NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-16-2025 12PM EST

Episode Date: December 16, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. President Trump's top national security officials are on Capitol Hill at this hour to brief lawmakers on a controversial U.S. military strike in the Caribbean. Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the strike and made questions saying the operation is ongoing. This has been a highly successful mission that's ongoing and continued, and we're pleased to be here today to update Congress on how that's developing and how that's moving forward. As I said, I believe it's our 22nd, 22rd, 23rd such engagement. It's certainly been at least the fourth or fifth that I've been involved in. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials are expected to face questions this week about a September attack on a boat suspected of carrying drugs that killed two people.

Lawmakers are scrutinizing the strike as the U.S. ramps up military pressure on Venezuela. The BBC says it will fight a multi-billion dollar lawsuit filed by President Trump. He's accusing the British broadcaster of intentionally editing clips in a TV documentary. Trump claims it makes it seem like he directed supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol building on January 6th, 2021. NPR's Lauren Freire reports from London. A BBC spokesperson says the network will defend this case, and lawmaker Stephen Kinnick says the British government supports that. I think it's right that the BBC stands firm. He spoke to Sky News.

President Trump is seeking five billion. million dollars for alleged defamation and another $5 billion for what his lawsuit says are deceptive and unfair trade practices. He accuses the BBC of, quote, maliciously defaming him to interfere with the last U.S. election. The BBC says the way it edited Trump's speech in that documentary was a mistake. It apologized to Trump and two executives resigned. But the network says there is no basis for compensation. Lauren Freyer NPR News, London. Hiring slowed last month as U.S. employers added just 64,000 jobs. NPR Scott Horsley reports the unemployment rate rose to its highest level in four years. Healthcare and construction were some of the only

industries to add jobs in November. Factories cut jobs and so did delivery services. The pace of hiring has slowed sharply since the beginning of the year. Concern over a weakening job market led the Federal Reserve to lower its benchmark interest rate last week for the third time since September. The Labor Department's ability to monitor the job market was hampered this fall by the six-week government shutdown. Both the October and November jobs numbers were delayed, and the survey used to track unemployment was not conducted in October. The unemployment rate for November was 4.6 percent. That's up from 4.4 percent in September, and the highest jobless rate since the fall of 2021. Scott Horsley, MPR News, Washington. Stocks are trading mixed on Wall Street of

this hour, the Dow was down 235 points, the NASDAQ up three. This is NPR News in Washington. A first death has been confirmed in major flooding in Washington State. The sheriff's department says a man drove onto a flooded road in Snohomish County and drowned. Meanwhile, residents near a breached levy were ordered to evacuate early this morning. Police in the city of Pacific urged people near the White River to leave immediately after the national Weather Service issued a flash flood warning in King County. The breaches follow days of heavy rain and massive flooding. This year's Arctic Report Card is out today. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the warming of the Arctic region is having impacts worldwide. Barbara Moran

from member station WBUR reports. Noah's findings detail the warmest and wettest year recorded in the Arctic. What happens up in the Arctic doesn't always stay up in the Arctic. It's warming directly influences global sea level rise, weather patterns, and wildlife migrations, says Matthew Druchin-Miller. He's a scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, and lead editor of this year's report. The northern part of our planet is really the refrigerator for the planet. It keeps our planet cool. And whether you are close to the Arctic or far from the Arctic, when the Arctic falls and it, It warms. It's having an impact on the global climate.

The Arctic is warming more than twice as fast as the rest of the planet. For NPR news, I'm Barbara Moran in Boston. Stocks continue to trade lower on Wall Street. The Dow is down 229 points. The S&P down 21. This is NPR.