NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-23-2024 3PM EST

Episode Date: November 23, 2024

NPR News: 11-23-2024 3PM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Noor Ram. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Noor Ram. President-elect Donald Trump has announced a flurry of picks for his cabinet and other high-ranking administration posts, among them is billionaire investor Scott Besant for the Treasury Department. Outgoing Oregon Congresswoman Lori Chavez-Dreamer was picked to be Labor Secretary. NPR's Andrea Hsu reports. Andrea Hsu.

Lori Chavez-Dreamer is a moderate Republican and one of only a few Republicans in Congress who supported the PRO Act. That's a bill aimed at removing some of the barriers to unionizing. Chavez-Dreamer lost her bid for reelection this month. After the announcement, Sean O'Brien, president of the Teamsters Union, thanked Trump for finding common ground to protect and respect labor in America. The choice is sure to disappoint many in the business community, who are counting on the incoming administration to roll back Biden-era labor rules they see as burdensome.

In a statement, Trump noted that Chavez de Rima is herself a small businesswoman and said together they'd grow wages and improve working conditions and bring back manufacturing jobs. Andrea Hsu, NPR News. Contentious United Nations climate negotiations continue in Azerbaijan's capital city more than a day later when they were scheduled to end. NPR's Jeff Brady has more in the story. Under the landmark Paris climate agreement, rich countries like the US agreed to pay $100 billion a year to developing countries that did little to cause climate change. In Baku, wealthy countries offered to boost that to $250 billion a year within the next decade.

Developing countries say they need much more. COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev told negotiators they're in the final stretch. However, time is not on our side. And I ask you to now step up your engagement with one another to bridge the remaining divide. Developing countries are skeptical of rich ones because they never fulfilled earlier pledges for help. Jeff Brady, NPR News. Israeli airstrikes hit in the heart of Lebanon's capital early this morning.

Lebanon's civil defense says at least 15 people were killed. NPR's Lauren Frere reports from Beirut. The Israeli military often issues evacuation orders before it strikes. But this one came without warning at 4 a.m. local time, a series of huge blasts that leveled an eight-story building and shook people in their beds a mile away. Beirut still smells of explosives hours later. Local TV shows a massive crater, one building collapsed and others on fire all around it.

For blocks, balconies are blown out and buildings covered in soot. Lebanon's national news agency says Israel used bunker buster bombs in this strike. Israel says its airstrike's target has Bola militants. They've primarily hit across Lebanon's south and east where the group has strongholds. But strikes like this in central parts of the capital are becoming more frequent. Lauren Freyer, NPR News, Beirut.

Tens, you're listening to NPR News. Tens of thousands of people march through the streets of Barcelona, Spain today to protest the high cost of housing there. The city is a popular tourist destination. Protesters say rental prices have been driven up by short-term renters such as tourists. The lack of affordable housing is one of the leading concerns in Spain, where the average

rent has doubled in the past decade. Music mogul Sean Diddy Combs made his third unsuccessful attempt at bail yesterday. Ahead of his sex trafficking and racketeering trial, NPR's Sydney Madden has details. Sydney Madden Defense attorneys for Combs asserted that private notes from his jail cell had been unlawfully seized to try and keep him behind bars, and that a key piece of evidence in the case, surveillance video of Kulms assaulting his ex-girlfriend, does not depict trafficking.

The defense presented a robust bond package of $50 million, but prosecutors argued it's a shameless attempt to buy his way out of jail, and that Kulms can't be trusted not to intimidate witnesses if he were to be released. The federal judge said he would make a decision promptly and sent Combs back to jail while he decides. The music exec was arrested back in September. He's pleaded not guilty to all charges and is set to stand trial in May. Sydney Madden, NPR News. In women's soccer, the championship match will be held tonight in Kansas City.

The number two seed, the Washington Spirit, will face the top-seeded Orlando Pride and its Brazilian superstar, Marta. She scored the Pride's game-winning goal in their semifinal match last weekend. During the regular season, Washington played Orlando twice and lost both times. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News in Washington.