NPR News: 12-03-2025 5AM EST
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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dave Mattingly. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is saying more about U.S. military strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean, especially one in September. As NPR's Greg Myrie reports, Hegseth says he did not order a follow-up attack that killed survivors of an initial strike.
Defense Secretary Hegseth described his actions during the first U.S. attack in the Caribbean on September 2nd.
I watched that first strike live. As you can imagine, at the Department of War, we've got a lot of things to do. So I didn't stick around, so I moved on to my next meeting.
Nine people were killed initially, but two people survived. A second U.S. strike killed them, but Hegseth said he only learned hours later that this follow-up strike took place. He said the commander of the operation made the correct decision to, quote, sink the boat and eliminate the threat. But critics have raised the possibility the attack could be a violation of U.S. law or the laws of war. Greg Myhre, NPR News, Washington.
No breakthroughs on ending Russia's war with Ukraine are reported following yesterday's high-level talks in Moscow. President Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, met with Putin for about five hours.
What military actions are being discussed regarding drug boats in the Caribbean?
Afterwards, a Kremlin spokesman described the talks as constructive, while adding some aspects of the latest U.S. peace proposal remain unacceptable to Moscow. Key sticking points include Ukraine giving up territory to Russia. A survey of U.S. diplomats finds morale at the State Department is extremely low, with President Trump's second term in the White House approaching the one-year mark. Here's NPR's Michelle Kellerman.
The president of the American Foreign Service Association, John Dinkelman, calls it a dire situation. Ninety-eight percent of the Foreign Service officers surveyed reported low morale, and 86 percent said the Trump administration's changes have affected their ability to advance U.S. diplomatic priorities.
The diplomatic corps of the United States feels the effects of what has been undertaken in the form of managing their workplace to the ground.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he's been streamlining what he calls a bloated bureaucracy. He dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development and then laid off another 1,300 State Department employees in July. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, the State Department.
Republican Matt Van Epps is celebrating a win in Tennessee's special election for the 7th District congressional seat. Van Epps defeated Democratic candidate Afton Bain in the race to replace GOP Congressman Mark Green. He left the House for a job in the private sector. Bain is a progressive state lawmaker who carried Nashville in yesterday's election. Donald Trump carried the district by 22 percentage points in the 2024 presidential race. This is NPR News. It's been nearly 12 years since a Malaysian Airlines flight disappeared over the Indian Ocean. Before the end of the month, the country's transport ministry says it will resume the search for the Boeing 777. It's believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean in March of 2011 after veering from its flight path with 239 people aboard.
Flight 370 was destined for Beijing when it disappeared. Some pieces of wreckage from the flight were later discovered, having washed ashore along Africa's coastline. That was in 2014. Michael and Susan Dell, the billionaires behind the tech company Dell, say they're donating more than $6 billion to establish investment accounts for children. NPR's Stephen Besahab says the money will be used to help millions of kids through so-called Trump accounts.
25 million children under the age of 11 will get $250 invested in Trump accounts. That will include kids born too early to get one of the $1,000 investments that will be set up for eligible children born between the beginning of 2025 and the end of 2028.
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