Reuters World News - Reiner, Islamic State, fentanyl and ICE

Episode Date: December 16, 2025

Rob Reiner’s son has been jailed on suspicion of killing his parents as U.S. President Donald Trump mocks the slain actor-director. Australian police say the Bondi gunmen were inspired by Islamic State. Trump brands fentanyl a ‘weapon of mass destruction.’ The trial of a Wisconsin judge who allegedly helped a migrant evade arrest in her courtroom kicks off. Plus, Trump sues the BBC for defamation.    Listen to Morning Bid podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Find the Recommended Read here. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, I'm Carmel Crimmons in Dublin. It's Tuesday, December 16th. Today, Rob Reiner's son is arrested on suspicion of murdering his parents. The Bondi gunman were inspired by Islamic State and recently travelled to the Philippines. Trump brands fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction. And the trial of a judge who helped a migrant evade an immigration arrest kicks off. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10. 10 minutes, 7 days a week. Conviertes your passion in a new business with Shopify, and bathe records of ventas

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on Shopify.coms Barre Records. Tributes are pouring in on social media for Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle who were killed in their home on Sunday. President Trump also commented on the director's death, mocking him in a post

and suggesting he died because of his anti-Trump beliefs. The comments triggered rare criticism from some of the president's own Republican allies. Reiner's 32-year-old son, Nick, is in custody, charged with the murder of his parents. Our reporter Lisa Richwine in L.A. has more. Rob Reiner and his son Nick have both talked about Nick's struggle with drug addiction.

He had been in and out of rehab for many years. He and Rob made a movie called Being Charlie in 2016 that was a fictionalized version of what they struggled with, how Nick had experienced many rehabs that did not really help him, but finally got on a good path and got to the point where he wanted to tell the story. Reiner was in his 70s. He was still very active in Hollywood.

As recently as September, he had just released Spinal Tap 2. The End Continues. He was working on another Spinal Tap project related to that. There was a screening that I attended in September, and the entire family was there, Rob and Michelle and their children, including Nick. And Rob Reiner came out afterwards for a Q&A session and he did it all in character.

And it was very funny. the audience just loved it and you could see how much that movie meant to them and how much he made people laugh with that movie in particular and of course with many others over the years. Police and Providence are back on the hunt

for the gunman who opened fire inside a Brown University classroom, killing two students and injuring seven others. Investigators are combing neighborhoods door to door, asking for home surveillance footage after releasing a man they had held as a person of interest. The campus remains tense

with classes cancelled for the rest of the year. It would appear that there is evidence that this was inspired by a terrorist organisation by ISIS. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, speaking at a police news conference after Sunday's Bondi Beach attack, police say the two alleged gunmen, who attacked a Hanukkah event there, had travelled to the Philippines before the shooting and appeared to be inspired by Islamic State. Islamic State-linked networks are known to operate in the Philippines. The assault killed 15 people, including a rabbi, a Holocaust survivor and a 10-year-old girl. Talks between Ukraine, European leaders and U.S. envoys in Berlin have sparked some optimism

on a path to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II. The U.S. says its envoys made an unprecedented offer to provide NATO-style security guarantees for Kiv at talks with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, warning that such a deal would not be on the table forever. But Moscow has yet to agree to any of the changes discussed in Germany and has not indicated any willingness to do so. Over on Wall Street, the NASDAQ wants to trade around the clock. Amanda Cooper from our sister MarketsPod MorningBit has more on that. Hey Amanda, does this mean more work for you?

Thanks, Carmel. Well, I don't know yet, but what I can tell you is that NASDAQ has indeed applied to trade 24-7 and it's following in the steps of the New York Stock Exchange as well in response to investor demand for more access, for more of the day, to those big, liquid, popular stocks that have grabbed so much attention on Wall Street this year. And it feels like this is sort of the direction of travel for exchanges everywhere right now, more access to more people. Thanks, Amanda. You can listen to MorningBid wherever you get your podcasts.

