NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-28-2025 5PM EST

Episode Date: December 28, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst. Ukrainian President Zelensky met with President Trump at Mara Lago in Florida today, along with their delegations, for talks on a revised 20-point peace plan. Trump says Russia's nearly four-year-old war would either end or go on for a long time, but head of the meeting, Trump praised Zelensky. This gentleman has worked very hard, and he's very brave, and his people are very brave. I mean, what they've gone through, no nation, very rarely has a nation ever had it. Trump also spoke with Russian President Putin ahead of the meeting with Zelensky.

A continuing sticking point is Russia's wish for Ukraine to give up land in exchange for a ceasefire deal. Something Zelensky has said won't happen. Zelensky said this weekend Putin wasn't serious about peace after Russia pounded key for hours with missiles and drones, killing at least two people and wounding dozens of others. He is seeking security guarantees from the United States against future Russian aggression. An intense cyclone is expected to dump heavy snow from the upper Midwest to the Great Lakes

as people head home following the Christmas holidays. That's according to the National Weather Service. NPR's Frank Langfit has more. The Weather Service forecasts more than a foot of snow across parts of the upper Great Lakes and as much as two feet, along the southern shore of Lake Superior. As of Sunday afternoon, nearly 180 flights, or more than half, were delayed at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Nearly three quarters were delayed at Minneapolis-St. Paul

International. The Transportation Security Administration expects Sunday to be the heaviest travel day of the holiday season, with nearly 2.9 million people in transit across the nation. The winter storm is expected to continue to move east, with freezing rain forecast for the interior of the Northeast later Sunday. A mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain is projected for Northern New England by Monday morning. Frank Langford, NPR News. On Wall Street, stocks are headed into the final trading week of the year with sizable gains. In Peres Rafael Nalm reports 2025's been a busy year. It was a year defined to a large extent by tariffs. Markets tumbled earlier this year amid fears about the potential impact of tariffs. But stock market since

have recovered. All three major indexes are heading to the end of the year with double-digit gains, with the NASDAQ up 22% so far in 2025. The economy appears to have been able to withstand the effects of this import taxes. And now that the Federal Reserve is cutting interest rates, investors are ending the year with a bit of hope about next year. In fact, this week, the Fed is set to release the minutes from the latest policy meeting. Rafael Numb, NPR News. And you're listening to NPR News from Washington. In New Jersey, one person is dead, another was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after two helicopters crashed into each other this morning.

Both made a crash landing, and video from the scene shows one rapidly spinning to the ground. The Federal Aviation Administration says it was a mid-air collision between an Nstrom F-28A and an N-Strum-286. near the Hamilton Municipal Airport. That's about 35 miles southeast of Philadelphia. There's no word on the cause of the crash, but the National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation. More audiences watched movies this year in theaters

than in 2024. That's according to the theater owners trade association, Cinema United. In Fierz Mandeliet Del Barco reports the biggest growth was with moviegoers in Gen Z. Cinema United reports that the number of habitual moviegoers, those who watch films in theaters at least six times a year, is on the upswing.

Leading the way are those aged 13 to 28, says the group's president and CEO Michael O'Leary. He says Gen Z audiences went to cinema's 25% more this year than last. Gen Z is drawn to the larger screen formats. They love the ability, frankly, to order their food from their seat. They also like the big, comfortable, modern state-of-the-art recliner. He says particularly for younger people, watching movies and theaters is a break from cell phones, social media, and other digital inundation. And Pierre's Mandelaide-Del Barco reporting. And I'm Janine Hurst, NPR News, in Washington.