NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-24-2024 11AM EST

Episode Date: November 24, 2024

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NPR News in Washington, I'm Noor Rahm. After a weekend whirl of announcements, plans for the incoming presidential cabinet are now complete. NPR's Amy Held reports, President-elect Donald Trump named nine picks Friday. Trump's announcement Saturday of longtime aide and ally, Brooke Rollins, as Agriculture Secretary, rounds out his selections of executive branch department heads. The Republican-controlled Senate begins the confirmation process early next year. Trump's choices, charged with the nation's health, defense, education, and more,

share some common threads. Fierce loyalists, some with tons of TV experience, but not much related to the top jobs. Trump campaigned on promises to shake up government bureaucracy. His transition so far is behind on its paperwork. Still unsigned, documents that would show which interest groups or wealthy donors may be contributing and allow his cabinet picks to get FBI background checks. Amy Held and Pierre News. Hundreds of people showed up at a high school in East Los Angeles this weekend to get help becoming American citizens. It's all part of a larger effort by the school district and the city to protect people from deportation

that's been promised by the incoming Trump administration. NPR's Kelly McEvers reports. Refugio Sanchez has citizenship. Like an estimated 800,000 other people in LA, his wife Cheryl Sanchez is undocumented. They say people are panicking. I don't want to be separated from my kids, my family. Refugio and Cheryl Sanchez have three kids. They say people they know on social media are already talking about how there could be checkpoints and how they might get rounded up. The family signed up to get legal help for Cheryl through a nonprofit. School board officials say there will be more events like this in the coming weeks. The L.A. school district and the city recently voted to become sanctuaries for undocumented

immigrants. Kelly McEvers and PR News, Los Angeles. Early this morning in Azerbaijan, a deal was reached at the COP29 summit to help less developed countries tackle climate change. It's being criticized for failing to meet the scale of the challenge. Richer countries agreed to raise their contribution for those countries' most vulnerable climate change to $300 billion a year. Simon Steele, the head of the UN climate body, conceded that the agreement that was reached is far from perfect.

No country got everything they wanted, and we leave Baku with a mountain of work to do. The many other issues we need to progress may not be headlines, but they are lifelines for billions of people. So this is no time for victory laps. Climate negotiators are to meet in Brazil next year. This is NPR News in Washington. The capital of Pakistan, Islamabad, is partially locked down today because of a planned protest. Demonstrators are demanding the release of the former premier, Imran Khan, imprisoned for more than a year on several criminal charges.

Officials have closed major roads leading into the city and suspended mobile and internet services. In Jordan, there was a rare shooting overnight in the capital Amman in the neighborhood where the now closed Israeli embassy is located. NPR's Jane Arraff reports from Amman. JLJ Jordan's security directorate says a gunman opened fire on a police patrol in the capital's Ravieh neighborhood. It says he was shot dead in a firefight after trying to escape. State media says three police officers sustained moderate injuries. It said the suspect had a criminal record

including drug and illegal weapons possession and had been wanted by police. The Israeli Embassy has been cordoned off and closed since shortly after the start of the Gaza war more than a year ago. A majority of Jordan citizens are of Palestinian origin who are not allowed by Israel to return to their homeland. Jordan, a strong U.S. ally, signed a peace treaty with Israel 30 years ago, but polls show most Jordanians, regardless of origin, oppose the treaty. Jane Araf, NPR News, Amman.

In women's soccer, the Orlando Pride beat the Washington Spirit 1-0 last night in Kansas City to win the National Women's Soccer League Championship. This is the first championship for Orlando and its Brazilian star, Marta. I'm Noura Ram, NPR News in Washington.