NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-02-2025 3PM EST

Episode Date: December 2, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. As critics raised the possibility that a war crime might have been committed, Defense Secretary Pete Hegsef is providing his account of an order he gave the military to strike a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean Sea September 2nd. I watched that first strike lot. As you can imagine, at the Department of War, we got a lot of things to do. So I didn't stick around for the hour and two hours, whatever, where all the sensitive site exploitation digitally occurs.

So I moved on to my next meeting. A couple of hours later, I learned that that commander had made the, which he had the complete authority to do. And by the way, Admiral Bradley made the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat. But Republican and Democratic members of Congress, as well as former military lawyers, are questioning the legality of the follow-up strike

that killed survivors still clinging to the boat. The Washington Post first reported the story. resulting in congressional calls for inquiries. The wife of former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez says her husband's been released from prison after President Trump pardon him. She thanked Trump on X this morning. Adndez was serving a 45-year sentence in West Virginia for his role in helping drug traffickers move hundreds of tons of cocaine to the U.S.

President Trump says he believes that Nandes was wrongfully in prison under the Biden administration. The man accused of shooting two National Guard members just, blocks from the White House is facing murder, assault, and firearms charges. A 20-year-old died, a 24-year-old was critically wounded. Ramanula Lackinwal was charged today. In D.C. Superior Court, he appeared via video link from his hospital bed. He was injured in last week's shooting. Lackenwal helped the CIA and U.S. forces in Afghanistan. He moved to the U.S. during the Biden administration and was granted asylum by the Trump administration in April. The Justice Department says an Afghan citizen living in Texas.

is charged with making violent threats on social media. Authorities arrested the man in the Fort Worth area. More from NPR's Ryan Lucas. Court papers identify the defendant as Mohamed Alokozai. The FBI received a tip from Texas law enforcement about a video making the rounds on TikTok X and Facebook. Court papers say a man seen in the video claimed that he wanted to conduct a suicide attack against the other participants of the video call and that he wanted to build a bomb in his vehicle. The FBI used facial recognition technology to identify the man in the video as Alokosai, leading to his arrest.

Court papers say Alokazai later told investigators that he made the statements in the video, and he is now charged with transmitting threats. Ryan Lucas and PR News, Washington. U.S. stocks are trading higher this hour with the Dow Jones Industrial Average now up 219 points, roughly half a percent. At 47,508, the S&P's risen 22 points. to NPR News. Costco is the latest company to sue the Trump administration over tariffs. NPR's Alina Selyuk reports. President Trump's tariffs on nearly all imports are pending at the Supreme Court, where

justices last month seemed skeptical about their legality during oral arguments. Lower courts previously found that Trump set new rules by improperly using emergency economic power, and dozens of companies have now filed lawsuits trying to secure tariff refunds in the event that the Supreme Court agrees. That includes cosmetics company Revlon, canned foodsmaker, bumblebee, and now Costco. Costco's filing with the U.S. Court of International Trade does not say how much the retailer has paid in tariffs. But earlier this year, executives said imported goods make up about a third of what Costco sells in the U.S. Alina Selyu, NPR News.

Thousands of truck driving schools could be forced to close after review by federal regulators. MTRS. Joel Rose reports a transportation apartment found many schools may not be complying with government requirements. The Transportation Department says it plans to revoke the accreditation of nearly 3,000 trucking schools unless they can prove they're up to federal standards. The DOT is warning another 4,000 schools that they could face similar action. The crackdown on trucking schools is part of the Trump administration's broader effort to ensure that drivers are qualified and eligible to hold a commercial driver's license.

The DOT has also proposed significant new restrictions on which immigrants can get a CDL, but a court put those rules on hold. Truckers say there are safety problems in the industry, but immigrant advocates argue the administration is targeting qualified drivers because of their citizenship status. Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington. It's NPR.