NPR News: 12-26-2025 11AM EST
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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. President Trump says the U.S. military struck ISIS militants in Nigeria today. The attacks come a month after Trump threatened on social media to go into the country, quote, guns a-blazing unless it did more to protect Christians. NPR's Emmanuel Akinwatu reports.
The strikes occurred overnight on Friday morning local time in northwest Nigeria. ISIS militants were targeted in the attacks, described as deadly by President Trump, but officials have given few details. Trump said more strikes would follow. Nigeria's government has come out in support of the operation. Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuga said he spoke with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio shortly before the strikes, but has faced criticism and questions on whether Nigeria gave consent or was simply consulted. Nigeria has faced pressure from US officials who claim Christians are facing a genocide from armed groups whose security experts say target both Christians and Muslims. Emmanuel Akimotu, NPR News, Lagos.
House Republicans have a long to-do list when they return to Washington in the new year. NPR's Claudia Grisales reports lawmakers will be faced with a packed legislative agenda and keeping a close eye on the November midterm elections.
It's still not clear they're going to keep their majority. They face the prospect of another government shutdown threat in January. And that's in addition to calls for Washington to address an affordability crisis that we expect will dominate on the campaign trail. And there's also those spiking premiums for health insurance after Congress failed to extend subsidies for Obamacare plants.
That's NPR's Claudia Grisales reporting. The American Academy of Pediatrics is suing the federal health department over the sudden cancellation of $12 million in grants. The pediatricians allege the grants were canceled in retaliation for speaking out against the department's recent policy changes. NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin reports.
AAP represents 67,000 pediatricians across the country. The organization has pushed back forcefully against the vaccine recommendations implemented by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist. In the lawsuit, AAP says the Department of Health and Human Services retaliated against their organization because of that public criticism. The millions in canceled grants supported work on sudden infant death prevention, rural health, early detection of birth defects, and more. The lawsuit was filed in federal district court in Washington, D.C., and says that without court intervention, these programs will end within weeks. HHS did not respond to NPR's request for comment.
Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR News.
Stocks are trading mixed on Wall Street at this hour. The Dow is down 24 points, the Nasdaq up 27. This is NPR. A powerful storm system that brought days of heavy rain, wind and snow to California is beginning to ease but is still causing problems for several areas. Forecasters warn of high surf along the coast and flash flooding in the Los Angeles area. The back-to-back storms, fueled by atmospheric rivers, are blamed for at least two deaths. Exposure to air pollution during pregnancy could raise the risk of low birth weight. That's according to new research. NPR's Jonathan Lambert reports certain periods of pregnancy may be especially sensitive.
Air pollution can cause all sorts of problems, from aggravating asthma to increasing risk of stroke. Researchers have also found that air pollution can lower birth weight, which can cause problems for newborns. But it was unclear whether there were certain windows of pregnancy that matter to a developing fetus. A team of researchers combined localized measurements of air pollution across the United States with birth weight data for over 16,000 mother-newborn pairs. In the journal JAMA Network Open, researchers report that higher air pollution was associated with lower birth weight. Exposure during early pregnancy, especially the first five weeks, had an even greater impact.
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