NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-18-2025 9PM EST

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

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This message comes from Bayer. Science is a rigorous process that requires questions, testing, transparency, and results that can be proven. This approach is integral to every breakthrough Bayer brings forward. Innovations that save lives and feed the world. Science Delivers.com. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. TikTok has reached a deal to sell its U.S. operations to a group of investors that includes Oracle. As NPR's Bobby Allen reports oracles run by billionaire Larry Ellison, a longtime ally of President Trump.

After more than five years of intense debate, TikTok's U.S. operations have been sold to a consortium of investors. That group includes software and data center company Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and MGC, investment company backed by the United Arab Emirates. Under the terms of the deal, which were confirmed by NPR, current Bightance investors will keep about a third of the entity, and Beijing-based BightDance will hold a minority stake. Backers don't expect American users of TikTok to notice any major changes. China Hawks and Washington have been worried about Beijing using TikTok to influence the political views of the 170 million Americans on the app. Yet under the deal, BightDance will still own the app's algorithm with audits by the new American-led entity. Bobby Allen and PR News. The State Department is accusing South Africa of doxing a U.S. government employee who's been helping white South Africans apply for us.

asylum in the U.S. South Africa dismissed it as an unsubstantiated claim, deepening a rift as NPR's Michelle Kellerman reports. The Trump administration has stopped most refugees from coming to the U.S., but started a new program to help white South Africans, arguing that Afrikaners face racial persecution at home. It's a charge South Africa denies. This week, two U.S. officials working on the program in Johannesburg were briefly detained, and the passport of one of them was posted on social media, according to the State Department. A South African government spokesman says his country treats data breaches seriously and rejected any suggestion that the government was involved.

South Africa deported seven Kenyans who were working in that U.S. office without the proper work permits. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, the State Department. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is proposing new restrictions that would effectively ban gender-affirming care for minors. called gender affirming care has inflicted lasting physical and psychological damage on vulnerable young people. This is not medicine. It is malpractice. The sweeping proposals contradict the recommendations of major medical groups. They include cutting off federal Medicaid and Medicare

funding from hospitals that provide gender affirming care to children. The proposals must go through a lengthy rulemaking process and are likely to face legal challenges. The White House says President Trump's handpicked board has voted to rename Washington's leading performing arts center as the Trump Kennedy Center. Press Secretary Caroline Levitt says it's because of the unbelievable work Trump has done to save the building. Trump is chairman of the board and has often referred to the Kennedy Center as the Trump Kennedy Center already. This is NPR News from Washington. Missouri's top prosecutor says China is suing after the state pressed federal officials for help collecting on a roughly $25 billion court judgment related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Missouri alleged that China hoarded personal protective equipment during the early months of the pandemic. Attorney General Catherine Hannaway says China is demanding a public apology from the state and a complaint filed in the Intermediate People's Court of Wuhan. The Oklahoma Supreme Court says students will not be learning from new social study standards that featured 2020 election denialism, State Impact Oklahoma's Beth Wallace has more. The standards were voted on in February, garnering national headlines for questioning the integrity

of the 2020 presidential election. The court says the State Board of Education violated Oklahoma's Open Meeting Act when it approved them after they were revised at the 11th hour before the board's meeting. Former State Superintendent Ryan Walters, who championed the standards, took to social media. This is outrageous to see this kind of left-wing judicial activism in the state where every county voted for President Trump. Walters resigned from his post in September.

For NPR News, I'm Beth Wallace in Tulsa. Two dozen sea turtles are rehabilitating in Florida after cold waters off of Cape Cod left them with frostbite and pneumonia. The turtles are expected to stay until spring before being released into the Atlantic Ocean. They suffer from a condition called Cold Stunning, which requires antibiotics and fluids. I'm Rylan Barton. This is NPR News. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees.

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