NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-12-2024 2PM EST

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

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Lye from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President-elect Donald Trump's nominees for FBI Director Kash Patel and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are making the rounds on Capitol Hill. Hegseth is meeting this afternoon with Senator John Fetterman, the first Democrat in Congress's upper house, to meet with a military veteran and former Fox News host. NPR's Luke Garrett spoke to one Republican senator who remains undecided. Senator Susan Collins of Maine tells NPR she is reserving her judgment on Patel and Hexeth.

It's my practice, except in very rare circumstances where I know the nominee well, to wait until the FBI background check has been completed. The moderate Republican says she believes Trump's cabinet nominations deserve a swift confirmation process. But Collins notes that she has voted against Trump nominees before. You never know what new information may come out. With slim control of the Senate, four GOP senators could join Democrats to block Trump's cabinet picks. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington.

Investigators are digging into the background of the man accused of gunning down a health care executive in Manhattan last week. Attention has turned to a handwritten document that police say they found on the alleged gunman. According to the Associated Press, the note describes a disconnect between the country's expensive health care system and low life expectancy. Well the issue is one NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin has covered extensively. Well the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's latest calculations put America's life expectancy at 77 and a half years. And that's quite low compared to the life expectancy for countries like Canada and Japan

and Australia. The average for high income countries is 80 years. So at 77 and a half years, American life expectancy is on par with countries like Ecuador and Croatia. NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin reporting. The Israeli military has announced its first withdrawal of troops from an area of southern Lebanon. announced its first withdrawal of troops from an area of southern Lebanon, while in Syria, Israeli forces have taken over a buffer zone and some adjacent territory.

And Piers Daniel-Estrin has more from Tel Aviv. Two weeks into the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, Israeli troops have pulled out of the southern Lebanese town of Al-Khiyam, and Lebanese troops deployed there with UN peacekeepers and US officials observing. Israeli troops are still on the ground elsewhere in southern Lebanon, and Israel says it will gradually withdraw. Under the ceasefire agreement, the Hezbollah militia must also withdraw. Meanwhile, in Syria, after the fall of the government, Israeli troops have occupied a

buffer zone in the Golan Heights and adjacent Syrian territory. Troops tell Israeli media Syrian villagers greeted them with coffee. Israel says it's a temporary measure to protect the border. France called on Israel to withdraw. Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Tel Aviv. It's NPR. Banks and credit unions in the U.S. could face new limits on overdraft fees before the end of next year. Here's NPR's Laura Wamsley.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has announced a new rule that will limit how much big banks and credit unions can charge customers in overdraft fees. These financial institutions typically charge $35 for an overdraft loan. According to the Bureau, the new rules will give very large banks and credit unions three options. They can cap overdraft fees at $5. They can set their fee at an amount that covers costs and losses. Or they can comply with standards that govern loans like credit cards. Overdraft fees have cost Americans billions of dollars, and they've been one of the

so-called junk fees that the CFPB has targeted under the Biden administration. The rule is scheduled to go into effect in October 2025, though whether the Trump administration will support the rule isn't known. Laurel Wamsley, NPR News, Washington. The Biden administration is doubling tariffs on some products from China that are used to make solar panels. NPR's Michael Copley reports a move is aimed at supporting US manufacturing. Supply chains for the global solar industry are largely controlled by China. The US wants to change that.

A law signed by President Biden provides tax credits for US solar manufacturing. Now, it's raising tariffs to 50% next year on Chinese polysilicon and silicon wafers, the building blocks for most solar panels. The office of the U.S. Trade Representative says the taxes could initially increase prices domestically, but that they're needed to make U.S. manufacturing more competitive. Michael Copley, NPR News.