NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-25-2025 1PM EST

Episode Date: December 25, 2025

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Live from NPR News in New York City, I'm Dua Lissai Kautel. Ukraine marks its fourth Christmas during Russia's full-scale invasion. NPR's Hana Palmarenko visited traditional celebrations in central Kyiv. Christ is born. Let's glorify him. It echoes across the square near the capital's main cathedral. Hundreds of locals and visitors joined the Christmas procession with songs and carriages. Students, Taisia Puklich is participating in such an event for the first time. Part of her family remains in the occupied territories of the Zaporizia region in the southeast of the country.

I feel man's joy being here, and I'm very proud to be Ukrainian, she says. Puklich joins the festively dressed crowd to carry on ancient holiday traditions and celebrate life despite the war. the war. Hannah Palamarenko, NPR News, Kyiv. Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency yesterday in six California counties after record rainfall. Some mountainous areas in Los Angeles County got more than 11 inches of rain over two days, and the forecast calls for more wet weather. Kavish Harjai, with NPR member station LAS, reports there are a number of vulnerable communities. It's really geographically diverse, so rain accumulates

differently and it affects people differently. And in, at least in LA County, the evacuation orders that were issued Tuesday morning, it was for several hundred properties that were determined to be more at risk and near burn scar areas. There are some evacuation warnings that are more broadly around burn scar areas in LA County. Some evacuation orders in Orange County were lifted after things were determined to be safer. Kavish Harjai with NPR member Station, LAist. How Lady Travels should triple check for road closures. AI tools are helping doctors better target cancer treatments, allowing patients to live longer. Mass General Brigham and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute are using such a tool successfully with throat cancer, as NPR's Yuciniguchi reports.

Artificial intelligence can identify which patients are at risk of spread of cancer that develops in the throat. Based on a database of imaging scans, the tool can identify when cancer cells have spread beyond the lymph nodes requiring more aggressive treatment. The technology has also allowed patients with low probability of spread to avoid unnecessary punishing treatments. Previously, such assessments were only possible by surgically removing the lymph nodes. The research appears in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Technologies like this are improving survival and quality of life after a diagnosis. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News. This is NPR.

In Nashville, there is new interest in an old Christmas tradition. From member station WPLN in Nashville, Justin Barney tells us that banks once had competing Christmas choirs made up entirely of employees. That's what you would hear in the lobby of a bank in Nashville in the 1970s. tellers, loan officers, and bank executives of two of Music City's biggest banks. It said it's Christmas. That's Jim Norton, a cameraman for the popular TV specials that the choirs taped.

The tradition may have been lost, but they pressed the carols to vinyl. One of those albums was recently rediscovered, and it's uncovered this once-beloved tradition for a new generation. For NPR News, I'm Justin Barney. The first American pontiff, Pope Leo, the 14th used his Christmas Day blessing to urge more than 1.4 billion Catholic followers to act with humility and responsibility. After Christmas Mass, he told his faithful, quote, If he would truly enter into the suffering of others and stand in solidarity with the week in a press, then the world would change. Unlike Pope Francis, Leo

offered his Christmas greetings in multiple languages, including English and Spanish. This is NPR News from New York City.