NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-26-2024 3AM EST

Episode Date: November 26, 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, I'm Giles Snyder. There are signs that Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah are moving closer to a ceasefire deal. But Israeli officials say they want to make sure that Hezbollah pulls back from the border

with Israel and stops firing rockets, as NPR's Michelle Kellerman reports. Israel's ambassador to the UN says a ceasefire agreement has not yet been finalized, but Denny Donan says Israel's cabinet will discuss it soon. For us it's important what will happen after, that Hezbollah will not be allowed to come back to the fence and we will do whatever is necessary to guarantee it. We learned the lessons from 2006. That was the last conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. At the time the UN Security Council demanded that Hezbollah pull back from the border.

Denon says if the Lebanese army can't control southern Lebanon again, Israel wants the option to go back in to, in his words, neutralize the threat. Michelle Kelliman, NPR News, the State Department. Israel's cabinet is expected to meet today to discuss the deal, and Lebanese officials are expressing cautious optimism President-elect Trump rounded out his cabinet picks over the weekend including those in the health care space his choices include dr Marty McCary to lead the Food and Drug Administration McCary a surgeon and public policy researcher at Johns Hopkins University

The Washington Post and diamond says he's a frequent FDA critic. He has made a number of critiques over the years of FDA and some of the broader federal health agencies. He said that they're too slow, they're too bureaucratic. Those are bipartisan concerns to be fair. He's not the first person to bring that up. But what he specifically honed in on during the coronavirus response was he said it was too heavy-handed that some of the recommendations around vaccines were too blanket. Another area that he hasn't agreed with the regulators on before was work around medical errors, also price transparency, and he's pushed some of those issues throughout his career. Macy says an accounting employee had tens of millions of dollars in expenses forcing the company to delay its quarterly

financial report, widely watched for clues about consumer spending around the holidays. NPR's Alina Seljuk reports. It's one of the most unusual announcements Macy's has made. The company says it has discovered that a single employee who oversaw expenses from small package delivery had intentionally hid huge sums spent on those expenses. It was up to $154 million spent over the past three years. Macy says the person is no longer employed by them. The company claims nobody else was involved and it did not say why the employee intentionally made these errors. This means Macy's is delaying its financial forecast

for the all-important holiday season. The chain is trying to turn around its slumping sales with a plan that involves closing 150 underperforming stores. Alina Seluk, NPR News. And you're listening to NPR News. Special counsel Jack Smith is abandoning his prosecution of President-elect Trump, both the election interference case stemming from the January 6 riot in Washington, D.C., and the classified documents case in Florida. In court filing, Smith cites a Justice Department policy that says sitting presidents cannot face criminal prosecution.

A federal judge in Washington granted Smith's request to dismiss the January 6 case, but left open the possibility that it could be brought back after Trump is no longer president. Ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, President Biden has pardoned two turkeys from Minnesota, and Piers Franco Ordonez has more on the annual White House tradition. President Biden said the two turkeys, peach and blossom, are named after the Delaware state flower, the peach blossom, which he said fitting for the day symbolized resilience. Well, fellas, your prayer is going to be answered today. Based on your temperament and commitment to being productive members of society, I hereby

pardon peach and blossom. The longtime tradition marks the official start of the holiday season at the White House. Biden noted it would be the final holiday season he'd spend at the White House, expressing gratitude for what he called the honor of his life. So happy Thanksgiving in America. God bless you all and may God protect our troops. Thank you. Franco Ordonez, NPR News.

Airports and highways expected to be packed this Thanksgiving week, and AAA predicts that nearly 80 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles, most of them by car. This is NPR News.