NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-02-2024 10PM EST

Episode Date: December 3, 2024

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Support for this podcast and the following message come from Autograph Collection Hotels, with over 300 independent hotels around the world, each exactly like nothing else. Autograph Collection is part of the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio of hotel brands. Find the unforgettable at autografecollection.com. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. Weeks before leaving office, President Joe Biden has changed his mind about pardoning his son, Hunter Biden. Biden, in reversing himself, said he felt the case was politically motivated and designed to hurt him personally. The pardon is broad, covering any actions taken in the last 10 years.

The decision, meanwhile, is getting plenty of blowback, both from Republicans and even some Democrats, who say it could make it harder to oppose actions by President-elect Donald Trump to issue pardons of his own. Here's Colorado Governor Jared Polis speaking on NPR's here and now. I think it's important to hold Republicans and Democrats to the same high standards. And I was frankly disappointed that he used the power

of pardon to help a family member. I understand as a father why someone would want to do that. But I think if we're going to be criticizing, for instance, the pardons President Trump made last time around, and should, including the father of his son-in-law, we need to take the moral high ground here. Hunter Biden was convicted of illegally purchasing a gun. He also pleaded guilty to federal tax charges. The Syrian army and allied militias are regrouping after a rebel group seized the country's second most populous city, Aleppo. NPR's Ruth Sherlock reports that Syria and Russia are intensifying air strikes on opposition

areas. Regime forces have amassed north of Hamas city in central Syria after rebel forces seized large swathes of territory. The regime's ally, Iran, says it will keep military personnel in Syria, and videos posted online appear to show members of the Iran-backed militias in Iraq crossing the border into Syria to help bolster the Syrian regime. President Bashar al-Assad has vowed to force the rebels back, saying the, quote, language of force is the only language the militias understand.

But the regime has a lot of territory to regain. In the space of a few days, the rebels have taken control of Aleppo city and also tracks of a highway important for the economy in regime areas. Ruth Sherlock, NPR News. The Delaware court has thrown out a Lon Musk record-setting pay package again. The same court had previously ruled Musk had too much influence over his own pay worth tens of billions of dollars. As NPR's Kamila Dominovski explains, Tesla shareholders then voted to approve the exact

same package again, but to no avail. Judge Kathleen McCormick said no Delaware court had ever reversed its judgment based on a stockholder vote held after the trial. She pointed out if companies could create new facts after judgments were passed, lawsuits would become interminable. They last a long time as it is. This lawsuit could still be appealed to the state Supreme Court. For now, plaintiffs won again. The attorneys had asked for billions in fees based on a percentage of the money they saved

Tesla. The judge noted that was a bold ask in a case about excessive compensation and cut it down to just hundreds of millions. Camila Dominovski, NPR News. On Wall Street, the Dow is down 128 points. You're listening to NPR. The head of automaker Stellantis has announced he's stepping down after nearly four years in the top spot at the company that owns brands like Jeep, Ram Citroen and Peugeot. Carlos Tavares submitting his resignation Sunday, effective immediately.

The company in the statement said the process of finding a new permanent CEO is well underway. Tavares took the reins of the company when merged with Fiat Chrysler in 2021. Resignation comes as the automaker continues to struggle with slumping sails. Although it only launched in October, a NASA probe headed for Jupiter's moon Europa is now more than 13 million miles from Earth. As Joe Palko reports, it's hardly time to say,

are we there yet though? That's because the probe has almost 1.8 billion miles left to go. Jupiter's moon Europa is intriguing. Scientists have determined it has a liquid water ocean sloshing around under its icy surface. And where there's water, there could be, could be, life. So scientists are eager to learn as much about Europa as possible. The probe, called the Europa Clipper, is the largest spacecraft NASA has ever developed for a planetary mission.

It has already begun to deploy some of the instruments it will use when it arrives at Jupiter in 2030. For now, the probe is headed for Mars, where it will get a gravity boost for its long trip, some 1.8 billion miles, through the solar system. For NPR News, I'm Joe Pelka. Supreme Court justices heard arguments today on the matter of whether federal regulators misled companies as they refused to allow them to sell flavored vaping products following For RNews, I'm Joe Palca.