Leaked Witkoff name; Ukraine; Thanksgiving journey : NPR

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Right now’s high tales

Newly launched transcripts by Bloomberg present U.S. particular envoy Steve Witkoff coached a Russian adviser on pitch a Ukraine peace deal to President Trump. The transcripts had been launched simply as Trump’s peace plan seems to be making headway. Throughout the cellphone name, Witkoff allegedly advises Yuri Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s overseas coverage adviser, on handle Trump. The information outlet says the recording is from a name in mid-October, proper after Trump sanctioned Russia’s two greatest oil firms. NPR has not independently verified the contents of the transcript.

• 🎧 NPR’s Eleanor Beardsley tells Up First she spoke with Ukrainian parliament member and chair of the overseas affairs committee Oleksandr Merezhko, who says he isn’t shocked by this growth. Merezhko known as for Witkoff’s alternative six months in the past, citing incompetence and lack of know-how concerning Ukraine and the origins of the struggle. Merezhko says that Ukrainians know they’re coping with folks in Trump’s entourage who take Russia’s facet, however they need to cope with them no matter who they’re.
• 🎧 Trump stays targeted on ending the struggle in Ukraine and is sending high aides to each Moscow and Kyiv to work via variations in his newest peace plan. NPR’s Franco Ordoñez stories that Ukraine and Russia are not essentially nearer to reaching a deal, although the 2 nations are exchanging concepts on finish the struggle with the U.S. Trump appears to point out real curiosity within the lack of life, particularly youngsters, however Ordoñez believes that the president’s quest for a Nobel Peace Prize may very well be a partial motivation for ending the struggle.

Federal regulators say the U.S. aviation system is again to regular after the federal government shutdown, simply in time for the tens of millions of People who’re anticipated to fly for the Thanksgiving vacation. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy revealed a brand new civility marketing campaign this week known as “The Golden Age of Journey Begins with You,” urging vacationers to respect airport and airline employees.

• 🎧 Critics of the administration say the marketing campaign locations a variety of stress on passengers whereas permitting airways to evade duties for making flying much less civil. NPR’s Joel Rose says folks heading to the airport ought to count on large crowds. The Federal Aviation Administration says this may very well be the busiest Thanksgiving in 15 years.

Louisiana’s surgeon normal, Dr. Ralph Abraham, who has known as COVID vaccines “harmful,” will turn into the principal deputy director on the CDC, making him the second-highest-ranking official. The place has been vacant since Dr. Nirav Shah, who served below the Biden administration, stepped down in February. Abraham has been a vocal supporter of Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and has even beforehand supported investigating the debunked hyperlink between vaccines and autism. The hyperlink between the 2 is a subject the CDC not too long ago revived. This is what else we learn about him.

Deep dive

White spherical drugs in orange bottle on blue background banner shut up with copy house

neirfy/iStockphoto/Getty Photos

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neirfy/iStockphoto/Getty Photos

Drugmakers have created capsule variations of GLP-1 medicines designed to deal with weight problems, providing a possible different to injectable medication. Whereas the Meals and Drug Administration has not but permitted these medicines, the company is anticipated to approve the primary capsule by the top of the 12 months. This is what it is best to know in regards to the new remedy:

• 💊 The FDA is anticipated to approve Novo Nordisk’s weight problems capsule first out of the oral choices. It accommodates semaglutide, the identical ingredient present in Wegovy and Ozempic.
• 💊 The drugs ought to price lower than injectables, which have checklist costs of over $1,000 a month. In accordance with Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly’s offers with the Trump administration, if their oral weight problems medicines are permitted, they may promote them on to customers for $149 a month.
• 💊 A 25 mg semaglutide capsule resulted in a mean weight lack of 16.6% over 64 weeks, in line with a research within the New England Journal of Drugs. That is about the identical as Wegovy.

Image present

Aerial view of the densely inhabited space of Pozzuoli, positioned throughout the Campi Flegrei volcanic caldera. Over half 1,000,000 folks stay on this area, which is constantly monitored because of the ongoing volcanic exercise and the danger of floor uplift, earthquakes, and gasoline emissions related to bradyseism

Valerio Muscella for NPR

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Valerio Muscella for NPR

The highly effective Campi Flegrei volcano, positioned close to Naples, Italy, is stirring as soon as once more, inflicting floor tremors that scientists say haven’t been felt for hundreds of years. Researchers are involved that the volcano might erupt quickly. Campi Flegrei’s prehistoric eruptions had been so important that they blocked out the solar, reworking summer time into winter and coating Europe and Russia in a thick layer of volcanic ash. For everybody to outlive a modern-day eruption, greater than half 1,000,000 folks would should be evacuated from an space surrounding Campi Flegrei’s eight-mile-wide crater, which Italian authorities have designated the “purple zone.” See photographs of the densely populated space and hearken to a resident describe what it’s wish to stay there.

3 issues to know earlier than you go

Gramma’s 138th birthday was celebrated on the San Diego Zoo in 2022.

San Diego Zoo/YouTube/Screenshot by NPR

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San Diego Zoo/YouTube/Screenshot by NPR

1. It is estimated that Gramma the Galápagos tortoise was born in 1884, a 12 months when the U.S. had solely 39 states. The “candy and shy tortoise,” who lived for a century on the San Diego Zoo, died Thursday at 141.
2. Thanksgiving is peak season for Jiffy corn muffins, that are one of many top-selling dry items within the U.S. grocery market, in line with the corporate. The long-lasting, low-cost pastry staple has been round for 75 years. This is how Jiffy manages to stay a staple for People.
3. NPR’s Phrase of the Week is analyzing the historical past of turkey, simply in time for the vacations. The fowl has a historical past stuffed with uncertainty, in line with historians and etymologists.

This article was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.