NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-22-2025 3AM EST

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

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Live from NPR news, I'm Dale Wilman. The Justice Department has reposted one of the photographs that had early removed from the publicly accessible Epstein files. As M.P.R.'s Andrea Shue reports the photograph in question showed President Trump. NPR reported on Saturday that more than a dozen files released by the Justice Department a day earlier had been taken down from the Epstein Files website. They included an image that showed a desk covered with photos, including at least one of President Trump.

that led to questions about why the photos had been removed. On Sunday morning, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told NBC's Meet the Press that the images were pulled down because a judge had told them to listen to concerns from victims and victim rights groups. Later, the Justice Department posted on X that it had reviewed the photo of the desk and found no evidence that any Epstein victims were depicted. It has been reposted without any alteration or redaction, the post said. Andrea Shoe and PR News.

Coast Guard is pursuing another sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea. It's part of the Trump administration's efforts to increase pressure on Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro. Although many legal experts say such actions are illegal, Clayton Siegel of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says it could do what Trump is hoping for. We are seeing a deterrent effect on those shadow tankers because quite a few of them that were on their way to Venezuela are staying away. And that can also have a deterrent effect on the other tankers that service the Venezuelan market, even the non-sanction tankers that take a lot of that oil all the way over to China. Most of Venezuela's oil actually winds up in China. President Trump says he's appointed

the governor of Louisiana, a special envoy to Greenland. He made the announcement in the truth social post on Sunday night. As NPR's Matt Bloom reports, the first-term Republican governor is a staunch ally of the presidents. Trump congratulated Governor Jeff Landry, saying he understands how essential Greenland is to the U.S.'s national security. Landry accepted the nomination in a post on X and said he would work to help make Greenland a part of the U.S. Greenland is currently a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark. Trump has said that Greenland is crucial for U.S. security. Officials in Denmark and Greenland have pushed back on the idea. Landry comes from a background in state politics. He was elected Louisiana's governor last year

After serving as Attorney General, the Republican says he will remain governor as he serves as special envoy. Matt Bloom, NPR News, New Orleans. Israel's far-right finance minister says the cabinet has approved 19 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. The move is part of a broader push by the government to expand those settlements, and it further threatens the possibility of a Palestinian state. The settlements in the West Bank are widely considered to be illegal under-eastern. international law. You're listening to NPR News. Scientists believe they've discovered new species in the deep part of the Pacific Ocean. MPR's Chandelese Duster has more on what the researchers found.

A team of researchers from the California Academy of Sciences retrieved 13 reef monitoring devices that have been placed in deep coral reefs in Guam nearly a decade ago. They found 20 potential new species, including crabs and sponges. Louise Rocha, a marine biologist and diver on the team, says there could be more new species. It's probably going to be higher because we confirm it everything with genetics. So we sequence the DNA of the species before we either make absolute sure that they're new. Researchers have also started a two-year expedition to retrieve 76 more deep reef monitoring devices across the Pacific Ocean.

Shandalees Duster, NPR News. 50 years after the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior, two pieces of the wreckage have sold at auction for $150,000. The life ring and a piece of a lifeboat were both found on shore after the accident. All 29 men on board the ship perished in the accident. The wreck was memorialized by the late Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot. Avatar, Fire, and Ash roared into the movie theaters this weekend, bringing in $88 million in North American ticket sales. When international sales are rolled in, it grossed $345 million in its first weekend of release. The animated biblical story of King David, meanwhile, was in second with $22 million in ticket sales.

The housemaid about a woman starting her life over was in third, bringing in $19 million in its opening weekend. 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 experience. rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit wise.com. T's and C's apply.