NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-03-2025 1PM EST

Episode Date: December 3, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. A day after President Trump disparaged the nation of Somalia with words like stinks and garbage, Somali president, rather prime minister, Hamza Abdibaray, says it's better not to respond. This is part of what President Trump told reporters at a cabinet meeting yesterday about Somali immigrants in the United States. I don't want them in our country, I'll be honest with you. Somebody would say, oh, that's not politically correct. I don't care. I don't want them in our country. In Somalia, long considered a key U.S. ally in the fight against the al-Shabaab terrorist group.

Officials are facing public pressure at home and abroad to call out Trump. The U.S. President acknowledges he has leveled similar remarks against other countries. But his rhetoric has repeatedly turned back to the Somali immigrant community, especially one of his most vocal critics in Congress, Representative Ilhan Omar. And now officials in Minneapolis and St. Paul, home to the local. the largest Somali community in the U.S. are reacting with concern to reports of a planned immigration crackdown in their communities. New Orleans is the latest target of the administration's crackdown on illegal immigration. Mel Bridges, with Member Station WWNO, reports customs and

Border Patrol officers are now arriving in the city. The Department of Homeland Security says it's sending federal agents to address, quote, criminal illegal aliens roaming free and says local authorities are not cooperating with U.S. immigration and customs enforcement. The Orleans Paris Sheriff's office is under a federal consent decree, which prohibits them from holding people suspected of being in the country illegally beyond their release date. The FBI and Louisiana State Police have rolled out a joint effort to prevent citizens from interfering with federal immigration officers. Other Democratic-led cities like Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Charlotte, have also seen major immigration enforcement efforts. For NPR News, I'm Melbridges.

U.S. Russian negotiations in Moscow aimed at ending the war in Ukraine wrapped up yesterday without significant progress. But as NPR's Eleanor Beardsley tells us, the Ukrainian negotiating team is preparing to meet with Trump's envoy soon. President Volodymyr Zelensky says his negotiators are in Brussels to brief the Europeans on the U.S. Russia talks. Then they will prepare for their meeting with U.S. officials. Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the Europeans of trying to thwart President Trump's peace deal by changing the draft proposal to make it unacceptable for Russia. As the talks took place in Moscow, Zelensky addressed the Irish parliament. saying Europe must keep the pressure on Putin.

So that Russia does not believe it will be rewarded for this war with stolen Ukrainian land or thousand kidnapped Ukrainian children. Analysts say the sides remain too far apart to conclude a peace deal. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Kiev. U.S. stocks are trading higher this hour with the Dow Jones Industrial Average now up 372 points or more than three quarters of a percent. It's NPR. President Trump has pardoned Democratic Congressman Henry Quayar and his wife in a federal bribery and conspiracy case.

On social media, Trump alleged that the couple was prosecuted because of the representative's criticism of former President Joe Biden's immigration policies. Henry and Imelda Quayar were charged with accepting thousands of dollars in exchange for the lawmakers' support for an Azerbaijan-controlled energy company and a bank in Mexico. The CEO of Artificial Intelligence Company, OpenAI, has issued a quote, Code Red to employees this week. Sam Altman is worried about Google's growing artificial intelligence capabilities. NPR's Bobby Allen reports Google's latest version of its Gemini AI chatbot has exceeded expectations. In a memo sent to OpenAI staff confirmed by NPR, Altman said the company needs to hyper-focus on improving chat GPT.

And as a result, Altman told employees it is pushing back work on other products like AI agents for health and shopping and pausing a push into advertising. It comes as Google's latest Gemini chatbot beat out all the rival AI chatbots in a series of industry benchmark tests. It for the first time pulled Google ahead of the competition in the AI race. While ChatGPT remains the most popular chatbot, the company is confronting questions about its finances. And that's because Altman said the company is not turning a profit and isn't expecting to. until 2030. Bobby Allen, NPR News. The Dow's up 375 points. The SMP has gained 23. The NASAC is climbing 52 points. It's NPR News. Listen to this podcast, sponsor-free on Amazon Music, with a prime membership, or any podcast app, by subscribing to NPR NewsNow Plus at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.