NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-02-2025 7AM EST

Episode Date: December 2, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korovic Coleman. President Trump's envoy, Steve Whitkoff, is expected in Moscow today for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin says they'll be joined by Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. NPR's Charles Means reports they'll discuss the latest U.S. plan for ending the war in Ukraine. This is the sixth time Whitkoff has met in person with Putin since President Trump tasked him with resolving the Ukraine crisis back in January. This time the billionaire businessman turned presidential envoy comes by. bearing a new draft peace plan, one initially criticized for being overly favorable to Russia and since revised with input from Ukraine and its European allies. It remains unclear whether Putin will accept those changes. In comments last week, Putin said he remained open to the U.S. proposal in theory, but the criminal leader also conditioned any lasting peace in Ukraine withdrawing from territory claimed, but not controlled by Moscow, despite more than three years of heavy fighting.

Charles Mainz, NPR News, Moscow. The Afghan man accused of shooting two National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C. last week, appeared to suffer a personal crisis before the attack. That's according to a refugee resettlement volunteer who worked closely with Rahmanullah Lackenwal over a period of years. NPR's Brian Mann reports. The volunteer who worked with Lackenwal in Bellingham, Washington, spoke with NPR on condition of anonymity because they said they feared for their safety. When they first worked with Lackenwal in 2022, he appeared hopeful and outgoing.

But by 2023, his condition appeared to worsen as he struggled to find steady work. My biggest concern was that he would harm himself, the volunteer said, I worried he would be suicidal. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Nome said Sunday Lackenwal appeared to be radicalized after coming to the U.S. from Afghanistan. But the volunteer who worked with Lackenwall and his family said there was no sign of that. They described an individual who seemed to be experiencing a deepening personal crisis. Brian Mann and PR News. Arizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly is condemning President Trump. as a bully. Kelly says Trump was wrong to criticize Kelly and other lawmakers for producing a video.

It told U.S. military members not to obey illegal orders. Kelly is a retired Navy captain. Artificial intelligence now touches the lives of many people. NPR's Barbara Sprunt reports a nonprofit hopes to harness the power of AI to help elect independent candidates to Congress next year. It's been 35 years since a new independent candidate won a house seat. But the Independence Center wants to change that. The nonprofit is using AI to find congressional districts where voters are fed up with both parties. Strategists say they've identified 40 districts like that where independence could break through. The Center plans on backing about a dozen candidates in the midterms next year.

And with the extremely narrow balance of power in the House, just a handful of independents could prevent either party from getting a majority. Barbara Sprint and Pier News, Washington. You're listening to NPR News. New research suggests the brain's wiring goes through five distinct stages over a person's lifetime. NPR's John Hamilton has more on a study that appears in the journal Nature Communication. Researchers at the University of Cambridge in the UK studied the brains of more than 3,800 people, from newly born to age 90. The team used MRI to see how the brain's wiring changed over that span.

and the identified four time points when the brain reconfigures. At about age nine, the brain ends its childhood phase, which prunes away unneeded connections between neurons. It also begins an adolescent phase of optimizing the connections that remain. At 32, the brain enters a long period of stability. Then around age 66, connections start to weaken, a process that accelerates after age 83. John Hamilton, NPR News.

Several countries in South and Southeast, Asia continue to reel from nearly a week of weather catastrophes. These were triggered by tropical storms. Some news reports say at least 1,200 people have been killed in flooding and landslides. The flooding has hit Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia. Hundreds of victims have also perished in Indonesia. In the U.S., the National Weather Service says more than 55 million people are under winter storm warnings or winter weather advisories this morning. A wintry system is barreling east. Parts of the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic will get several inches of snow.

There are winter storm warnings posted up to New England. Forecasters say parts of that region could get up to a foot of snow. I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News.