NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-02-2025 8AM EST

Episode Date: December 2, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. The White House is defending a September missile attack by the U.S. military on a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean as lawful. The White House says Defense Secretary Pete Hagseth did not order a second strike on survivors of the initial attack. NPR's Quill Lawrence reports, sources are disputing that. One of the strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats in September left survivors. They were killed by a second U.S. attack.

military experts say that would be a war crime or with no declared war, simply murder. NPR and others reported that the second strike was authorized by Hegeseth. President Trump said he knew nothing about it, and the White House says Navy Admiral Frank Bradley carried out the order, including the second strike that killed all survivors. But a U.S. official who is not authorized to speak publicly told NPR that Hegeseth was the target engagement authority and gave an either verbal or written command to the Admiral

ordering two strikes to kill and two additional strikes to sink the boat. Quill Lawrence NPR News. The FBI is continuing to investigate last week's attack on two National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., that left one soldier dead and another seriously injured. The alleged gunman is an Afghan. NPR has learned that Ramanola Lackenwal appeared to undergo a personal crisis before the attack.

He'd worked with the U.S. military in Afghanistan, Afghanistan before coming to the U.S. NPR's Tom Bowman says, Lackenwalt, who was wounded in the gunfire exchange during the attack, was investigated before he got to the U.S. He would have been carefully vetted to work with the CIA, and when he came to the U.S. after the fall of Kabul in the summer of 21, he would have been vetted again in way stations like Germany or Italy before arriving in Washington-Dulles Airport. I was at some of these locations and saw the vetting process myself. And of course, he was granted asylum just this past April. NPR's Tom Bowman prepared that report.

Thousands of truck driving schools could be forced to close after a review by federal regulators. NPR's Joel Rose reports the Department of Transportation found that many schools may not be complying with federal 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. On Wall Street, in pre-market trading, Dow futures are higher. This is NPR. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says his agency is investigating allegations that tax dollars from Minnesota could have been funneled into a militant group in Somalia. President Trump has criticized Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

Separately, federal authorities have previously investigated members of the Somali community in Minnesota over fraud in a child nutrition program. One man has been sent to prison. Online sales were booming during yesterday's Cyber Monday. The company Adobe Analytics says consumers spent more than $9 billion online. That's about 4.5% more than they bought on last year's Cyber Monday. The singer, Rihanna, has not released an album since 2016. But NPR's Isabella Gomez-Sarmiento reports this week, she scored a major milestone on the Billboard charts.

Rihanna's anti just hit 500 non-consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200 chart. The album came out nearly a decade ago in January 2016. Fans and critics have long awaited a follow-up release from the pop star and Fenty Beauty entrepreneur. But it looks like anti is the gift that keeps on giving. It's now the first album by a black female soloist to spend that much time on the Billboard 200. In a post on X, the singer celebrated, writing, God ain't forget about me. No word about future musical projects, but for now, Antai's still going strong. Isabella Gomez-Armiento, NPR News.

And get on Wall Street stock, futures are trading higher. This is NPR.