With this historic executive order I will sign today, we're formerly classifying fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction. which is what it is. No bomb does what this is doing. It's a move that could up the ante between the U.S. and several nations that President Trump has focused on during his second term.

Our White House reporter Trevor Honeycutt was in the Oval Office for the signing. So the president's executive order classifies fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction. Some of that might be just kind of symbolic, but there are also directives in this order to use intelligence that is collected on chemical,

weapons proliferation and direct that towards the issue of fentanyl. And then also it gives further cover for the Department of Defense to participate in law enforcement operations. And so that's one of the things that's been really unique about how President Trump has approached this issue is that he has brought in the military to join in in these efforts at what they say are dealing with drugs. We are seeing kind of a redefinition of words here, right? We don't normally treat fentanyl in the same way that we treat the former Soviet Union stockpiles of chemical weapons that Russia still has, right? It's important to remember in this conversation that Mexico is the primary source of illicit fentanyl. This gives the president kind of domestic political cover for what

he's doing in terms of international relations, in terms of potentially pursuing a regime change in Venezuela, for instance, or having very sensitive negotiations with Mexico over economic issues. The US Southern Command says it's carried out strikes on three vessels in the eastern Pacific, killing eight men. In a post on X, the military said the vessels were engaged in drug trafficking. The US has hit more than 20 vessels in the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, and at least 90 suspected drug smugglers have been killed in the operations. President Trump has sued the BBC for defamation. He's accusing the British broadcaster of splicing together parts of his January 6th.

26th, 2021 speech to make it look like he directed his supporters to storm the US Capitol. I'm literally, they put words in my mouth. They had to be saying things that I never said coming out. He's seeking up to $10 billion in damages. The BBC has apologized for what it's called an error of judgment, but insists there's no legal basis for the claim. The FBI says it's foiled a bombing plot targeting multiple targets in California on New Year's Eve. Four people linked to the Turtle Island Liberation Front, described as a far-left. anti-government group are charged with conspiracy and possession of an unregistered destructive device. Investigators say the group intended to hit logistic centres and even ICE agents,

but agents intervened before any explosives were built. A Wisconsin judge is on trial, accused of helping a migrant evade an immigration arrest inside her own courtroom. Prosecutors say Judge Hannah Duggan crossed the line. They alleged she diverted ICE agents and escorted the defendant out through a back door, telling colleagues, I'll get the heat. Her defence argues that she was following courthouse policy as immigration enforcement ramped up under Trump's second term.

I'll be staying strong today. Doug and supporters gathered outside the courthouse a few days ago when jury selection began, underscoring the tensions over immigration enforcement. People should not ice officers should not be in the courthouse. They shouldn't be in schools. Reporter Andrew Gowsward has been following the case. the Trump administration has loosened restrictions on the way that ICE can operate in state and local

courthouses. And they understood that that was going to cause a backlash. And so pretty early on, the Justice Department directed prosecutors around the country to look for cases where officials or activists were impeding ICE in some way, reminding them that is a violation of law and then encouraging cases along those lines. The other thing is that the Justice Department under Trump has been having hard time in cases that appear to be connected to their political agenda, whether that's about crime in D.C., whether it's about Trump's perceived enemies who've been charged. And then in this case, where you have a judge who's accused of obstructing immigration enforcement. And so I think a guilty verdict here will be a much-needed victory for the Trump Justice Department in going after

cases that are tied to Trump's agenda. And an not-guilty verdict will just be another sign that, whether it's judges, grand juries or trial juries, are really skeptical of a lot of these cases that the Trump administration is trying to bring against people who seem to be resistant to their agenda in some way. And for today's recommended read, a Reuters investigation into how meta tolerates rampant ad fraud from China to safeguard billions in revenue. Internal meta documents show the company's reluctance to introduce fixes to scams that could undermine its business and revenues.

You can read more about it by following the link in the pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out roiders.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favourite podcast player. If you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.