NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-30-2024 8PM EST

Episode Date: December 1, 2024

NPR News: 11-30-2024 8PM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This message comes from Indiana University. Indiana University performs breakthrough research every year, making discoveries that improve human health, combat climate change, and move society forward. More at iu.edu slash forward. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. President-elect Donald Trump has nominated former prosecutor and attorney Cash Patel to serve as the next director of the FBI. Patel has been an outspoken critic of the Bureau and has called for shutting down the agency's Washington headquarters and firing its top leadership. In a post on social media, Trump called Patel a brilliant lawyer, investigator,

and quote, America first fighter. If confirmed, Cash would replace Christopher Wray as the director of the FBI. World Central Kitchen, the U.S.-based humanitarian food organization, says it's pausing operations in Gaza after a vehicle carrying its staff was hit by an Israeli airstrike. NPR's Daniel Estrin reports the Israeli military says it was targeting a worker who had taken part in the October 7th attack on Israel last year. The Gaza Health Ministry says the airstrike in Khan Yunis killed at least three workers for World Central Kitchen, a group working to alleviate hunger and severe food shortages in Gaza. The Israeli military says the man targeted worked for the aid group

and took part in the deadly Hamas-led October 7th attack on the Kibbutz community of Nir Oze, where nearly a fourth of the residents was killed or taken hostage. Israel called on World Central Kitchen to investigate its local employees in Gaza. Earlier this year, an Israeli strike killed seven of the aid group's workers in Gaza. Israel called it a misidentification error. Danielle Estrin, NPR News, Tel Aviv. This year's holiday shopping is under the long shadow of higher prices. NPR's Alina Seljuk reports inflation has been cooling for months now, but people say they're

still feeling squeezed after paying their expenses. In a survey by Surkana, a market research firm, almost two-thirds of shoppers say the higher cost of food and bills, like insurance, has them changing how they shop. People talk about buying fewer gifts, cheaper gifts, or buying off-brand stuff, but holiday spending is still expected to grow this year, up to 3.5%. Retailers think shoppers will be drawn by the discounts, hoping to save money on deals. And there's another curious element in shopper surveys. More people say they plan to buy gifts for themselves. Some of these shoppers tend to be wealthier, or perhaps people feel like it's good to treat themselves, especially when something's on sale. Alina Seluk, NPR News.

Parts of the Great Lakes region are plowing out as a major storm continues to bring heavy snow to the area. Forecasters say towns along Lake Erie and Lake Ontario could continue to see accumulations of three inches an hour. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has declared a disaster emergency in some parts of the state. This is NPR. The endangered Ethiopian wolf is a carnivore that hunts its prey. But NPR's Ari Daniel reports it may also be a pollinator.

Fewer than 500 Ethiopian wolves remain in the wild. To conserve them, it helps to understand how they interact with their ecosystem. There have been reports that the wolves occasionally feed on the nectar from a plant called the red-hot poker. A research group followed half a dozen wolves over several days and photographed the animals lapping up the nectar, suggesting they might be transferring pollen from one plant to the next as they feed. Sandra Lai is senior scientist

with the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Program. We still would need to confirm, but to have a wolf pollinating flowers is a new thing. She hopes the findings will inform the group's efforts to protect the wolf by preventing further habitat loss and raising the animal's profile. For NPR News, I'm Ari Daniel. Russian police have carried out a raid at bars and nightclubs across Moscow as part of the Kremlin's crackdown on the LGBTQ plus community.

Russian state media reports that authorities see smartphones, laptops, and video cameras. The rates come a year after Russia's Supreme Court designated the LGBTQ plus movement as an extremist organization and banned their activities. President Vladimir Putin has touted traditional family values as a cornerstone of his quarter-century empower. This is NPR. in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally, and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the WISE app today, or visit

WISE.com, T's and C's apply.