NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-03-2025 6AM EST

Episode Date: December 3, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman. President Trump's special envoy, Steve Whitkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday in Moscow. There's been no breakthrough on a peace agreement that would stop Russia's war in Ukraine. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports from Kiev that Ukrainians are not surprised. Ukrainians say Russian President Vladimir Putin does not want peace. He continues to bomb their cities nearly nightly and believes he's winning in the east, even though. Russia lost 25,000 soldiers during the month of October alone. Putin cannot stop. That's Ukrainian military analyst Mikhailo Samus. He says Putin has been trying to destroy Ukraine since 2014. These operations in Crimea and still, he didn't destroy Ukraine.

So he's angry and he will continue. Samu says Ukrainians cannot give in to Putin and will never agree to give up territory. He says the most Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, can sign for is a ceasefire because there will be no real peace as long as Putin exists. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Kyiv. Republican and Democratic lawmakers want more information about the deadly U.S. military boat strikes in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean. Senate Majority Leader John Thune says the House and Senate Armed Services Committees will

investigate. I have every confidence that the policies that this administration is employing when it comes to keeping people in this country safe in ensuring that. our policy is one of peace whose strength that those policies are being adhered to and followed. But the Republican leader did not explicitly offer support to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Hegseth is being scrutinized over the decision-making around a second strike on a boat in the Caribbean last September. Two survivors of that initial boat strike were then killed. Republicans have held on to a Tennessee congressional seat that was up for grabs and a special election held yesterday,

but they won by a much slimmer margin than in the past. From Member Station WPLN, Mariana Bacayah reports on the victory by Republican Matt Van Epps. At the Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville, Republicans celebrated after a heated race for Tennessee's 7th Congressional District. Last year, the GOP swept this district by 22 points. Van Epps fended off a challenge from Democratic State Representative Afton Bain, winning the election by about 9 percentage points. That's according to a race called by the Associated Press. In his victory speech, Van Epps said Democrats shouldn't own the conversation on affordability. And together we'll bring down the cost of living.

I'm tired of too many Republicans ceding affordability to the Democrats. Van Epps will be back on the ballot next year for the midterms after he finishes out his predecessor's term. For NPR News, I'm Mariana Baca Yao in Nashville. You're listening to NPR News. from Washington. The Afghan man accused of shooting two National Guard troops last week in Washington, D.C., has been formally charged in the attack. Raman Ola Lacanwal faces a first-degree murder charge in the killing of Army Specialist Sarah Bextram.

He faces other charges in the wounding of Air Force Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe. Lackenwal was wounded in an exchange of gunfire during the attack. He pleaded not guilty from the hospital bed. The death toll from a gigantic fire at an apartment complex in Hong Kong now stands at 156 people. Hong Kong police are still searching through the wreckage, but reporter Sheree Fam tells us some residents have been allowed to return. It's been one week since the fire tore through seven high-rise towers at a public housing complex in Tai Po, a northeast suburb in Hong Kong. Residents from the one tower that was spared from the fire are returning to their apartments. They can't move back in, officials say, but they can collect personal belongings.

Meanwhile, police are still searching through two of the buildings, warning more bodies could be found. Hong Kong's leader says a committee will determine the cause of the fire and make recommendations to prevent future tragedies. For NPR news, I'm Cherie Sfam in Hong Kong. Many regions in South and Southeast Asia remain in disaster mode. They're recovering from deadly flooding and landslides following tropical storms. At least 1,400 people have been killed in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam, and nearly 800 of these victims perished in Indonesia. Hundreds of thousands of survivors lack clean water.

This is NPR.