NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-01-2025 3PM EST

Episode Date: December 1, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Bipartisan calls for an investigation or building in Congress. Following a Washington Post report, Defense Secretary Pete Heggseth allegedly ordered the military to kill anyone who survived a September 2nd strike on a suspected drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean seat. Today, White House Press Secretary Caroline Levit told reporters the operation was lawful and justified. President Trump and Secretary Hegsef have made it clear that presidentially designated. narco-terrorist groups are subject to lethal targeting in accordance with the laws of war. With respect to the strikes in question on September 2, Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral

Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes. Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated. In recent months, military forces have destroyed 21 vessels that the administration says we're trafficking. Illegal narcotics, at least 83 people have been killed. Democrats picked up even more support from younger women in off-year elections last month. And P.R. Sarah McCammon has more from a new analysis published by the Public Religion Research Institute. Young women, ages 29 and under, have long been an important voting block for the Democratic Party. But Democrats performed even better than expected with that group in elections this year.

Melissa Deckman, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute, says the traditional gender roles being promoted by some high-profile conservatives are ringing hollow with young women. They're also more likely to, I think, have had success in the workplace and educational attainment in other areas. And so there's a real disconnect between what MAGA is selling to young women and what young women value and prioritize. Deckman says more than 8 in 10 Gen Z women voted for Democrats in New Jersey and Virginia's gubernatorial elections. Sarah McCammon, NPR News. A new deal between the United States and the United Kingdom would spare the UK's drug exports from hefty terrorists. More from NPR Sydney Lepkin. New drugs typically cost a lot more in the U.S. than they do in other countries.

And the Trump administration has been announcing deals with drug companies to try to even the playing field. Now the U.S. has a deal with another country, the U.K. The U.K. will increase the prices its health service pays for new medicines by 25 percent and will reduce rebates paid by drug makers. That's according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. In exchange, U.K. drugs, drug ingredients, and medical technology will be exempt from U.S. tariffs for at least three years. Sydney Lopkin, NPR News. Starbucks has agreed to pay more than $38 million to settle claims of violated New York. City law governing fair working conditions. City officials say the majority of the payment will go to more than 15,000 employees.

You're listening to NPR News. An international mission to Mercury is starting the last year of its eight-year trip to the planet that's closest to the sun. Joe Palka explains why the trip to the planet takes so long. At its closest approach, Mercury is a mere 50 million miles. from Earth. Jupiter is more than seven times that far. Yet a mission to Jupiter took five years to arrive. The Mercury probe called Bepi Colombo is taking eight. Why? The answer is the sun's gravity. When you head to a planet closer to the sun, the trick is slowing down enough so you go into orbit around the sun instead of plunging into it. Beppe Colombo flew by the Earth once,

Venus twice, and Mercury itself six times to use those planets' gravity as a way of putting on the brakes. Once the European and Japanese space agency's spacecraft arrives, it will study how mercury formed and why there is ice at the polls. For NPR News, I'm Joe Palka. Health Secretary Robert of Kennedy Jr. has tapped a new person to lead his controversial vaccine advisory committee. Dr. Kirk Millowen has linked vaccines to cardiovascular disease. He is slated to share the advisory panel later this week. The agency says outgoing chairman, Martin Goldorf, is taking a leadership role within the Department of Health and Human Services. U.S. stocks continue their slide with the Dow Jones Industrial average now down 356 points, roughly three quarters of a percent.

The S&P has fallen 33 points, half a percent. The NASDAQ is off more than 100 points. This is NPR News.