NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-29-2025 1AM EST

Episode Date: December 29, 2025

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This holiday season, the team at up first, is still hard at work with all new episodes, but the news does not take a holiday. And we know it's harder than ever to keep up this time of year. Listen for three essential stories in under 15 minutes. Get caught up and get on with your day. Up first, listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Wilman. President Trump and Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky met at Trump's Mar-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida on Sunday to discuss a peace plan for Ukraine's war with Russia. Both leaders said they made progress. NPR's Daniel Kurtzleben has more.

Zelensky and Trump said they agreed on several issues, but acknowledged that they're still discussing sticking points, like withdrawing troops from the Donbos region in eastern Ukraine, and also the fate of a Russian-occupied nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine. When asked about how long it might take to come to a full agreement, Trump was non-committal. really well, you know, maybe a few weeks, and if it went poorly longer and if it went really poorly, it's not going to happen. That would be a shame.

Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin before the meeting and told reporters he would also talk to him after the meeting. Daniel Kurtzleben and PR News. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, is on his way to Florida right now to meet with President Trump on Monday. They will be discussing a possible second phase to the ceasefire already in place in Gaza. Nimrod Novick was an advisor to late Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres. He says a vote this coming year is making negotiations much more difficult. There's one common denominator to it all, and that is that we are in an election year.

And Netanyahu, whom I've known since the early 80s and whom I respected as a patriot, even though I disagreed with him on virtually everything, over the last three years it's not the same Netanyahu, since he formed this coalition with people who should have never set foot in our cabinet. So I'm afraid that what we are watching and what we will watch tomorrow in the meeting is a tag of war where Netanyahu is the rope and President Trump pulls one way and the lunatics in our coalition pull Netanyahu the other. That's former Israeli advisor, Nimrod, On Wall Street, stocks are headed into their final trading week of the year after making sizable gains.

And as NPR's Raphael-NOM reports, 2025 has been a busy year for Wall Streets. 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 markets since have recovered. All three major indexes are heading to the end of the year with double-digit gains. with the NASDAQ out 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 NOM, NPR News. And you're listening to NPR News. A major winter storm is moving east from the plain states at this hour carrying heavy snow ice and severe weather. Forecasters are warning of possible blizzard conditions and wide outs in parts of the Great Lakes and Upper Midwest. Snow levels could reach as much as two feet near Lake Superior. Another storm, meanwhile, is bringing freezing rain to parts of upstate New York.

Shed hunting, which is the collection of shed antlers and horns, has become an extremely popular pastime, but many Western states restricted in the winter. Colorado Public Radio's Stena Sieg explains. Colorado banned shed hunting January through April to help keep wild animals for being stressed by humans. John Livingston, with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, says the number of shed hunters has exploded in recent years. Things going from just a few people out there with their backpacks, looking for sheds, to folks even out there on ATVs and side-by-side chasing animals around that haven't dropped their antlers yet, you know, hoping to stress them out and get them to drop those antlers. Deer elk and moose lose those antlers annually. They're used in decor, dog toys, even medicine. From NPR News, I'm Steenna Sieg, in Grand Junction, Colorado.

North Korea says its military fired long-range strategic cruise missiles into the sea on Sunday to test that country's nuclear deterrence. The country's news agency reports that the missile launches occurred off the country's west coast. Last week, North Korea also also test-launched new anti-air missiles off its east coast. It also showed photos of what could become the country's first nuclear-powered submarine. I'm Dale Wilman, NPR News. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit wise.com. T's and Cs apply.