NPR News: 12-07-2025 10AM EST
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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Louise Schiavone. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a defense forum at the Ronald Reagan Library last night that the Trump administration's strikes on alleged drug traffickers will continue.
These narco-terrorists are the al-Qaeda of our hemisphere, and we are hunting them with the same sophistication and precision that we hunted al-Qaeda.
He was asked at the forum about reports that in one recent strike, he ordered that everyone on a boat in the Caribbean be killed.
Did you at any time... say that everybody on board should be killed. Does anybody here from the Washington Post? I don't know where you get your sources, but they suck. Of course not.
Hegseth says the strikes are part of a strategy to defend the Western Hemisphere. Democrats have called the military strikes illegal and several have called for full video of the strikes to be released. Senator Mark Warner is the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. He told NPR.
I want to see the execution order. I want to hear the communications between Democrats. the admiral who made the second strike decision. I want to have all that data point.
What military strikes did Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth discuss?
Obviously, I'm very, very, very troubled.
He says that Hegseth should resign. After two years of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Christmas celebrations are returning to Bethlehem. Palestinians are hoping the festivities marking the traditionally acknowledged birthplace of Jesus will be another building block for peace. Bethlehem's Mayor Meher Kanawati spoke in Manger Square.
We want peace. We want life. We are so much in need for this peace so we can continue living in our cities and in Palestine.
Crowds there cheered the lighting of a towering Christmas tree. as businesses hoped that prosperity would return. Waymo, the autonomous ride-hailing service, plans to file a software recall after some of its cars illegally passed, stopped school buses. NPR's Jeff Brady reports that a federal investigation is also underway into the vehicles.
An Atlanta TV station aired video in September showing a Waymo driverless taxi maneuvering around a stopped school bus. The bus's red lights were flashing and its stop sign extended. In Austin, Texas, the school district documented 19 similar incidents, one just moments after a student crossed in front of the Waymo vehicle. Waymo says in an email statement that a software issue contributed to the problem and that it has been fixed. No one was injured, and Waymo plans to file a voluntary recall of the software with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which launched an investigation. Waymo is a subsidiary of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, which is a financial supporter of NPR.
Jeff Brady, NPR News.
This is NPR. A senior official in Benin's government says a coup declared by a group of soldiers has been quashed. Authorities there say 14 people have been arrested in the coup attempt. Michael Kaloki has more.
In a video statement posted on social media, Benin's interior minister, Alassane Seydoux, said that the attempted coup was foiled. Earlier, soldiers appearing on national television said they had ousted President Patrice Talon. They added that a military officer, Lieutenant Colonel Pascal Tigray, would oversee the country. In a statement, the West African Regional Economic Bloc, ECOWAS, condemned the actions of the soldiers... calling their actions unconstitutional. Benin has witnessed a series of coups since it gained independence from France in 1960. Tseidou was elected in 2016 and has faced accusations of authoritarianism. Sunday, his government urged people to go about their normal activities. For NPR News, I'm Michael Kaloki in Nairobi.
Department of Health and Human Services officials have altered the identification of a portrait of Biden-era transgender health official, Admiral Rachel Levine.
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