NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-28-2025 12AM EST

Episode Date: November 28, 2025

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The Internet made it possible for anyone to turn creativity into income, and millions are trying. But what happens when our ideas, our language, even our culture, are shaped by what's monetizable? This week, Ted Radio Hour explores the rise of the creator economy and how new tech, like AI, could define what we value next. Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your power. Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder. President Trump says West Virginia National Guard member Sarah Bextram is dead. Trump made the announcement during his Thanksgiving call to U.S. troops. Bextram was 20 years old.

She was one of two West Virginia Guard members who were shot in Washington, D.C. Wednesday, and what officials say was a targeted attack, NPR's Brian Mann is following developments. While speaking to U.S. military leaders around the world, Trump said the other guard member, 24-year-old Andrew Wolf, also from West Virginia, is still fighting for him. his life after undergoing surgery, Wolf remains in critical condition. The suspect is in custody and has been identified as an Afghan national who came to the U.S. during the Biden administration and was granted asylum earlier this year. President Trump is defending his chief negotiator after a leaked recording appeared to show him

coaching a Russian official on how to get a better deal with Trump. Trump says it's standard practice to do that as NPR's Franco Ordonez reports. The controversy has shined a new spot. outlight on his special envoy, Steve Whitkoff, and drawn criticism to the administration's ad hoc approach to securing peace deals. But Aaron David Miller, who served as a negotiator for Republican and Democratic administrations, says even a negotiating giant like Secretary of State Henry Kissinger would have a tough time with Russia. My experience in negotiations, they work, that is to say, deals are cut when there is urgency. And urgency is a function of two things. How much pain the parties are under

and what are the prospects for gain? The problem is that Miller just doesn't see the urgency in Moscow, and Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn't seem ready to make the kinds of concessions required to make a deal. Franco, Ordonez, NPR News. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to reporters about the U.S. peace plan, saying that the discussion so far were not about a draft agreement, but about sets of issues.

He also insisted that Ukrainian forces, fullback or be overrun. Peru has locked up another former president after a court in Lima jailed Pedro Castillo for his failed coup in December 2022 from Lehman. Simeon Tegel has more. Pedro Castillo smiled as the judge read out his sentence. 11 years and five months for his attempt to save his scramble rack leftist administration by unconstitutionally shuttering the Congress and courts. His conviction comes a day after another former president, centrist Martin Viscara, was handed a 14-year term after being found guilty of taking kickbacks. Meanwhile, Peru's democratic meltdown continues. Lawmakers, dozens of whom are

under investigation for corruption and have been accused of favoring organized crime, are on the cusp of ousting the country's chief prosecutor. For NPR news, I'm Simeon Tegel in Lima, Peru. This is NPR. The search and rescue me. Mission in Hong Kong is nearing an end. Officials say they expect to wrap up operations on Friday after the city's worst fire and decades tore through a massive apartment complex. Seven of eight towers were engulfed by flames. At least 94 people are confirmed at dozens remain missing. American roads might be slightly safer this Thanksgiving than they were last year. That's according to the National Safety Council, which estimates dozens fewer deaths this year compared to last year.

but still made more than 400 preventable deaths, as NPR's Camila Dominovsky reports. Driving is always dangerous, but never more so than on holidays, which seem more driving in general and more drunk driving in particular. The National Safety Council says it's encouraged that roads look safer than last year, but that even more tragedies could be avoided. For instance, if everyone wore a seatbelt, an additional 100-plus lives could be saved. According to the technology company Samsara, which tracks safety in large fleets of vehicles, The Sunday after Thanksgiving is the most dangerous day of the holiday season, with commercial crash rates spiking 65% week over week. Drive safe. Camila Dominooski in PR News.

The holiday season is now turning toward Black Friday, which remains a biggest single shopping day of the year in the U.S. The day after Thanksgiving marks the official start of the holiday shopping season, which typically accounts for about a third of retail profits. This year's kickoff comes as President Trump's terror. tariffs on imported goods have raised costs for both retailers and consumers. I'm Jail Snyder. This is NPR News. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit Wise.com. T's and Cs apply.