NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-29-2024 12AM EST

Episode Date: November 29, 2024

NPR News: 11-29-2024 12AM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News in New York City, I'm Dwahleesai Kautau. President Biden is criticizing President-elect Donald Trump's threat to slap tariffs on Canada and Mexico. As NPR's Jackie Northam reports, Biden spoke to reporters while spending Thanksgiving in Nantucket. Biden said Trump's threat to place 25 percent on all Canadian and Mexican imports into the U.S. would, quote, screw up relations with the two close allies. I hope he rethinks it. I think it's a counterproductive thing to do. Trump said he would keep tariffs on the neighbors until they clamped down on drugs and migrants crossing the border. Biden said illegal crossings into the U.S. are down considerably.

Analysts say the proposed tariffs could violate a free trade deal, the USMCA, signed by the three countries during Trump's first term, and could harm the US economy if Canada and Mexico retaliate. As part of the spirit of the day, Biden also said he was thankful for a peaceful transition after the election. Jackie Northam, NPR News. Russia fired nearly 200 missiles and drones at Ukraine overnight. In Paris, Charles Maynes reports, President Vladimir Putin is calling this latest Russian assault a direct response to recent attacks by Kiev using American and other Western-made long-range missiles.

The latest Russian strikes left an estimated one million Ukrainians without power in freezing temperatures, and the Russian leader suggested more attacks were in the offing. Putin threatened to strike what he called decision-making centers in central Kiev and elsewhere if attacks on the Russian homeland using American and British missiles continued. Putin also repeated threats to strike Western military installations in Europe that he argues have helped Ukraine coordinate the strikes. Putin reminded Western powers that Russia now had what he called a menu of new weapons that he argued were superior to their Western counterparts. That included the Ureshnik hypersonic missile Russia

test-fired on Ukraine's city of Dnipro last week. Charles Mainz, NPR News, Moscow. Big tech has a new challenge now that Australia's parliament has passed the world's first social media ban prohibiting children under the age of 16 from using social media except for educational purposes. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he felt pressure from parents concerned about the mental health impacts on young people. We can't as a government hear those messages from parents and say it's too hard. We have a responsibility to act.

The prime minister said his message to Australian parents is, we've got your back. Lebanon's state-run media says at least two people were injured by Israeli gunfire in the border town of Markaba. This took place on the second day of a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel brokered by the United States and France. The Israeli military said in a statement that its troops opened fire on several suspects who allegedly breached the ceasefire. This is NPR. An annual gathering of tens of thousands of sandhill cranes is underway at a wildlife refuge in central Minnesota.

As Kirsty Marrone from Minnesota Public Radio News reports, the big flocks represent a victory for wildlife preservation. Sandhill cranes are known for their rattling call. Every fall, they make a stop at the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge on their migration from Canada to the southern U.S. A century ago, Sandhill cranes had nearly vanished from Minnesota due to overhunting and habitat loss. Chris Spath is a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. We've restored a lot of habitat here on the refuge and retained those areas that are super important to them for a roosting site,

shallow water wetlands, and it's a reliable spot too. There's no land use change that's going on inside of the refuge. Staff and volunteers counted more than 20,000 cranes at the refuge this week. The birds are expected to start heading south soon. For NPR News, I'm Kirstie Marrone in Zimmerman, Minnesota. There are more questions than answers in the case of a missing woman from Maui who disappeared two weeks ago, missing her connecting flight from Los Angeles to New York. When Hannah Kobayashi's father Ryan flew to search for the 30-year-old, the case worsened

when he was found dead this weekend near LAX. The local coroner and police say the father died in an apparent suicide. A fundraiser on GoFundMe describes his passing as an unimaginable loss for the family. I'm Dua-Helisa Icautel, NPR News in New York.