NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-11-2024 11PM EST

Episode Date: December 12, 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 autographcollection.com. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Roman. FBI Director Christopher Wray said Wednesday he will resign, effective at the end of the Biden administration on January the 20th.

Wray had three more years on his 10-year term, but President-elect Trump said that Wray should either resign or prepare to be fired after January the 20th. Trump has nominated loyalist Kosh Patel to be the new FBI director. He had been meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill in advance of his confirmation hearings. Police have more evidence tying Luigi Mangione to the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

As NPR's Maria Aspin reports, officials now say the gun in Mangione's possession matches physical evidence from the crime scene. Police arrested Mangione after a five-day manhunt for the person who shot and killed Thompson in Manhattan last week. The 26-year-old suspect is being held in Pennsylvania on weapons and forgery charges. He is fighting extradition to New York, where he faces charges for second-degree murder. But the gun in his possession has been sent to the NYPD crime lab, Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

We were able to match that gun to the three shell casings that we found in midtown at the scene of the homicide. She also said that the fingerprints on the gun matched the prints on other evidence found near the crime scene in New York. Maria Aspin, NPR News, New York. Iran's supreme leader is blaming the United States and Israel for the fall of the regime in Syria. NPR's Jackie Northam reports. In a defiant speech, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was the result of an American-Israeli plot.

They were Khamenei's first comments since Assad fled Damascus from Moscow last weekend. Khamenei warned not to underestimate the Iranian regime, that it would continue to undermine U.S. and Israeli influence in the Middle East. Even so, the collapse of the Assad regime has dealt a huge blow to Iran. Tehran relied on a land corridor through Syria to funnel weapons and money to Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon and other proxies in Iraq and Yemen. Jackie Northam, NPR News. The Biden administration is doubling tariffs on some products from China that are used

to make solar panels. NPR's Michael Copley. Supply chains for the global solar industry are largely controlled by China. The U.S. wants to change that. A law signed by President Biden provides tax credits for U.S. solar manufacturing. Now, it's raising tariffs to 50 percent next year on Chinese polysilicon and silicon wafers, the building blocks for most solar panels. The Office of the US Trade Representative

says the taxes could initially increase prices domestically, but that they're needed to make US manufacturing more competitive. Michael Copley, NPR News. And you're listening to NPR News. Saudi Arabia will host soccer's World Cup in 2034. The FIFA selection was celebrated in the Kingdom but is being criticized by human rights groups. NPR's Becky Sullivan reports.

The Saudi crown prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman has worked for years to bring big sporting events to the Kingdom as part of his effort to lift Saudi Arabia's international reputation. The 2034 World Cup is now his crown jewel. 15 stadiums and five host cities will see more than 100 games, millions of fans, and billions in revenue. Saudi Arabia was the only country to bid for the 2034 event. The selection process drew scrutiny because of limits on who was eligible to bid and how expedited the deadlines were. Critics say it shouldn't have gone to a country with Saudi Arabia's record of human rights violations

and with thousands of migrant workers needed to build stadiums, labor groups say they could be at risk of abuse. Becky Sullivan in PR News. Six-time Super Bowl coach Bill Belichak will be the new head football coach at the University of North Carolina. School officials and Belichak

have reportedly reached a five-year deal. The school's board of trustees will hold an emergency meeting Thursday to presumably ratify the agreement, which was negotiated by the board chairman, John Prayer. Belichick says he intends to create an NFL-like program at North Carolina, a university that has traditionally been a national basketball power. This will be Belichick's first college coaching job after spending 38 seasons in the NFL as the second-winningest coach in league history.

Stocks closed mixed on Thursday. The Nasdaq closed above 20,000 for the first time in history. This is NPR News.