NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-20-2025 11AM EST

Episode Date: December 20, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rom. The Department of Justice began releasing documents yesterday related to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as required by a law Congress passed overwhelmingly last month. NPR's Stephen Fowler has more. The Epstein Library contained well over 100,000 pages of court records, Freedom of Information Act files, memoranda from the Justice Department,

and videos from outside Epstein's federal president. cell where he died by suicide in 2019. And documents that the Epstein-Files Transparency Act signed in the law last month compelled the Justice Department to hand over. NPR's Stephen Fowler, but only a small fraction is information that had not been made public before, and many names and pages are heavily redacted. Justice Department officials say they will continue to release documents that they're still reviewing hundreds of thousands of pages for possible release. The Supreme Court has stopped the Trump administration's effort to ban immigration judges from making public remarks about their work or the immigration system overall. NPR's Nina Totenberg has more on that

story. At issue is a Trump administration policy that bars immigration judges from making any public remarks in their personal capacity about immigration or the agency that employs them unless the remarks are cleared first by administration officials. The judges who are employed, employees of the Justice Department challenged the policy as a violation of their right to free speech. And when they won an interim victory in a federal appeals court, the administration promptly went to the Supreme Court, warning the justices of dire consequences if they didn't intervene. But in an unexpected action, the court, with no noted dissents, let the immigration judge's case go forward, at least for now. Nina Totenberg and PR News, Washington. An Israeli strike in northern Gaza killed at least six Palestinians yesterday, according to local health officials.

The strikes continue even after a ceasefire deal was brokered in October. NPR's Hadeal al-Shaalchi reports. Gaza health officials say at least one child was killed in the Israeli strike on a school in the eastern neighborhood of Gaza City, al-Tufa. The Israeli military said it had identified some, quote, suspicious individuals west of the yellow line and that the incident was under review. drawn during the ceasefire deal, the yellow line divides the Israeli-held part of Gaza from the rest of the enclave. Across the line, Palestinians have been sheltering in schools after being displaced several times during the war.

Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed over 390 Palestinians since the ceasefire deal came into effect in October, according to local health officials. The second phase of the deal is supposed to begin once Hamas returns the body of the last Israeli hostage held in Gaza. Hadil Al-Shalchi, NPR News. This is NPR News. The U.S. military launched large-scale strikes across central Syria yesterday, targeting Islamic State suspects, infrastructure, and weapons sites. President Trump had promised to retaliate after a suspected ISIS attack

killed two U.S. troops in an American civilian interpreter in Syria last weekend. A Pakistani court today convicted former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife of corruption and sentenced both to seven. 17 years in prison. The court found they kept and sold state gifts, including jewelry from Saudi Arabia. Their lawyer says they will appeal. Under Pakistani law, government officials may keep gifts from foreign dignitaries if they buy them at the market assessed value. The former prime minister is already in prison for other corruption convictions. Today's college football playoffs games will feature Miami, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, James Madison, and Oregon. The University of

Alabama is the first team to advance. Alabama Public Radio's Pat Duggins has more. Oklahoma was on its way to be the first team to beat Alabama twice in one season since Grover Cleveland was president. The Sooners led by 17 in the second quarter. That's when the tide came to life, tying the game by halftime. The final score was 34 to 24. Quarterback Ty Simpson says the naysayers among the press helped. Yeah, I guess we can thank you guys for that. I mean, y'all kind of wrote us off in a sort of way, so appreciate that. Alabama now faces Indiana in the Rose Bowl on January 1st.

For NPR News, I'm Pat Duggins in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. And I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News, in Washington.