November 12, 2025 - PBS News Hour full episode

In our news wrap Wednesday, President Trump is urging Israel's president to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his corruption case, a former aide to California's Gov. Newsom has been indicted on charges related to an alleged scheme to steal campaign money, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta is retiring and the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia pressed its last penny.

The House of Representatives has returned to Washington for the first time in nearly two months and is set to vote to end the nation’s longest-ever government shutdown. Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins reports.

Lawmakers in the House of Representatives reached a critical threshold in the push to release information related to the federal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. At the same time, one committee has made public a set of emails and documents that raise new questions about President Trump’s ties to the late sex offender. White House correspondent Liz Landers reports.

Gaza has the highest number of child amputees per capita in the world, a reminder of the war’s horrific toll on the youngest victims. Before the State Department paused new medical visas for Palestinians in August, a group of children and teens was able to leave Gaza for life-saving care in the U.S. Amna Nawaz and producer Zeba Warsi captured their stories. A warning: some images are disturbing.

Dozens of immigration judges have been fired by the Trump administration with no explanation. From coast to coast, nearly four dozen judges have lost their positions as the courts face a record backlog. Many had worked in immigrant defense, prompting questions about whether the firings are part of the administration’s hardline approach. Geoff Bennett discussed more with former judge Emmett Soper.

A U.S. aircraft carrier reached the Caribbean as part of the Trump administration’s escalating pressure campaign on Venezuela and its broader effort to combat drug trafficking. In recent months, the U.S. has killed dozens of people, prompting an outcry across the region from governments and human rights groups. Nick Schifrin discussed more with Juanita Goebertus Estrada of Human Rights Watch.

Two Cleveland Guardians pitchers were charged with sharing inside information about their play with sports bettors. That information that enabled them and others to profit off the pitches they threw. It’s the latest in a series of gambling scandals surrounding professional sports. Stephanie Sy discussed more with Jonathan Cohen, writer of “Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling."

The Booker Prize is one of the world’s most prestigious literary awards, given annually to a single novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. This year’s winner is David Szalay's novel, “Flesh.” Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown spoke with him for our arts and culture series, CANVAS.