NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-27-2025 11AM EST

Episode Date: November 27, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Janine Hurst. An investigation is underway across the U.S. and overseas after a man described as a refugee from Afghanistan opened fire yesterday on two National Guard soldiers in the nation's capital. MPIRS Brian Mann reports the Guard members remain in critical condition. 20-year-old Sarah Baxter and 24-year-old Andrew Wolfe were patrolling a street in Washington, D.C., Wednesday afternoon when a man opened fire with a handgun. Federal officials say Bextram and Wolfe, both from West Virginia, have come through surgery but remain in critical condition. At a press conference, FBI director Cash Patel said the alleged shooter is a refugee from Afghanistan who drove across the country from Washington State before carrying out the attack. Patel described this as an international terrorism investigation. We will continue to hit the streets and hit every town and every house and talk to every witness.

According to Patel, search warrants and interviews have already been condemned. conducted in Washington State and California. Brian Mann, NPR News. A panel of three judges is allowing North Carolina to use a newly drawn congressional map in the 26 elections. Adam Wagner of Member Station WUNC has more. Republican legislators in North Carolina drew the new map to give their party a clear advantage in 11 of the state's 14 congressional races. The North Carolina NAACP and voting Rights Group Common Cause are among those challenging the new map. They asked the court to prevent it from being used next year because they say it dilutes the power of black voters in the region.

Legislators have said repeatedly their focus was gaining the maximum possible advantage for Republicans amid a national race to secure safe seats. In Wednesday's ruling, the three-judge panel said plaintiffs failed to prove that the maps intentionally discriminate against black voters by diluting their power. Candidate filing starts Monday. For NPR news, I'm Adam Wagner in Raleigh. Pope Leo is using the first foreign trip of his papacy to Turkey and then Lebanon to call for peace and harmony that he says the world needs. MPIR's Ruth Sherlock is traveling with the Pope. Pope Leo spoke with enthusiasm about his intended mission during this six-day pilgrimage to Turkey and to Lebanon. We hope to also announce, transmit, and proclaim how important peace.

is throughout the world and to invite all people to come together, to search for greater unity, greater harmony. He visits the Middle East at a sensitive time as a tenuous ceasefire continues in Gaza after Israel's devastating offensive there. Lebanon, the next stop for the Pope after Turkey, has also been blighted by war. Pope Leo hopes his visit will help leaders in the region double down on peace. Ruth Sherlock, NPR News, Ankara, Turkey. Street is closed today in observance of Thanksgiving. You're listening to NPR News.

Soldiers in Guinea-Bissau appeared on state TV, saying they ceased power. This after reports of gunfire near their presidential palace. The president tells French media he's been disposed and arrested. Yesterday's events happened three days after national elections. The military high command says they acted in response to a plan to destabilize the country involving both domestic and foreign nationals. They have suspended the electoral process and they've closed the borders. A new assessment of African forest elephants finds there are less than 150,000 remaining around the world. As MPR's Nate Roth reports, poaching and mining are two of the biggest threats facing the endangered animal. African forest elephants live in the dense, humid rainforests of western and central Africa, making them notoriously difficult to count. The new assessment used genetic fingerprints of individual elephants found in dung samples to calculate population size, and it estimates there are just over 135,000 individuals left. Poaching and habitat loss from mining operations,

human infrastructure, and agricultural development have been the largest threats to the elephants. The authors of the new assessment say the new data provides crucial information to help focus conservation efforts and give the species a chance to recover. Nate Rot, NPR News. The 99th Macy's Day Parade is underway in New York City with 34 giant balloons, 28 floats, 33 clown crews, marching bands, and thousands of volunteers marching down the street. I'm Janine Hurst, NPR News, in Washington.