NPR News: 11-29-2025 5PM EST
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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. President Trump is telling pilots to treat the airspace over and around Venezuela as closed. He made the announcement in a post on social media, offering no further details. NPR's Tamara Keith reports it marks another move in the administration's pressure campaign on the government of Nicolas Maduro.
The Trump administration has justified deadly airstrikes on Venezuelan boats in recent weeks as necessary to protect the American people from drug smuggling.
What recent actions has President Trump taken regarding Venezuela?
Trump has also declared Maduro, the Venezuelan dictator, to be a narco-terrorist, which Maduro disputes. In remarks on Thanksgiving, Trump implied there would be more coming. People aren't wanting to be delivering by sea, and we'll be starting to stop them by land also. The land is easier. A U.S. official not authorized to speak on the record tells NPR training flights are being conducted in the southern Caribbean, but there's no indication military action against Venezuela is imminent.
Tamara Keith, NPR News. The Food and Drug Administration says it's planning to take a tougher approach to regulating vaccines. NPR's Rob Stein reports top officials at the FDA claim they have uncovered new evidence questioning the safety of COVID-19 shots.
FDA Commissioner Marty McCary says the agency will require much stricter evidence that vaccines are safe and effective. McCary says the new approach was prompted by evidence that the deaths of at least 10 children were caused by the COVID vaccines. McCary's top deputy, Vinay Prasad, made that claim in an email distributed Friday. NPR obtained the email after it was reported by other news organizations. Independent public health experts, however, questioned the claim that the COVID vaccines caused these deaths, citing the administration's pattern of making unsupported and misleading claims. Rob Stein, NPR News.
A powerful winter storm is causing travel disruptions as people head home from the Thanksgiving holiday. NPR's Shondalise Duster reports.
Winter storm warnings and advisories are in effect from South Dakota to portions of Ohio. The National Weather Service says the storm will bring heavy snowfall and hazardous travel conditions. By Saturday afternoon, more than 800 flights leaving and coming to Chicago O'Hare International Airport had been canceled. National Weather Service meteorologist Andrew Orison says Monday will be a better day to travel.
Tuesday, the travel conditions will be worse as there will be more of a widespread impact for rainfall and also areas getting snow.
Officials are warning travelers in the path of the storm to stay off the roads. Shondalese Duster, NPR News.
This is NPR News in Washington. A pair of blockbuster sequels are packing movie theaters this holiday weekend, and PR's Bob Mondello has the details.
Rabbits and Foxes and Witches, oh my. Stream team. Disney's Zootopia 2. I want the fox and the rabbit. And the Oz prequel sequel, Wicked for Good. Think of what we could do together. Are burning up the cinema turnstiles with what's predicted to be a combined Thanksgiving weekend total of a quarter of a billion dollars in North America.
Woo!
The zoo critters lead with roughly $155 million, while in their second week, the pink and green witches are collecting about $95 million. Combined, that puts them well ahead of the top five hits in most pre-pandemic weekends, but behind last year's all-time power couple, the first Wicked and Moana 2. Bob Mondello, NPR News.
Northwestern University has agreed to pay $75 million to the federal government to restore lost research funding. The Trump administration cut off nearly $800 million in grants last year after a standoff with university leadership. Officials accuse Northwestern of failing to do enough to address anti-Semitism on campus, a charge the school has disputed. Under the new agreement, the university will make payments to the U.S. Treasury over the next three years. The deal ends several investigations and reinstates hundreds of millions of dollars in research support.
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