Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton.

The Pentagon says it has destroyed another small boat in the Caribbean, killing four men aboard.

NPR's Quill Lawrence reports this is at least the 20th boat targeted since the beginning of September.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth posted a video of a speedboat exploding.

He says it was carrying drugs on a known

smuggling route. The Trump administration says it is at war with drug cartels, and therefore the military

may legally kill alleged traffickers on suspicion alone. Critics say this is murder. At least 80 people

have so far been killed, and two survivors were repatriated and set free by their home countries.

The latest strike comes as the U.S. has assembled a massive fleet off the coast of Venezuela in what is seen as an effort to intimidate Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Maduro has responded by mobilizing hundreds of thousands of troops to resist possible U.S. military action.

Quill Lawrence NPR News.

A federal appeals court has blocked the Transportation Department's new restrictions on which

immigrants can get commercial driver's licenses. The court said the federal government

didn't follow proper procedure in drafting the rule and failed to show, quote, how the rule would promote safety.

During the government shutdown, Democrats demanded Republicans fund expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies.

That didn't happen after a handful of moderate Senate Democrats joined Republicans on a bill to reopen the

government this week. But as NPRs at Domenico Montanaro explains, the policy

battle over health care has shifted. Progressives feel let down by the party again. It's yet another

time when they feel steamrolled by leadership. But it's not all doom and gloom for the party coming

out of the shutdown with really nothing to show for it. They elevated the issue of health care

as a major issue, and that's forcing Republicans

on the defensive here. And coming off Democrats sweeping victories earlier this month in the

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