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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. Contentious negotiations at the climate conference in Azerbaijan came to an end this weekend with a deal that's being sharply criticized. Wealthy countries agreed to triple a previous pledge to help developing nations cope with a hotter climate.
But NPR's Jeff Brady reports many of those developing countries are not happy. Under the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, rich countries that mostly created climate change by burning fossil fuels agreed to pay developing nations that are disproportionately suffering the consequences.
India's representative called the $300 billion a year by 2035 a paltry sum considering the damage. Chandni Raina said her country was not even allowed to make a statement before the decision was finalized. This has been stage managed and we are extremely, extremely disappointed with this impact.
Incident. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to pull the U.S. from the U.N. climate accord for a second time. Jeff Brady, NPR News. President-elect Trump has tapped Brooke Rollins to lead the Agriculture Department. Rollins is a longtime ally who co-founded and leads the America First Policy Institute. Trump's announcement this weekend completes his choices to lead executive agencies after a flurry Friday night.
Trump is promising to deport millions of migrants during his upcoming term. There's growing concern that would threaten the $106 billion construction industry in Texas. Julian Aguilar reports from El Paso. Veronica Carrasco, an undocumented immigrant from Honduras, has worked as a painter for a home remodeling company in Mesquite, Texas, for 12 years. It makes me frustrated and worried.
I'm a single mom. I have three children. Some economists and industry leaders are worried, too. Housing would disappear. I think they'd lose half their labor. That's Stan Merrick, the CEO of Merrick, a Houston-based commercial and residential construction giant.
In 2022, more than a half million immigrants worked in the Texas construction industry, according to a report by the American Immigration Council. Almost 60% of that workforce was undocumented. For NPR News, I'm Julian Aguilar in El Paso.
In Northern California, wine country residents in Sonoma County got a chance to check on their homes this weekend following a three-day deluge of rain from that atmospheric river storm. Matt Windrum is the county's division fire chief. We have never seen this kind of thing in anybody's recorded experience or and certainly in my personal experience this is by far the most
rain in a short period of time that we've had. The city of Santa Rosa is in Sonoma County where weather officials are calling that foot of rain that fell there a once in a thousand year event. The flooding is being blamed for two deaths in Washington state. Tens of thousands remain without power, mostly in the Seattle area. This is NPR News.
Lebanon's caretaker prime minister is condemning an Israeli airstrike as an assault on U.S.-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire. One soldier was killed in the strike that hit an army center in southwestern Lebanon, where there has been heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. The Lebanese military says at least 18 others were wounded.
Meanwhile, ancient temples, castles, and archaeological sites in Lebanon are at risk of damage in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. And Piers Netta-Uleby reports that UNESCO is calling for enhanced protection for those places. The temple complex in Baalbek is a marvel. It contains some of the grandest surviving Roman architecture on the planet.
It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it was nearly hit by recent Israeli airstrikes. The ancient Venetian city is among 34 cultural properties that UNESCO has placed under what it calls enhanced protection, meant to help preserve these fragile, irreplaceable sites from attacks and use by military forces. The agency is also lending expertise and financial aid.
Other sites on the list include the National Museum of Beirut and the Mediterranean port city of Byblos, which has been continuously inhabited for at least 7,000 years.
Netta Ulibi, NPR News. Voters in Romania going to the polls today in a presidential election focused on the high cost of living and Romania's support for neighboring Ukraine. Thirteen candidates on the ballot in an election that's expected to go to a second round runoff next month. Opinion surveys show Romania's prime minister and a far-right nationalist are likely to advance. I'm Jyle Snyder, NPR News.
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