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By Mark Garrison

December 02, 2025

In the news today: The White House confirms and defends a controversial second strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean; investigating the killings of three children in a California shooting; and the West Bank Palestinians living in fear of more Israeli attacks. Also, why caterpillars deserve our help and how to give it.

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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Monday, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

WORLD NEWS

White House says admiral ordered follow-up strike on alleged drug boat, insists attack was lawful

The White House said Monday that a Navy admiral acted “within his authority and the law” when he ordered a second, follow-up strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea in a September U.S. military operation that has come under bipartisan scrutiny. Read more.

What to know:

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt offered the justification for the Sept. 2 strike as lawmakers announced there will be congressional review of the U.S. military strikes against vessels suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific Ocean. The lawmakers cited a published report that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order for a second strike that killed survivors on the boat.
Her explanation came after President Donald Trump a day earlier said he “wouldn’t have wanted that — not a second strike” when asked about the incident. Leavitt said Hegseth has spoken with members of Congress who may have expressed some concerns about the reports over the weekend.

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US NEWS

A California family was about to cut a birthday cake when gunfire erupted

Family members were getting ready to cut the cake at a toddler’s birthday party when the gunfire started inside a banquet hall packed with relatives and friends over the weekend in California. Three children ages 8, 9 and 14 and a 21-year-old were killed. Read more.

What to know:

Sheriff’s spokesperson Heather Brent has said investigators believe it was a “targeted incident.” Officials did not elaborate on why authorities believe it was intentional or who might have been targeted. She said investigators would welcome any information, “even rumors.”
Patrice Williams, the birthday girl’s mother, said partygoers who had gathered around the cake dropped to the ground the moment the gunshots rang out. “It was just unexpected. I don’t know what happened, and I’m just so shocked and lost,” Williams said.

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WORLD NEWS

Palestinians in the West Bank fear more attacks by Israeli settlers

During October’s olive harvest, settlers across the territory launched an average of eight attacks daily, according to the United Nations humanitarian office, the most since it began collecting data in 2006. The attacks continued in November. Read more.

What to know:

Settlers burned cars, desecrated mosques, ransacked industrial plants and destroyed cropland. Israeli authorities have done little beyond issuing occasional condemnations of the violence. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the attackers as a minority that did not represent most settlers in the West Bank.
Palestinians and human rights workers say Israeli soldiers and police routinely fail to prosecute attacks by violent settlers. About 94% of all investigation files opened by Israeli police into settler violence from 2005 to 2024 ended without an indictment, according to Israeli rights group Yesh Din.

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