NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-22-2025 9AM EST

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. Turning Point, USA's annual conference wrapped up on Sunday, capping four days of speeches from some of the most prominent figures in the MAGA movement. The event marked the organization's largest gathering since its founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated in September. NPR's Elena Moore reports the conference exposed lingering divisions within the Republican Party. Some of its loudest voices are clashing. On one hand, the GOP has really rejected this idea of cancel culture, but at the same time, this conference highlighted a pretty large debate within the MAGA movement about which kinds of voices are being amplified. And there was this really notable moment on

the first night when conservative commentator Ben Shapiro criticized a bunch of right-wing media personalities, including Tucker Carlson for his recent interview with the white nationalist Nick Fuentes, and that's someone who's praised Hitler and someone that Kirk himself didn't support. That's NPR's Elena Moore reporting from Phoenix, Arizona. An official tells NPR that the U.S. is tracking another oil tankers suspected of violating sanctions on Venezuela. Authorities say the ship was operating under a judicial seizure order. Pope Leo says he plans to follow the agenda of his predecessor, Pope Francis, to make the Catholic church more inclusive and keep a focus on mercy and care. NPR's Ruth Sherlock reports the pontiff

delivered his first Christmas address to Cardinals at the Vatican. Pope Leo remembered in his address his predecessor, Pope Francis. His prophetic voice, his pastoral style and his rich teachings have defined the path of the church in these years, Leo said, encouraging us to place God's mercy at the centre. He said the church should be welcoming to all and caring for the poor. Francis, who led the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church for 12 years, had been known to use these annual Christmas addresses to scathingly critique the work of his cardinals. Leo, who is more diplomatic, was much gentler. He warned officials only not to allow rigidity or ideology to slow progress for the church. Ruth Sherlock, NPR News.

A segment promoted to run on 60 Minutes was pulled before it was set to air last night. The report focused on allegations of abuse at a prison in El Salvador, where the Trump administration has sent hundreds of Venezuelan migrants this year. CBS's new editor-in-chief, Barry Weiss, said the story could not run without an on-the-record response from the White House. The correspondent on the story said she sought comment but did not receive one. In an email to colleagues, she said she was, believed Weiss's decision was not editorial, but political.

This is NPR News. A storm-related power outage in Colorado last week disrupted operations at the lab where the federal government calculates the official time in the U.S. NPR's Joe Hernandez reports the outage resulted in a major lag in the national clock. The National Institute of Standards and Technology or NIST facility in Boulder lost power on Wednesday, due to the storm, then a backup generator failed. That disrupted the connection between some of the atomic clocks on site and NIST's measurement and distribution systems. The result was a 4.8 microsecond drift in official U.S. time, according to the agency. For reference, it takes a person

about 350,000 microseconds to blink. Though most people in the general public wouldn't notice the error, officials said it could have implications for some users in critical infrastructure, telecommunications and more. Power was restored at the NIST lab in Boulder on Saturday evening and crews were working to evaluate the damage and correct the error in due time. Joe Hernandez NPR news. Flood watches are in effect across California as forecasters warn of heavy rain and possible flash flooding over the next several days. The flooding is being driven by a series of atmospheric rivers expected to continue drenching the West Coast. A flood watch was issued Saturday for much of Northern California, including Redding and Sacramento.

Some areas could see four to six inches of rain. Stocks across Asia posted gains today on Wall Street, Dahl Futures, are trading higher at this hour. This is NPR.