NPR News: 11-29-2025 4AM EST
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman.
What tragic event was commemorated in West Virginia?
Memorial service was held in Webster Springs, West Virginia, Friday. That's the home of 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom. The National Guard specialist was shot and killed on Wednesday. Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe was critically injured in the same shooting in Washington, D.C. An Afghan national who was granted asylum in the U.S. has been arrested and is facing multiple charges, including murder. West Virginia State Senator Robbie Morris spoke at the service, saying the tragedy is incomprehensible.
the loss that we are all feeling, the anger, the devastation. It's a lot. There's never a good time for something like this to happen. but it seems to hit harder around the holidays.
Congress returns next week to debate whether to extend healthcare subsidies that are expiring at the end of the year. NPR's Deirdre Walsh reports on the divide over the details.
As part of the deal to end the government shutdown, Senate Majority Leader John Thune agreed to hold a vote by mid-December on legislation to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits that phase out on December 31st. Some Republicans support renewing these subsidies, but want to add income caps to limit who can qualify. Even if a bipartisan deal clears the Senate, it's unclear whether House Speaker Mike Johnson would allow a vote. Many conservatives oppose any extension. Unless Congress acts quickly, more than 20 million Americans will see spikes in health care premiums. Deirdre Walsh, NPR News.
Ukraine's president says his chief of staff has resigned as a corruption investigation involving prominent officials widens. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley has more on the controversy surrounding Andrei Yermak.
In a video posted to social media, Zelensky said Ukraine must be strong and unified as it heads into peace negotiations with the Trump administration in the coming days. For internal strength, there should be no reason to be distracted by anything other than the defense of Ukraine, he said. Anti-corruption officials searched Yermak's house as part of their investigation into the siphoning off of $100 million from the state nuclear power agency. Yermak's experience dealing with the Trump administration will be missed, but he was becoming a liability. Russia wants Ukraine to make mistakes, said Zelensky. There will be no mistakes on our part. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Kyiv.
President Trump is again attacking President Biden's use of an auto pen. Auto pens allow the mass production of signatures on large numbers of documents. Presidents from both parties have used them, but in a social media post Friday, Trump said, without any evidence, that Biden's staffers used the pen to sign documents, rather than Biden himself. Trump has in the past acknowledged that he's also used an auto pen on some documents. Officials in Hong Kong say the death toll in the fire this week at a large apartment complex there has reached 128, and they say many other people are still not accounted for. This is NPR News. President Trump says he will pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez.
Hernandez was convicted in the U.S. in 2024 on drug trafficking and weapons charges. Trump says he was treated unfairly. Hernandez had served two terms as the leader of the Central American country. A daughter of former South African President Jacob Zuma has resigned from her role as an opposition member of parliament because of a scandal involving the sending of mercenaries to Russia. As Kate Bartlett reports, 17 South Africans are asking to be returned from Donbass, Ukraine, where they're fighting with Russian troops.
Yudizeli Sambudla Zuma resigned from the Mkonto Osiswe party Friday amid allegations from her own half-sister she had trafficked South Africans to Russia. Sambudla Zuma denies the charges, saying she too was duped by a recruiter.
What healthcare subsidies are Congress debating?
She claims she thought the men were being sent to Russia to train as bodyguards and return to work for her political party. Earlier this month, the men contacted the South African government, saying they were on the front lines in Donbass, Ukraine, and begging to be repatriated.
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