--:-- Lakshmi Singh: This message comes from the NPR Wine Club, which has generated over $1.75 million to support NPR programming. Whether buying a few bottles or joining the club, you can learn more at nprwineclub.org slash podcast. Must be 21 or older to purchase.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: House Oversight Committee Democrats have released reams of emails from the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. They said several mentioned President Trump by name.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: Hours later, their Republican colleagues released more than 20,000 pages of documents they said they obtained from the financier's estate.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: President Trump has denied having knowledge of the sex crimes for which Epstein was charged or convicted.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: These latest Epstein files come as the House returns for votes that could reopen the federal government after the longest shutdown in U.S. history.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: House Democrats and board Republicans have been pushing for a vote to release additional files related to the Epstein case since before the government shutdown began.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: But House Speaker Mike Johnson was able to delay that vote by keeping the chamber out and most recently by refusing to swear in Democrat Adelita Grijalva of Arizona.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: Today that wait ends Grijalva will be sworn in seven weeks after she won a special election in Arizona
--:-- Stephen Fowler: She is expected to then sign a petition to force a vote on a measure that requires a release of more Epstein files
--:-- Windsor Johnston: As federal workers wait for the green light to head back to work, NPR's Windsor-Johnson reports staffing gaps and flight cancellations could stretch into the busy Thanksgiving travel period.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: The government may soon reopen, but the nation's air travel system will need more time.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Former FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt tells NPR that it's not just the control towers feeling the pressure.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: The TSA is equally burdened and there'll be a surge of traffic, of course, and that'll challenge their system to get people through security into the boarding.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: So I think just patience and take as much caution as you can to keep in the information loop as to the status of your flights.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Babbitt warns that longstanding staffing shortages mean it could take days, maybe longer, for schedules to stabilize.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: According to FlightAware.com, more than 9,000 flights have been canceled since last Friday.
--:-- Kerry Kahn: Venezuela says it's readying a large force in case the U.S. attacks a South American country.
--:-- Kerry Kahn: NPR's Kerry Kahn reports the Pentagon announced that the USS Gerald Ford nuclear-powered aircraft carrier reached the region controlled by U.S. Southern Command.
--:-- Kerry Kahn: Venezuelan officials have been showing off weapons distributions and military maneuvers in preparation they say for U action
--:-- Kerry Kahn: Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino says 200 forces are ready to quote fight to the death to protect the homeland.
--:-- Kerry Kahn: It's unclear what the U.S. plans are as the world's largest aircraft carrier makes its way into the seas off the Venezuelan coast.
--:-- Kerry Kahn: President Trump has talked about direct strikes and CIA operations to unseat President Nicolás Maduro.
--:-- Kerry Kahn: To date, the U.S. has struck at least 19 times against small boats suspected of transporting drugs.
--:-- Kerry Kahn: Colombia's president has cut off narcotics intelligence sharing in protest over the U.S. actions.
--:-- Emily Fang: It's NPR. A Chinese tycoon accused of setting up illegal gambling rings in scam compounds which defrauded people around the world is being extradited from Thailand to China.
--:-- Emily Fang: His extradition ends a years long battle in what NPR's Emily Fang reports is a murky legal case involving allegations of subterfuge and espionage.
--:-- Emily Fang: The case against She Zhejiang could have been lifted from a spy novel.
--:-- Emily Fang: And in fact, he claims he was recruited as a spy by the Chinese state.
--:-- Emily Fang: She became wealthy building big real estate projects in Southeast Asia and acquired Cambodian citizenship along the way
--:-- Emily Fang: His most notorious project is the Shui Cocoa compound in Myanmar marketed as a resort for Chinese tourists but activists say it a hub for cyber scams
--:-- Emily Fang: The Chinese government says thousands of Chinese nationals have been kidnapped and forced to work as scammers at compounds like Shuz.
--:-- Emily Fang: But Shuz's lawyers allege Beijing is extraditing him out of fear he will reveal state secrets from his time as an alleged spy, and they say they don't fear for his life as he's sent back to China.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: Today marks the end of the penny, the new ones anyway, at President Trump's orders.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: The U.S. Mint in Philadelphia pressed the very last one-cent coin because its value is much less than the cost to make it.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: But there are still billions of pennies in circulation and changing hands for buying stuff, the give-a-penny-take-a-penny jar, or maybe picking up one for a little luck.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News, in Washington.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: Mothers and daughters, daughters and mothers. We explore the generational divide on our latest episode of Books We've Loved about Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club with the indicators Waylon Wong.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: Find Books We've Loved on NPR's Book of the Day podcast feed on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
