Today's Top Stories from NBC News

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2025

In today's newsletter: Republicans worry about the party's splintered message on affordability ahead of the midterms. Europe faces "crunch time" on the war in Ukraine. And, Netflix makes a move toward Hollywood supremacy.

Here's what to know today.

▼ The Lead

GOP worries the party isn't doing enough on affordability

(Kyle Grillot / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Congressional Republicans have begun to publicly and privately share their alarm about their party's disjointed strategy to address Americans' affordability concerns, with some growing increasingly frustrated with President Donald Trump's sometimes cavalier attitude toward the subject.

While Republicans say the high cost of living is a problem inherited from former President Joe Biden, many GOP lawmakers still think their party needs to sharpen its message ahead of the midterms — or else it could cost them their tenuous majorities in Congress.

Nearly two dozen Republican senators, House members, strategists and congressional aides shared their concerns about their party's handling of affordability in interviews with NBC News. Another six acknowledged the issue but said the party will settle on the right strategy to address it.

Their comments come after Democrats have secured wins in many of this year's elections, with voters citing affordability, and as Trump has dismissed the issue as a Democratic "hoax," rhetoric that has privately frustrated some Republicans.

Even some of the most MAGA Republicans are calling for a pivot.

Read the full story.

More politics news:

Florida could be the final state the White House can count on to pick up additional seats as part of the rare mid-decade redistricting cycle it has pushed ahead of the midterm elections.

The Indiana House approved a new congressional map designed to net Republicans two seats.

The Supreme Court agreed to decide the lawfulness of Trump's contentious plan to roll back automatic birthright citizenship for nearly anyone born in the U.S.

Voters who backed Democratic governors this year after voting for Trump in 2024 have a message for both parties: reject your party's extremes.

Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona said she was pepper-sprayed by ICE agents during a raid at a Tucson restaurant.

Europe faces "crunch time" on the war in Ukraine, a former European president told NBC News, as the continent battles internal division, Russian threats and open hostility from the United States.

Leaders on the continent are feeling "genuine fear and distrust regarding the United States," Toomas Hendrik Ilves, who led Estonia for a decade until 2016, told NBC News in an interview. But he also warned that Europe's internal division "ultimately shows the weakness" of the bloc, and he feared what might happen "unless we start getting our act together."

His comments came hours before European powers held urgent negotiations Friday on how to keep Ukraine's war effort alive and before President Donald Trump published his National Security Strategy that spelled out in black and white Washington's dissatisfaction toward many of its partners across the pond.

Read the full story.

Netflix makes a play for 21st century Hollywood's throne

Warner Bros. Discovery said it has agreed to sell its movie, television and streaming assets to Netflix in a deal valued at $82.7 billion, setting the stage for one of the most sweeping and consequential mergers in modern Hollywood history.

If the deal is approved, it would "put a resounding exclamation point on Silicon Valley's takeover of Tinseltown," senior reporter Daniel Arkin wrote in his analysis of the deal.

The deal could bring together two distinct strands of Hollywood. Warner Bros. embodies the starry-eyed glamour of red-carpet premieres and the vast physical machinery of the studio back lot. Netflix represents the stark digital future since its inception, with sprawling libraries of content stored in the cloud.

Read Arkin's full analysis.

▼ Quiz Time

What city did Pope Leo visit during his first official trip?

A. Beirut
B. Lampedusa
C. Lima
D. Chicago

Find out the answer and test your knowledge of this week's most-read stories. (The answer to the question is also at the bottom of this newsletter.)

Take the news quiz

▼ Read All About It

The CDC's vaccine advisory panel rolled back a decadeslong recommendation that all newborns get a first dose of the hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth.

The man charged with planting two pipe bombs on the eve of the Jan. 6 attack told the FBI he believed conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and confessed to the crime, sources told NBC News.

Former Ohio State University students trying to get billionaire Les Wexner to testify about Richard Strauss — a former campus doctor who allegedly abused dozens of men — staged a protest where they brought up Wexner's past friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The U.S. men's national avoided landing in a "Group of Death" at the 2026 World Cup. Here's who they'll face.

▼ Staff Pick

Scroll at your own risk

The highly engaging, algorithm-driven appeal of short-form videos is almost impossible to escape, and researchers are racing to understand the impacts.

Current findings suggest that heavy short-form video consumption is linked to harmful effects on the brain, including poorer cognition and shortened attention span. But more studies will be needed to understand the long-term effects. I spoke with experts about the implications of the current research landscape.

– Angela Yang, trending reporter

▼ NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified

The NBC Select team rounded up the best e.l.f. lip products to keep dryness in check and shared Dianna Cohen and Brooke Shields' favorite beauty picks for a little extra glow. Plus, clever under-$20 ideas that make great last-minute gifts.