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- [00:04]
Hannah Jewell
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's boat strike orders are under new scrutiny. That's where we're starting the seven from the Washington Post, I'm Hannah Jewell. It's Monday, December 1st. Let's get you caught up with today's seven stories. On September 2nd, the US launched an attack on a boat in the Caribbean Sea. It was the opening salvo in the Trump administration's war on suspected drug traffickers in the region, a campaign that some current and former U.S. officials and experts have said is unlawful. On Friday, the Post published a report on the September attack. It revealed that Hegseth gave a spoken order to kill all the crew members aboard that vessel after an initial strike. A live drone feed showed two survivors from an original crew of 11 cling to the wreckage of their boat to comply with Hegseth's order. A special operations commander overseeing the mission ordered a second strike that killed the two survivors. Yesterday, President Donald Trump said Hegseth told him he didn't give the spoken order to kill everyone on board.
- [01:18]
Donald Trump
I don't know that that happened. And Pete said he did not want them. He didn't even know what people were talking about. So we'll look at, we'll look into it. But no, I wouldn't have wanted that. Not a second str. The first strike was very lethal. It was fine if there were two people around, but Pete said that didn't happen.
- [01:38]
Hannah Jewell
Now, Republican led committees in the House and Senate have demanded a full accounting of the September attack. That's a significant development. Since Trump's return to the White House, the Republican majorities in Congress have shown considerable deference to his administration. President Trump's ICE crackdown is impacting Chicago's economy. That's our second story. In September, the Trump administration launched an immigration enforcement operation in and around Chicago dubbed Operation Midway Blitz. Trump said the immigration sweeps would target what he called the worst of the worst. But few of the more than 3,000 people that have been arrested so far have criminal histories. The operation has caused people to avoid going to school and work. And businesses in Little Village, which is one of Chicago's most important commercial districts, have reported a 20 to 70% drop in sales. The story is the same in other predominantly Latino neighborhoods. That has led to cuts in staffing and opening hours as more people stay home out of fear of encountering federal agents. Number three. Four people were killed in a shooting at a child's birthday party in California. At least 100 people were gathered at a banquet hall in Stockton to celebrate a two year old girl's birthday party when disaster struck. Three children aged 8, 9 and 14 and a 21 year old were killed when gunfire broke out. Eleven people were wounded and at least one is in critical condition. San Joaquin County Sheriff Patrick Withrow asked any witnesses for help at a news conference yesterday.
- [03:39]
Patrick Withrow
We all know that there are people out there that are violent and commit violent crimes, but these animals walked in and shot children at a children's birthday party and none of us should stand for that. And so if you know anything about this, you have to come forward and tell us what you know.
- [03:59]
Hannah Jewell
That audio comes to us from ABC10 Investigators said they believe the shooting was a targeted incident and that there may have been multiple shooters. Number 4 More than 500 people have died in devastating flooding in Southeast Asia. Hundreds of people are missing across the region after tropical cyclones caused heavy flooding and landslides. One cyclone hit Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. In Sri Lanka, nearly a million people have been affected by another cyclone. Persistent bouts of the La Nina climate pattern are at least partially to blame for the flooding across the region. During La Nina, warmer than normal ocean water moves west towards Southeast Asia, allowing for higher levels of moisture, moisture in the air and usually more persistent rainfall. Rising global temperatures have also made the atmosphere more waterlogged, fueling wetter and more dangerous storms. The FDA laid out a stricter approach for federal vaccine approvals. That's number five Vinay Prasad is the nation's top vaccine regulator. His approach to vaccine policy has been championed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And his allies in the anti vaccine movement. On Friday, Prasad told officials in an email that his team had concluded coronavirus vaccines had contributed to the deaths of at least 10 children. He did not provide evidence. Prasad said the FDA will now rethink its framework for federal vaccine approvals, including for annual flu shots. He also said the agency will examine whether Americans should be receiving multiple vaccines at once and will require vaccine makers to show far more data to prove safety. Collectively, Prasad's plans would transform the FDA's decades old process of approving vaccines by compelling pharmaceutical companies to run far larger studies that will probably slow them down and could have a chilling effect on the development of new vaccines. Number six, Ozempic is changing how Americans spend their money and time and what they eat. In just over a year, the percentage of US adults taking GLP1 weight loss drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro more than doubled to 12.4%. Some companies are moving quickly to respond to that change. They're acquiring health food brands, renovating hotel gyms and changing lunch menus. But that's only scratching the surface. These drugs come with some uncomfortable or harmful side effects, including indigestion, nausea and loss of hair and muscle mass. As a result, sales for supplements and vitamin rich beauty products have surged. People are also cutting back on snacks and spending more on healthy items, and sales are up for smaller sized clothing for men and women. You can find our article breaking down all of these impacts in today's newsletter. Just follow the link in our show notes. And at number seven Hungry Pink Microbes Could Help Fight Climate Change Microbes found at the bottom of a lake in Siberia about 20 years ago have turned out to have a very useful superpower. They love feasting on methane gas. The microbes love of methane is potentially great news for the planet. That's because methane's heat trapping potential is 80 times as powerful as carbon dioxide before it breaks down. This potent planet warming gas is spewed from livestock farms, landfills, natural gas, oper oil production, and more. In one experiment at a California dairy farm, scientists released our pink microbial friends into a manure lagoon. They found that the microbes absorbed 85% of the methane it was emitting. So these microbes could become a critical tool in fighting methane emissions. All right, you're all caught up. Don't wait to take advantage of our Black Friday sale. Right now you can get a year's core subscription to the Washington post for just 99 cents every four weeks. After the first year, that renews at $12 every four weeks. And you can cancel anytime. Find the details@washingtonpost.com subscribe I'm Hannah Jewell. I'll meet you back here tomorrow.