NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-27-2024 12PM EST

Episode Date: November 27, 2024

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It's almost Thanksgiving, and if you're hosting this year, how well do you know how to cook the main event? A turkey in the grand scheme of things, not actually that hard. There's just a couple little things you have to keep in mind. It requires a little bit of planning ahead. On a new episode of Life Kit, we talk turkey. I'm Lakshmi Singh. Three Americans have been freed from prisons in China in a deal brokered by the Biden administration. Politico reports they were exchanged for Chinese citizens, though there are few details about them. Here's NPR's Michelle Kellerman. A State Department spokesperson says thanks to the Biden administration's diplomacy with

China, all wrongfully detained Americans in China are now home. The spokesperson says three are being reunited with their families for the first time in many years. They are Mark Sweedan, an American businessman from Texas, who was arrested in 2012 and accused of drug-related offenses. Chinese-American Kai Li had been held since 2016 on espionage charges, and John Leung, an American who had residency in Hong Kong, was sentenced last year to life in prison on spying charges.

The U.S. official would not comment when asked who China is getting in return. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, the State Department. As a candidate, Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs products produced in China and around the world and sold in the US. Now, as president-elect, he says he will use the levy against this country's largest and closest trading partners, Canada and Mexico.

And Pierre Zangani reports. President-elect Trump said in a post on Truth Social that as soon as he takes office next year, he'll impose 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico until they stop what he calls the invasion of drugs and quote, illegal aliens into the US. Officials from both countries pushed back immediately. Mexico's president threatened retaliatory tariffs

in response. If such tariffs are imposed, a wide range of industries would be impacted. Most significantly agriculture, also facing major disruptions would be the energy sector and the automobile industry. The tariffs would disrupt production and affect jobs. Don Gagne, NPR News.

Now that a ceasefire is in effect, Lebanese citizens are returning home. Images provided by the World Food Program show crowds of displaced children, women and men. Many returning to villages reduced to rubble for more than a year of cross-border strikes between Israel and Hezbollah. Under the deal, each side agrees to halt fighting for 60 days. A new law in Ohio says that on school grounds, a transgender man or woman must use a multi-person bathroom that corresponds to their sex at birth, not gender identity. Republican Governor Mike DeWine signed the legislation today. It applies to bathrooms, locker rooms, and overnight accommodations on all

school grounds from kindergarten to college level. Teachers unions and civil rights groups objected. The ACLU of Ohio says the measure will make LGBTQ Ohio residents less safe. It's NPR. The Department of Energy has announced major loans this week to support renewable energy and electric vehicles. NPR's Kamila Dominovski reports there's a narrow window of time for the department to finalize these loans before they could be canceled by the incoming Trump administration. Loans announced just this week include $6 billion for an EV plant in Georgia and nearly five billion for a Midwestern transmission line. Those loans are conditional with financial requirements and the Biden team's environmental and pro-union

stipulations before companies access funds. But if they're not finalized by President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, they face an uncertain fate. The Vakramaswamy, who will be recommending budget cuts, said on X it was insane to fork over billions of dollars to create thousands of jobs. The loan program's office gives loans and charges interest. Overall, the program has made money for the government. Camila Dominovski, NPR News. Los Angeles International Airport anticipating more than two million people will travel through

that airport for the Thanksgiving holiday, many arriving early. Arizona resident Susie Colvin did, and now the wait. We all got here thinking that we could just all check in a little bit earlier, that it would be insane here, and we just have to wait for another hour before we can check our luggage in. AAA projected a record number of people across the country would travel at least 50 miles from their home between yesterday and next Monday. U.S. stocks trading lower.

The Dow is down 43 points at 44,812. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.