NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-23-2024 9AM EST

Episode Date: November 23, 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 Giles Snyder. President-elect Donald Trump has announced a flurry of picks for his cabinet and other high-ranking administration posts. Among them is outgoing Oregon Congresswoman Lori Chavez-Dreamer to be Labor's secretary. NPR's Andrea Shue

reports her selection represents a sharp departure from Trump's past. 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 re-election 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. President-elect has also settled on a nominee to lead the Treasury Department as he rounds out his economic team. He's named hedge fund manager Scott Besant as his choice for Treasury Secretary. The decision by the Republican-led State Board of Education in Texas to allow public elementary schools to incorporate Bible lessons is not

sitting well with some parents and teachers. Sharon Vane is among them. Sharon Vane, Teacher, Bible Lessons, Texas As a Jewish parent, of course, we taught our kids our faith at home. And I think no matter your faith, the parents are the ones who need to be teaching those lessons. Nat. The State Board voted 8 to 7 yesterday in favor of using the material developed by the state. It's optional, but school districts using it will get extra funding. There was an airstrike in the heart of Lebanon's capital overnight. Israeli media say it was targeting a Hezbollah leader in an area of central Beirut away from the group's base of operations in the city's

southern suburbs. Lebanon's civil defense says at least 11 people were killed and dozens were injured. MP Arzorn Frayer is in 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. And this is NPR News. South Korea's government says it will not participate in this weekend's memorial service near Japan's Sato Island gold mines. The foreign ministry cites disagreements with Japan over the event. The mines are a source of tension between the two countries over the treatment of Korean

forced laborers during World War II. And Azerbaijan talks at the COP29 climate meeting are ongoing. The talks were scheduled to end yesterday, but they've gone into overtime as negotiators from nearly 200 countries seek a deal on money for developing nations to adapt to climate change. They're seeking billions to mitigate droughts, floods, rising seas, and extreme heat. The pop star and artist Bjork has created a new art installation in Paris that features the sounds of endangered and extinct animals. NPR's Chloe Veltman reports that Nature Manifesto aims to highlight the effects of human-caused climate change on the Earth's shrinking biodiversity.

Visitors can hear Björk's immersive, otherworldly soundscape over the next few weeks as they climb the long glass escalator that hugs the side of the Pompidou Centre in Paris. In a pioneering sound strata of mutant peacocks, bees, and lemurs. There are orangutan, beluga whale, and mosquito sounds, among others. Also in the mix are the sounds of extinct creatures, like the Hawaiian crow, which can no longer be found in the wild. The creative team manipulated many of the samples using artificial intelligence.

Björk is a long-time climate activist. She advocates for ecological issues, including her ongoing fight against intensive fish farming in her native Iceland. Chloe Valtman, NPR News. And I'm Giles Snyder. This is NPR News from Washington.