NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-15-2025 5AM EST

Episode Date: December 15, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rom. Hollywood and Beyond are mourning the reported deaths of director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michelle Singer-Riner. Two bodies were found at their home in Los Angeles yesterday. Police have not identified them as the Reiner's, but family members have confirmed their deaths. Deputy Police Chief Ellen Hamilton says they have not yet identified a suspect. Now, when I tell you that we have not identified a suspect, it doesn't mean that we're not working the case. we will not identify a suspect until that person is identified as a suspect and we're legally seeking them if there is a crime to be reported.

Rob Reiner, the son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, had a six-decade television and film career. He portrayed the son-in-law, Meathead, in the TV sitcom All in the Family. He went on to direct movies such as when Sally met Harry, the princess bride, and this is spinal tap. Rob Reiner was 78. Rhode Island authorities say a person of interest,

detained in Saturday's shooting at Brown University is being released. The investigation continues. At least two people were killed and nine others were injured. NPR's Windsor Johnston has more. Speaking from the White House, President Trump offered his condolences to the families of those killed and express support for the people injured in the attack. To the nine injured, get well fast, and to the families of those two that are no longer with us. I pay my deepest regards and respects from the United States of America.

Investigators are working to determine a motive. The shooting prompted an hours-long lockdown on campus as students and faculty sheltered in place. Brown University has canceled all remaining classes and exams for this semester. Windsor Johnston, NPR News, Washington. Australian Jews living in Israel are mourning the deaths of at least 15 people. in yesterday's mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration on Bandai Beach in Sydney. Dozens of other people were injured.

Police say a father and son are suspected in the attack. NPR's Jerome Sakalovsky has more. An Australian canter chants a prayer of mourning at a vigil on a beach in Tel Aviv. Hundreds of people crowd around and light candles in memory of the Bondi Beach massacre victims. Ellie Parks said his grandparents and many Australian Jews of their generation were survivors of the Holocaust. They went to Australia to escape the anti-Semitism of the old world. When we grew up, we thought we were the blessed Jews. We were the ones who didn't have to deal with all that.

And unfortunately, the last few years have shown us that that isn't quite true. But he said the vast majority of Australians are horrified by the attack and also want the kind of country that was a haven. for his grandparents. Jerome Sokolovsky, NPR News, Tel Aviv. This is NPR News in Washington. A court in Hong Kong today found democracy activist Jimmy Lai guilty of violating the island's sweeping national security law.

He had pleaded not guilty. Lai has been jailed since 2020 and could be sentenced to life in prison. Voters in Chile yesterday elected an altru conservative proponent rejecting the current far-left government's candidate. Jose Antonio Cass pledged a hard line against rising crime and illegal immigration. NPR's Kerry Kahn reports. 59-year-old Jose Antonio Cass' ultra-conservative stances, especially on women's issues and his support of the Pinochet dictatorship,

were too hardline in his two previous presidential bids. This time, he focused more on concerns over crime and rising migration, especially from Venezuela. In a meandering hour-long acceptance speech, he told a huge crowd in Santiago that change was coming, but said it would take time. Like other recently elected conservatives in Latin America, Cass pledged a crackdown on crime with more police and prisons. He says the more than 300,000 migrants estimated to live in Chile without legal status have until his inauguration in March to self-deport, or he'll send police to find them. Kerry Kahn, NPR News. Miriam Webster is to announce its 2025 word of the year today.

President Greg Barlow gave a preview to the Associated Press. He said the word is slop, first used in the 1700s to mean soft mud, but has evolved to mean something of little value, including digital content of low quality that's produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News.