NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-26-2025 3PM EST

Episode Date: November 26, 2025

NPR News: 11-26-2025 3PM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Trump says his envoy, Steve Whitkoff, will soon head to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump has said he is closing in on a negotiated deal to end the war in Ukraine from Moscow. NPR's Charles Mainz reports. A senior Kremlin aide confirmed Whitkoff would meet with Putin next week to discuss the latest U.S. efforts to end the war in Ukraine. Whitkoff seeks approval for a draft peace plan that initially offered. terms favorable to Moscow, but has since been fine-tuned with input from Europe and Ukraine.

Senior Russian officials have warned those amendments could make the plan a non-starter. Whitkoff's trip also comes in the wake of a leaked transcript from a phone call with a senior Putin aide that appears to show Whitkoff providing counsel on handling Trump. While the transcript has not been independently verified by NPR, Trump is already downplaying its contents, telling reporters Whitkoff was engaged in a standard form of negotiation. Charles Baines, NPR News, Moscow. Arizona, U.S. Senator Mark Kelly was on Jimmy Kimmel live last night as he continues to publicly rebuke the Pentagon's investigation into him and other congressional Democrats for warning service members against following unlawful orders. Every one of us has First Amendment speech rights, and I think the President is infringing on those.

And he is sending a pretty strong message. You do not want to cross him, and your loyalty should be to him. It should not. It should always be to the Constitution. The congressional members who put out video recently have military or intelligence backgrounds. President Trump accused the lawmakers of being traitors and unlawfully undermining his responsibility as commander-in-chief. The historic Georgia election interference case against President Trump and his allies for their efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election is no more. Today, a judge granted a motion for dismissal. The Israeli military has launched a new major operation in the occupied West Bank.

It's the first significant Israeli military deployment since the ceasefire in Gaza went into effect last month. NPR's Katlonsdorf has more from the West Bank. A few hundred Israeli soldiers and several armored vehicles raided the Palestinian town of Tubas outside of Nablis, according to the mayor. Israel said it was part of a, quote, broad counterterrorism operation in the area. The Palestinian Red Crescent said its teams were treating 10 people for, quote, brutal beatings, and that 30 patients total were transferred to hospitals as a result of the raid, noting that transportation was difficult due to military incursions. This major raid comes as Israel has been carrying out an extended and destructive military campaign

in northern refugee camps of the West Bank, leading to the longest and largest displacement in the territory in decades. Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Ramallah. At last check on Wall Street, the Dow was up near. nearly 400 points. This is NPR news. Residents of a Pakistani border town say that five children were killed in a strike that they say appeared to be fired from a Pakistani military position. Omkark Kandekar reports the Taliban had previously accused the Pakistani military

of a bombing that killed 10 civilians in Afghanistan. A resident of Pakistan's Kurram district sent an NPR producer footage of the aftermath of the strike. were gathered around wooden coffins, some of them small. They had placed them in front of a paramilitary headquarter to protest the deaths of the children, whose ages ranged from 17 to 6. Pakistan's army had no immediate comment regarding that strike, but a spokesman for the military insisted

his forces were not behind an earlier strike in Afghanistan that had killed nine children and a woman. The strikes come amidst tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan. They have been brewing as extremist groups loyal to the Taliban have been conducting militant attacks inside Pakistan. Oamkar-Kandekar, NPR News, Mumbai. Some people will be celebrating this Thanksgiving, snuggling with a rescued turkey. Oh, my goodness, you're so snub.

The Associated Press capturing a cuddly moment at the gentle barn in Tennessee. Founder Elulak says turkeys are smart. They're gentle, and like the other rescued animals, they're a calming force for human visitors looking for a little connection. The world has started to recognize that dogs, cats, horses have a therapeutic value to them. It's a place of refuge for anyone. The founder of Gentle Barn on the Healing Powers of a Snuggle. It's NPR News.