NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-23-2025 10AM EST

Episode Date: December 23, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. The Commerce Department says the U.S. economy grew much faster than expected in the third quarter at an annual rate of 4.3 percent. NPR's Alina Selyuk reports the figures are nearly two months behind schedule because of the government shutdown. Between July and September, the report shows the U.S. economy growing at a robust pace accelerating from the growth scene in the previous quarter. Earlier in the year, the economy had actually shrunk as companies rushed to ship foreign goods ahead of President Trump's global tariffs. Consumers remain the key engine, driving the growth with higher spending, especially on health care. The report calls out spending on hospital and nursing home services and on prescription drugs.

People also spent more on, quote, information processing equipment that could be computer hardware, presumably as part of the AI boom. At the same time, business and residential investment declined in the third quarter, spending by state and local governments in increased. Alina Seluk, NPR News, Washington. More than 1.6 million immigrants have lost their legal status since President Trump took office. This is the largest effort to make migrants deportable despite using legal pathways. NPR, Sergio Martinez-Beltran, reports. Immigration rights advocates say this figure, 1.6 million people is likely an undercount, but it includes people who came to the U.S. via humanitarian parole, temporary protected status, and visas.

Todd Schulte is the president of Forward.us, an immigration advocacy organization. These were, like, legal pathways. People, like, did the thing the government asked them to do, and this government went and is kind of preemptively trying to revoke that status. The Trump administration has said it has done more to limit legal and illegal immigration than any other administration. It has said it will continue its aggressive effort to crack down on immigration in 2026. Sergio Martinez Beltran, NPR News, Austin. Russian missile and drone strikes in multiple regions of Ukraine have killed at least three people. NPR's Hannah Palomarenko reports from Kiev that Russians have again attacked Ukraine's energy facilities.

Ukraine's acting minister of energy, Artem Nikrosov, said that this is the ninth massive attack on Ukraine's energy sector this year. As a result of the attack, all Ukrainian nuclear power plants have reduced their electricity generation. This is a gross violation of international nuclear safety requirements, and it should not be ignored by the international community. Russia's policy of energy terrorism must be stopped, he said. As a result of the attack, several Western regions are almost completely without power. Emergency power outages continue throughout the country. Hannah Palomarenko, NPR News, Kyiv. On Wall Street, the Dow was down 31 points.

This is NPR News in Washington. The Delaware Supreme Court is returning money to tech billionaire Elon Musk. A judge found a lower court had overstepped and rescinding a pay package that was once worth $55 billion and is now worth more than twice that. NPR's Camilla Dominovsky reports. A Delaware court previously found that the Tesla board let Musk have too much influence over his own paycheck. Supreme Court didn't overturn that finding, but the justices said voiding Musk's entire pay package wasn't a fair remedy. Musk couldn't take back the years of work he did. Instead, they awarded a nominal $1 to the plaintiff who brought the case plus attorney's fees. In response to the

decision, Elon Musk posted on X vindicated, and also, quote, I try not to start fights, but I do finish them. Forbes estimates that after the decision Elon Musk's net worth is now a record 749 billion dollars. Camila Dominovsky, NPR News. Federal regulators have approved a pill version of the popular weight loss drug, Wagovi, which is currently only available as an injection. The pills could hit the market by early next year. Experts say the oral form may be more affordable and easier for patients to access. The drug's manufacturer, Novo Nordisk, has faced increased competition from rival drug makers, including Eli Lilly. The company says the pill form of Wagovi showed an average weight loss of nearly 17% during clinical trials. On Wall Street, the stocks are trading

lower, the Dow down 11 points, the NASDAQ down 50. This is NPR News from Washington.