NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-21-2025 10AM EST

Episode Date: November 21, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, on Korva Coleman, Russia says it has yet to see an official copy of a new U.S.-backed peace plan for Ukraine. A draft proposal of the deal crafted by White House envoy Steve Whitkoff and his Russian counterpart publicly surfaced in a series of media leaks earlier this week. NPR's Charles Means has more from Moscow. Amid an avalanche of media reports outlining a peace plan that critics argue skews in Russia's favor, Moscow has remained largely silent. Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov acknowledged that while there had been contacts with the U.S., there was, quote, no process that could be called consultations on Ukraine. In fact, Peskov said Moscow had yet to receive an official copy of the U.S. proposal. Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has also said little about the most recent U.S. diplomatic push.

Instead, the Kremlin released new footage of Putin visiting a military command post as his top brass claim new Russian advances across the front line. Ukraine disputed that assessment. Charles Baines, NPR News. A federal judge in the U.S. says that she will soon rule on whether to order the release of the migrant Kilmar-Abrego-Garcia. He was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March and then returned, but he's still in U.S. immigration custody as the U.S. government continues to try to deport him. Obrego Garcia has offered to go to Costa Rica, which earlier said would accept him. But his lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Motionberg, says the U.S. government keeps trying to send him.

him to yet another African country. The fundamental question of why the government is insisting on protracted legal battles to send Mr. Abrago Garcia across the Atlantic Ocean to now four different African countries when there is a Central American country that has already offered him refugee status. And Brigo Garcia still faces human smuggling charges and a trial next year. He has denied the accusations. Stocks opened higher this morning on Wall Street at the end of of a mostly down week on the markets. NPR's Scott Horsley reports the Dow Jones Industrial average rose about 150 points in early trading. Retail sales figures are one of many data points delayed by the six-week government shutdown. Many individual retailers have been

delivering financial reports this week. The results have been mixed, but a consistent theme is that shoppers are being cautious and hunting for bargains. Stock in raw stores and the gap opened higher after both reported better than expected quarterly sales. With a double digital tariff on goods from Japan. The U.S. imported less from that country in October, but Japanese firms made up for it with higher sales to the rest of the world. Japan's overall exports were up 3.7% from a year ago. Tokyo's Niki Stock Index fell overnight. Stocks were also down in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Seoul. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. Stocks are now mixed on Wall Street. The NASDAQ is down by more than 30 points. You're listening to NPR News from

Washington. President Trump will welcome New York City mayor-elect Zoran Mamdani to the White House today. Both leaders have heavily criticized each other. A massive new AI data center will be online by next year. That's according to Foxcon, the Taiwanese manufacturing giant. It's building the data center on the island of Taiwan, which MPIR's Emily Fang reports is trying to beef up. The $1.4 billion data center will be Taiwan's most powerful configuration of what are called GPUs, a type of semiconductor designed for applications like artificial intelligence. The chips come from Nvidia, founded by Taiwanese American Jensen Huang. NVIDIA is now valued at around $5 trillion, making it the world's most valuable company.

Taiwan is also where many of NVIDIA's chips are made, but NVIDIA's biggest market is the U.S. and China, which says it wants to take over Taiwan one day. That has put Taiwan in a an awkward spot. It's been investing in its own computing centers, like the Foxcon One, to boost its own computing capabilities. Meanwhile, Foxcon is also partnering with open AI to build parts for new data centers in the U.S., according to an announcement yesterday. Emily Fang and Peer News. Delegates to the UN Climate Summit in Brazil were interrupted yesterday by a fire that broke out in a building. The fire was contained. About a dozen people were treated for smoke inhalation. Today is the last official day of the climate conference. Delegates are still

wrangling over the use of fossil fuels worldwide. You're listening to NPR News from Washington.