today from a powerful storm system that blew through Oregon and Washington State too

this week. More than 180,000 customers in Washington State still don't have power. One utility company says this week's strong winds did unprecedented damage to its power lines. The only Emperor penguin ever known to have swum from Antarctica to Australia is homebound. NPR's Amy Held reports the penguin, known as Gus, waddled into the hearts of Australians during his three-week rehabilitation. Gus is going home. Three weeks after, the first emperor penguin found in Australia washed ashore, looking lost and malnourished, some 2,000 miles away from home in Antarctica. An Australian wildlife expert took him in and named him after the Roman emperor Augustus.

These penguins are the world's biggest and known to swim far for food, but they are susceptible to climate change as melting sea ice messes with their reproductive cycle. As for Gus, after resting and fattening up, Carol Bidolf, his caregiver, helped see him off in the Southern Ocean. Good luck, Gus. Oh, there he is. There's his head. The goal is for Gus to get himself back home.

I'll miss Gus. Bidolf said he had spent a lot of time in front of a big mirror, she thinks because he was lonely. Amy Held, NPR News. The motoring club AAA says a lot of people will be traveling for Thanksgiving. AAA estimates nearly 80 million people will be traveling. Amy Held, NPR News.