NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-21-2025 4AM EST

Episode Date: December 21, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Wilman. The U.S. Coast Guard has seized a second tanker carrying Venezuelan oil. As NPR's Quill Lawrence reports, it's an escalation of the Trump administration's pressure on President Nicholas Maduro. Secretary of Homeland Security, Christy Noam, posted video on social media of a Coast Guard helicopter landing on the tanker centuries, which she said was moving sanctioned oil. The ship does not appear on the Treasury Department's public list of sanctioned oil tankers, but the White House says it was carrying Venezuelan oil and falsely flagged as Panamanian. President Trump declared a blockade on Venezuela's sanctioned oil,

which he claimed without explanation was stolen from the U.S. A blockade is considered an act of war under international maritime law. The U.S. Navy currently has a fleet off the coast of Venezuela, and President Trump has suggested attacks inside Venezuelan territory may be imminent. Quill Lawrence NPR News. New York Governor Kathy Hochel is calling for an investigation. into a public school district in upstate New York where some students say they were restrained and forced into wooden boxes. Two-thirds of the district's children are Native American. And P.R.'s

Brian Mann reports. Parents at the Salmon River Central School District, which serves the Aquasasne Mohawk community in northern New York, began raising alarm in recent days after students described being isolated in large crate-like boxes described as calming stations. In her statement, Hockel called the report's highly disturbing and said she had concerns about the children's safety. She called on the state's independent education department to investigate. In a statement, local school district officials say they've begun their own investigation and have reassigned or placed on leave for administrators. The school board also apologized to parents and students saying we are truly sorry for the harm and trauma.

This has resulted for our community. Brian Mann, NPR News, New York. The U.S. Senate has voted to confirm Mary Ann Carter as chair of the National Endowment for the Arts. As NPR's Chloe Veltman reports, this. will be Carter's second time leading the agency. She also ran it during President Trump's first term. Carter assumes the NEA leadership role, having served as acting chair since Trump took office in January. In a statement, Carter says that she is, quote, committed to advancing the vision that the arts belong to all Americans, no matter who they are or where they live.

Carter returns to the job at a challenging time for the nation's main cultural agency. The Trump administration has pushed to cancel the NEA's budget, eliminated hundreds of grants, and significantly cut staff. The NEA published part of a statement from Americans for the Arts CEO Erin Harky congratulating Carter. The Arts Advocacy Group shared Harky's full statement with NPR, in which she also mentions

the, quote, partisan political pressure, lack of transparency and constant threats of funding cuts facing the NIA and hopes Carter will usher in a period of greater stability. Chloe Valtman, NPR News. And you're listening to NPR News. Nine people have died and at least ten others were wounded after a group of gunmen carried out a shooting at a South African pub during the early hours of Sunday.

The incident occurred just before 1 a.m. It's the second mass shooting to happen in South Africa in three weeks. About 12 unknown suspects in a white minibus and a silver sedan opened fire at a pub. A winner has emerged in Britain's annual holiday battle of the bands. It's Australian pop star Kylie Monoke, who scored the 9th. Number One Christmas hit, Vicki Barker, reports. 37 years after her first U.K. number one hit, Kylie Minogue has unseated two-time Christmas number one winner, Wham. She trouts their single Last Christmas with her pop anthem XMAS, which extols the glories of presents under the tree and kissing someone special out in the snow. Minogue has said she'll be celebrating Christmas by, quote, obsessing over a jigsaw with her family in Australia.

Her Christmas number one makes Minogue the first female artist to top the UK charts in four different decades. For NPR News, I'm Figgie Barker in London. One of the last remaining survivors of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor has died. Irish Shab was 105 years old. His daughter said he died at home. Shab enlisted in the Navy when he was 18 and was on the USS Dobbin when the attack occurred. There are now about a dozen remaining survivors of the 1941 attack. I'm Dale Wilman, 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. Join millions of customers and visit Wise. T's and Cs apply.