--:-- Amy Held: Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Amy Held.
--:-- Amy Held: President Trump is responding after a Republican-led House committee released thousands of pages of documents this week from the estate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
--:-- Ron Elving: Democrats seized on emails mentioning Trump. NPR's Ron Elving reports now Trump has instigated an investigation into his perceived political enemies.
--:-- Ron Elving: The attorney general has announced an investigation of several former officials and Democratic donors who Trump alleges have something to hide with regard to Jeffrey Epstein.
--:-- Amy Held: Now, the obvious way to deal with a lot of this shadowboxing and innuendo would be to release all the Epstein files. That's what candidate Trump promised a year ago.
--:-- Amy Held: But President Trump has resisted that and driven other leaders in the Republican Party to do the same.
--:-- Amy Held: Despite Trump's opposition, Republicans are increasingly calling for the release of Justice Department Epstein files. A vote is expected next week.
--:-- Nick De La Canal: Border Patrol agents have begun carrying out an immigration enforcement operation in Charlotte, North Carolina.
--:-- Nick De La Canal: As I'm reporting, agents made arrests this morning in the city immigrant corridors.
--:-- Nick De La Canal: Agents were filmed smashing a man's car window and pulling him from a vehicle in South Charlotte.
--:-- Nick De La Canal: On the city's east side, restaurants locked their doors as agents chased a man into a laundromat and tackled an employee at a nearby car repair shop.
--:-- Nick De La Canal: The shop's owner, who didn't want her name used for fear of retribution, said the man was her lead mechanic.
--:-- Nick De La Canal: The business depends on clients and workers. And if my workers are taken, I gotta close my business today.
--:-- Nick De La Canal: Just blocks away, a woman filmed agents who stopped her landscaping crew as they were putting up Christmas lights, then let them go after questioning.
--:-- Nick De La Canal: For NPR News, I'm Nick De La Canal in Charlotte.
--:-- Amy Held: U.S. military officials tell NPR the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford will be in the Northern Caribbean by tomorrow, joining some 15,000 soldiers and sailors already there.
--:-- Amy Held: The U.S. has announced military drills and multiple deadly military strikes on vessels carrying people the Trump administration calls narco-terrorists.
--:-- Amy Held: It is seen as a possible pressure tactic on Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
--:-- Amy Held: Venezuela is readying its own military in response.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: Ukraine independent anti-agencies say associates close to President Volodymyr Zelensky plotted to skim millions from the country's energy sector.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: This as Ukrainians face a fourth brutal winter with widespread power cuts amid Russia's full invasion.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: NPR's Joanna Kakissis reports from Kyiv.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: Investigators say this group manipulated contracts at Enerho Adam, which is Ukraine's state nuclear energy company, and they got kickbacks laundering roughly $100 million.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: The scandal has forced the resignation of two ministers in Zelensky's government so far.
--:-- Joanna Kakissis: But Zelensky has not been implicated in this probe, and he is calling for the prosecution of those accused of committing crimes.
--:-- Amy Held: It's NPR News.
--:-- Amy Held: Alice Wong, who fought for equal access for those with disabilities, has died at the age of 51.
--:-- Amy Held: A friend announced the news on Wong's social media.
--:-- Amy Held: Wong, a writer and activist born with muscular dystrophy, founded the Disability Visibility Project, giving Americans with disabilities a platform to tell their stories.
--:-- Amy Held: Wong wrote that even when her body was at its lowest, she was at the height of her power.
--:-- Fatima Al-Qasab: The British government says it has plans to phase out animal testing faster using AI and 3D bioprinted human tissues.
--:-- Fatima Al-Qasab: NPR's Fatima Al-Qasab reports from London.
--:-- Fatima Al-Qasab: Animal testing is still used in major medical safety tests including tests on the safety of vaccines and pesticides.
--:-- Fatima Al-Qasab: Britain's government now has a roadmap for how to replace some animal testing by the end of this year and cut the use of dogs and other animals in testing by at least 35% by 2030.
--:-- Fatima Al-Qasab: They say they will do this by funding new methods, such as AI analysis of human molecules and what's known as organ-on-a-chip systems, which are tiny devices that mimic how human organs work.
--:-- Fatima Al-Qasab: Britain's science minister said he could imagine a day with no animal testing, but acknowledged this would take time.
--:-- Amy Held: As the NFL seeks to tackle an international fan base, the game plan is Madrid.
--:-- Amy Held: Tomorrow, the league's first ever game in Spain will see the Washington Commanders take on the Miami Dolphins at Real Madrid's home field.
--:-- Amy Held: Spain is the sixth country outside of the U.S. to host an NFL game.
--:-- Amy Held: This is NPR News.
