NPR News: 12-25-2025 8AM EST
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston.
What did Pope Leo say during his first Christmas Day Mass?
Pope Leo celebrated his first Christmas Day Mass as pontiff at the Vatican today. Speaking from the balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square, the Pope called on the faithful to embrace peace, saying Christ's birth offers a path out of division and hostility.
Indeed, he is our peace. He has conquered hatred and enmity through God's merciful love.
What is the current weather situation in Southern California?
For this reason, the Lord's birth is the birth of peace.
In Bethlehem, crowds packed Manger Square last night to celebrate Christmas Eve. Scouts played festive music in Bethlehem and Nazareth, where Christians believed Jesus was born and raised. It was the largest celebration in years after two seasons of scaled-back events due to the war in Gaza. Southern California is getting slammed by heavy rain. Steve Futterman reports Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has declared a state of emergency.
How are the new H-1B visa rules changing for skilled workers?
The declaration comes after a day of floods, fallen trees, mudslides, traffic jams, and power outages. The move paves the way for the city to deploy adequate resources to deal with the storms. Earlier, California Governor Gavin Newsom also issued a state of emergency. Right now, the forecast does not look good. A new series of powerful storms will hit the area today. Ariel Cohn is with the National Weather Service.
What updates are there on the Jeffrey Epstein case from the Justice Department?
We're going to see the floodwaters be reinforced to landslides, rock slides, and mudslides all being reinforced across the area.
Which Christmas movie is currently the most popular on TV?
In some mountain areas, more than 10 inches alone fell on Wednesday. The storms are expected to continue into Friday. For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Los Angeles.
The Department of Homeland Security is changing the rules for H-1B visas for skilled foreigners. NPR's John Rewich reports they're set to take effect in late February.
The new rules will be in place for the 2027 fiscal year.
Who won the recent $1.8 billion Powerball jackpot?
The big change is that they do away with the lottery system that has for years determined who gets H-1B visas. Instead, there will be a weighted selection process that favors people with higher skills and higher salaries. The idea is to prevent employers from using the program to import low-wage foreign labor and to protect wages and job opportunities for U.S. workers. The cap on the number of H-1B visas will stay at 65,000, with an additional 20,000 for foreigners with advanced U.S. degrees. H-1Bs have been widely used in the tech sector, and analysts say changes to the way they're issued, including a $100,000 fee per visa announced by the Trump administration in the fall, could be disruptive. John Rewich, NPR News.
You're listening to NPR News from Washington. The Justice Department says it may need a few more weeks to finish releasing files tied to the Jeffrey Epstein case, despite missing a deadline from Congress. Officials say more than a million additional records were recently discovered by federal prosecutors and the FBI. The DOJ says attorneys are working around the clock to review them and apply legally required redactions. The most popular Christmas movie on broadcast and streaming TV... is Home Alone. NPR's Netta Ulaby reports the movie from 1990 has been the top-ranked film by Nielsen for three out of the past four Decembers.
Home Alone takes place over Christmas. It's about a little boy left behind when his family goes on vacation. It's been the most-watched holiday movie every December since 2021, except for last year when the prime video movie Red One took the top spot. The action movie stars Dwayne Johnson as head of Santa's security detail. Someone took Nick. Other recent top-ranked Christmas movies include Elf, Home Alone 2, and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. The movie A Christmas Story benefits from a 24-hour marathon that runs on TBS and TNT. And although there's debate about whether Die Hard is really a Christmas movie, Nielsen says last year it landed on the holiday list at number 11. Netta Ulibi, NPR News.
Someone in Arkansas is waking up a billionaire. A single ticket matched all six numbers to win the $1.8 billion Powerball jackpot drawn last night, the second largest in U.S.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:07
2
What did Pope Leo say during his first Christmas Day Mass?
0:07–0:37
3
What is the current weather situation in Southern California?
0:37–1:13
4
How are the new H-1B visa rules changing for skilled workers?
1:13–1:38
5
What updates are there on the Jeffrey Epstein case from the Justice Department?
1:38–1:46
6
Which Christmas movie is currently the most popular on TV?
1:46–2:13
7
Who won the recent $1.8 billion Powerball jackpot?
2:13–4:39