NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-28-2025 8AM EST

Episode Date: December 28, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. Brigitte Bardot, the French cinema sex symbol in the 1950s and 60s has died. Bardot's Animal Rights Foundation says she died at her home in southern France but did not provide a cause. She was 91. NPR's Elizabeth Blair reports on her life. In the buttoned up 1950s, Brigitte Baudot was a revelation, blonde mane, lush lips, gorgeous figure, and sexually liberated. Bardo grew up in Paris and studied ballet. She worked with France's most famous directors, including Jean-Luc Godard.

So you love totally. She married four times and had several lovers, including singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. Bardot became an outspoken animal rights activist. She was also accused of inciting racial hatred for her comments about Islam. Elizabeth Blair, NPR News. Ukraine's president, Vladimir Zelensky, is in Florida today to meet with President Trump on the latest plan to end Russia's war on Ukraine. Before today's meeting, Joanna Kikis reports from Kiev that Zelensky huddled with European leaders and Canada's prime minister. Zelensky told reporters via voice message that he plans to speak with Trump about the details of security guarantees and Ukraine's recovery plan, as well as sensitive issues such as territorial control.

Zolensky says he is open to holding a referendum on issues that cannot be resolved. There are some questions, he said, that only the people of Ukraine can answer. Zelensky says such a vote can only be held after a ceasefire is in place as Russia attacks Ukraine nearly every day. Tens of thousands of homes in Kiev are without power after Russian strikes overnight on Saturday. So far, the Kremlin has not signed off on the latest. proposal. Joanna Kikisis, NPR News, Kiev. Polls are closed in the first phase of a general election underway in military-controlled

areas of Myanmar. The vote is widely seen as an attempt to legitimize Ahunta, which sees power in a bloody coup four years ago. Most opposition parties are banned and turnout today reported to have been low. The BBC's Jonathan Head is in Mandalay. Even when they've finished three rounds of voting over spanning over a month, we expect only about half of the country to have taken part. I mean, the polling station I've been to hear in Mandalay, they're using new electronic voting machines. It was very smooth.

Everyone knew what to do. But Mandalay is a stronghold of support for Ungstern Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy. And of course, she's in jail and has been since the first day of the coup, and her party's been dissolved. So I don't think people in this city would feel like they've got much of a choice.

Everybody knows that the military's own party, which remember only won 6% of seats in the last free election five years ago. They know it's going to win. to win this time. This is NPR News. Southern California's I-5 freeway reopened to traffic last night following the rupture of a natural gas transmission line north of Los Angeles near the community of Castaic. Residents say they heard loud booms in the area and that the smell of gas was noticed miles away. The cause of the ruptures being investigated, the I-5 was shut down for hours.

More flight delays and cancellations being reported today. The flight tracking website site flight aware, says there are more than 1,100 delays and nearly 250 cancellations in the U.S. so far. Winter weather in the Northeast contributed to more than 11,000 domestic flight delays in cancellations yesterday, many of them in the New York area. Ground controllers are continuing their efforts to reestablish contact with the Maven spacecraft, now orbiting Mars. As Joe Palka reports, NASA says it last heard from its probe on December 6. There was no indication, Maven was having any technical problems earlier this month when its orbit took it behind Mars, out of sight from Earth-based antennas. But when it came back into view, no signal came from the

probes radio. Tracking data suggested the spacecraft might be rotating and that its orbit might have changed, but there was no apparent reason why. NASA has tried to use the camera on the rover curiosity to capture a picture of the orbiter from the Martian surface, but so far no luck. Future rescue efforts face an orbital problem. Starting December 29th, the sun will be between the Earth and Mars, making communication between the two planets impossible for about three weeks. For NPR News, I'm Joe Palka. And I'm Jail Snyder. This is NPR News.

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