NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-30-2025 4AM EST

Episode Date: December 30, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu showered each other with praises after an hour's long meeting at Mar-a-Lago. As NPR's Franco Ordonez reports, they discuss getting to the complicated second phase of Trump's 20-point Israel-Gaza peace plan. With the prime minister by his side, President Trump said that he hopes to reach phase two of the Gaza plan very quickly. came to a lot of conclusion, a lot of conclusion and conclusions, and there's very little difference in what we're looking at and where we want to be, where we want to go. That phase includes the disarmament of Hamas, starting reconstruction of Gaza, and establishing a new governing structure. Trump pressed Hamas to disarm in order to move things forward,

adding that there are several countries, and not just Israel, that are really. ready to, quote, wipe out Hamas if they don't. Franco, Ordonias, NPR News. Taiwan is on alert after China carried out a second day of joint military drills and water surrounding the self-governing island. Beijing says the intent is to deter what it calls separatist and external interference. It's also concerned about a U.S. arm sale to Taiwan, which China has long considered a part of the mainland. Taiwan considers itself an independent sovereign nation. The State Department has announced plans to contribute $2 billion to the United Nations for humanitarian aid work. As NPR's Gabriella Immanuel reports, it is a fraction of what the

U.S. had contributed in past years. The State Department says the aid will provide life-saving support to tens of millions of people facing hunger and disease. However, it said the money requires the U.N. to make some structural changes to address what the administration calls quote, ideological creep within U.N. agencies. This year, the U.S. has dramatically cut the amount of money it spends on foreign aid, and it has now shifted its emphasis to distributing aid directly to countries rather than working through institutions like the U.N. Gabriela Emmanuel and PR News.

Cities across the U.S. are ramping up security ahead of New Year's Eve. New Orleans Homeland Security Director Colin Arnold says the Coast Guard, National Guard, National Guard, will all be present to assist local and state law enforcement. It appears that we're going to have close to 800 law enforcement downtown in the French Quarter, and I think that that's going to be outstanding. You're going to see an incredible visual presence in the French Quarter and throughout downtown over the rest of this week. Arnold says around 300 Guard members will remain in New Orleans through carnival season, ending with Mardi Gras in mid-February.

is NPR. Mexico's President Claudia Shane Baum says she's instructed heads of the Navy and the interior to meet with victims of a deadly passenger train derailment. At least 13 people were killed over the weekend and nearly 100 others are injured after a train went off the tracks in southern Mexico's Wahaka State. In a message posted on X Sunday, Shane Bound said she wants officials to also visit the crash scene. The incident halted traffic along a rail line that runs between.

Wahaka along the Gulf and Veracruz near the Pacific. Scientists say endangered sharks are at risk of disappearing from the Mediterranean Sea. The researchers say much more needs to be done to protect a rapidly dwindling shark population in one of the most heavily fished seas on the planet. The BBC's Victoria Gill has details. The Great White Shark is one of more than 20 shark species in the Mediterranean that's protected under international law. But a conservation research team led by scientists

from the American University Virginia Tech and the British Conservation charity Blue Marine says that at least 40 Great White sharks from the Mediterranean have been caught and killed since January. And the BBC has discovered and checked footage posted on social media this year of an adult great white being landed at a fishing port in Algeria and what appears to be a large short-finned mako shark,

another protected species, being prepared for sale at a market in Tunisia. The BBC's Victoria Gill reporting. US futures are flat and after-hours trading on Wall Street. On Asia-Pacific markets, shares are mostly lower, up a fraction in Hong Kong. This is NPR News.