NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-01-2024 12AM EST

Episode Date: December 1, 2024

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Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. Hamas has released a video of an Israeli-American hostage, as NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reports. The footage shows the 20-year-old pleading with President-elect Donald Trump to secure his release. It's the first time Edan, Alexander's family, has heard from him since he was captured in the Hamas attack on southern Israel, October 2023. In the video, Alexander addresses Trump as the incoming President of the United States, a sign that the video was filmed recently.

Alexander's mother, Yael, addressed a crowd shortly after the video was made public. She said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called her, telling her that the conditions for a ceasefire deal in Gaza that would release the remaining hostages was, quote, ripe. Stand by your begging you, Prime Minister, for my sake. Stand by your promise to me, she says to Netanyahu. We are all waiting on you to make a courageous decision. There are still 101 hostages remaining in Gaza, according to Israel.

At least a third of them are thought to be dead. Kat Lansdorf, MPR News, Haifa. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is asking NATO to provide security guarantees for the parts of his country that are not occupied by Russia. MPI's Joanna Kikissis reports that Zelensky told a British news outlet that this would end what he called the hot face of the war. Zelensky told Sky News that NATO should eventually admit all of Ukraine into the security alliance, including one-fifth of territory now occupied

by Russian forces. But until then, he says, NATO needs to protect what Ukraine still controls. Here's Zelensky speaking through an interpreter. We should take under NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control. That's what we need to do fast. And then Ukraine can get back the other part of its territory diplomatically. Russia is opposed to Ukraine's entry into NATO and has laid claim to land that is still under Ukrainian control. Joanna Kekesis, NPR News.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with President-elect Donald Trump last night. As NPR's Juliana Kim tells us, the meeting came just days after Trump announced sweeping tariffs against Mexico and Canada. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President-elect Donald Trump met on Friday night. The in-person meeting comes after Trudeau said he spoke to Trump earlier this week. Canada is America's largest trading partner, but that might soon change with the incoming Trump administration.

Trump has said he wants to slap a 25% tariff on all Canadian goods. But there's concern that such a move could throw Canada into a deep recession. Earlier this week, Trudeau says he plans to keep talking with Trump to see how the two can work together But not everyone in Canada agrees some have called for the country to retaliate if Trump goes through with the tariffs Julianna Kim NPR news and you're listening to NPR news It's snowing in Western New York at this hour and a state of emergency has been declared in some areas. Almost two feet of snow has already fallen in parts of New York, Ohio and Michigan.

A part of Interstate 90 in Pennsylvania was closed today along with the westbound lanes of the New York Thruway. Arctic air also brought bitterly low temperatures to the Northern Plains region. If you're not seeing a movie this weekend, get with the program. NPR's Bob Mandela reports that Hollywood is having a truly stellar Thanksgiving holiday. In the trade, they call it over-indexing. Everything is doing better than it's supposed to. Last week, Disney was predicting that Moana 2 might post a record-breaking $135 million over the holiday weekend.

It has already sailed past that number and is now expected to earn up to $220 million. Wicked was expected to drop substantially when Moana started competing for the same audience of women and girls. Instead it is up slightly. Gladiator 2 is plugging along in third place at a pace that would normally have it leading the pack. And this rising tide is lifting all boats. The Entertainment Industry

News site Deadline is reporting that the total for all films this weekend will exceed the previous Thanksgiving holiday record by roughly 100 million dollars. Bob Mandelo, NPR News. Negotiators are still hoping to reach an international treaty to curb plastic pollution before talks end in South Korea on Sunday. More than 100 countries support placing a worldwide cap on the production of plastic, but oil producing nations want any agreement to focus only on waste disposal. This round of talks is the last attempt to reach an agreement. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things 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 Wyse app today or visit wyse.com, tease and seize apply.