NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-16-2025 7AM EST

Episode Date: December 16, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Kourva Coleman. President Trump is citing progress in talks aimed at ending Russia's war in Ukraine. He says he's talked with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, and other European officials. NPR's Deep Siviram has more. Trump sees himself as a global peacemaker and his inability to end the war between Ukraine and Russia, which started in 2022, has been a point of frustration for him. But now the president is signaling,

progress in negotiations that took place in recent days in Berlin. They're closer now. We had numerous conversations with President Putin of Russia. And I think we're closer now than we have been ever. U.S. officials say that as part of the peace deal, Ukraine could get some NATO protections, though they would not be joining the alliance. But that and other measures are still under discussion. Deepa Shiverum, NPR News, Washington. Palestinians in Gaza are scrambling to rebuild today.

that's after more heavy rain from storm Byron devastated many of their already weak shelters. And Pierre Hidal-Al-Shalchi reports humanitarian agencies say their efforts are hindered by Israel's restriction of aid into the enclave. The United Nations has renewed an appeal to the Israeli government to allow more aid into Gaza, warning that Palestinians are, quote, freezing to death. The UN said that the ruins of buildings are being waterlogged and causing them to collapse and kill families. Mahmoud Basal is the spokesperson for the Gaza's civil defense. These buildings are a major nightmare in Gaza, he said, and threaten the lives of thousands of people.

Basal said unless there's an immediate plan to rebuild Gaza, this scenario will repeat itself with more bad weather. He said the main hospital in Gaza City was flooded, ruining some supplies and medical equipment. Hadeal al-Shalchi, NPR News, Tel Aviv. The son of Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michelle, remains jailed in Los Angeles. L.A. Police Chief Jim McDonald says he's being held in the case of their killings last Sunday.

We have our robbery homicide division handling the investigation. They work throughout the night on this case and we're able to take into custody Nick Reiner, a suspect in this case. L.A. police say they'll turn over the homicide case to Los Angeles prosecutors today. The prosecutors will then decide what charges. bring, although police say the younger Reiner is responsible for his parents' deaths. There is no indication of when Nick Reiner will make his first court appearance. The man accused of killing United Health Care CEO Brian Thompson a year ago will return to a New York state courtroom today. Lawyers Fort Luigi Mangione are trying to get some evidence in the case thrown out. The defense says

Mangione made statements to police before he was advised of his right to remain silent. You're listening to NPR. President Trump has signed an executive order that declares fentanyl, a weapon of mass destruction. He says American adversaries are trafficking fentanyl into the U.S. to kill Americans. But experts say it would be hard to use it as a weapon of mass destruction. Others say people are dying from opioid addiction, not because cartels are weaponizing fentanyl. A new study finds people who use tanning beds are nearly three times as likely to develop melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer compared to people who have never tanned indoors.

And Pierre's Maria Godoy reports they're more likely to get it in unusual places, such as the lower back. The study found the more often people visited a tanning bed, the higher the risk. Those with 10 to 50 visits had twice the risk of melanoma. If they had over 200 visits, their risk was more than eight times as high. Study co-author Hunter Shane of the University of California, San Francisco, says, younger indoor tanners also had more DNA damage in their skin cells than people twice their age. So women in their 30s and 40s, they had more mutations than people in their 70s and 80s from the general population. Basically, they somehow were able to cram in two lifetimes worth of UV damage in 30 years.

The findings appear in the journal Science Advances. Maria Godoy and PR News. Scientists say an interstellar comet will reach its closest point to Earth on this Friday. They say the ancient comet is only the third object that's ever been spotted coming from outside of our solar system. I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News.