NPR News: 12-24-2025 4AM EST
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Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all.
On the web at theschmidt.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Roman. Justice Department officials have released 30,000 pages of letters, flight logs, and other documents related to the investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. They include a handwritten letter released and published on the DOJ website. NPR's Gabriel Sanchez reports.
Among the trove of documents released by the Justice Department are redacted photographs, court records, and a handwritten letter. A photo of the letter shows an alleged correspondence between Jeffrey Epstein and another convicted sex offender, former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University physician Larry Nassar. The letter from 2019 describes Epstein's and Nassar's love for, quote, young ladies and later describes President Trump as sharing their same passion. Hours after the release. DOJ officials posted on X they were vetting the validity of the letter they presented online. Two hours later, a second social post described the letter as fake. It wasn't immediately clear what information the department learned in the interim.
The FBI declined comment. Gabriel Sanchez, NPR News, Washington.
Israel's defense minister said the military would help establish Jewish settlements in northern Gaza, remarks that contradict President Trump's ceasefire plan signed by Israel. NPR's Ava Batrani has details.
Defense Minister Israel Katz was addressing Jewish settlers in the West Bank to mark the expansion of 1,200 new housing units there when he said... God willing, in due time, Israel will establish Israeli communities in areas of northern Gaza where Jewish settlements were dismantled 20 years ago.
What documents were released in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation?
And he said, quote, we will not leave all of Gaza. But only hours later, the Israeli defense minister issued a statement saying the government has no intention of establishing settlements in Gaza and that his remarks were made solely in a security context. without elaborating. But his initial comments had already grabbed headlines in Israel and were welcomed by a far-right settler group. Aya Bhattarawi, NPR News.
Stronger than expected, consumer spending in the third quarter of the year pushed the nation's gross domestic product to a 4.3 percent annual rate. The Commerce Department report said the total value of both goods, economic goods and services, was higher than the 3.8 percent rate in the second quarter. more.
In the third quarter, which is between July and September, the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 4.3 percent. And that is some of the fastest growth we've seen in a couple of years. And it's propelled by the usual engine, which is consumer spending. This GDP growth is quite a bit faster than the growth in the previous quarter and certainly faster than the start of the year when the economy actually shrank as companies braced for President Trump's sweeping tariffs.
However, there are persistent concerns about stubborn inflation. And you're listening to NPR News. A jury has awarded Johnson & Johnson, ordered Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries to pay $1.5 billion to a Baltimore woman after finding the company liable for exposing her to asbestos through baby powder. WYPR's Scott Massione reports it is the largest win for a single person in a talc-related case.
The Baltimore Circuit Court jury found that the company knew that its baby powder products caused mesothelioma. an incurable form of cancer. Jessica Dean, an attorney on the case, says Johnson & Johnson consistently lied about the safety of the product.
The willingness to sacrifice future people's health to protect their pocketbook when they have unreal resources is gross.
The company says it will appeal the $1.5 billion verdict. About 67,000 people are suing Johnson & Johnson over cancer diagnoses. The company moved from talc to cornstarch-based baby powder in the U.S. in 2020.
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