NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-18-2025 5AM EDT

Episode Date: September 18, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington. I'm Dave Mattingly. President Trump meets with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer today at Starmer's country home. The two are expected to hold a joint news conference afterwards. Trump is on his second state visit to the UK. Yesterday, he dined with King Charles and the British Royal Family at Windsor Castle near London. NPR's Lauren Freyer says Trump's visit to the UK has been accompanied by record-breaking investments. Microsoft says it's investing $30 billion in the UK's AI sector. Google nearly $7 billion to open a data center here. As well as the investment discussion, there's also unfinished business on trade. Duncan Edwards is CEO of British American Business, a transatlantic networking group. The UK government will try to reopen discussions around tariff rates in general and on some specific categories like steel, scotch whiskey. Prime Minister Kier-Starmer was one of the first to sign a trade deal with Trump this past spring for relief from some tariffs. But UK Steel still faces a 25% U.S. tariff and Scotch whiskey 10%.

Lauren Freyer, NPR News in Windsor, England. Vice President Vance is blaming left-wing political radicalization for creating conditions that led to the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Utah. As NPR's Franco Ordonez reports, the vice president says the radicalization is not a both-sides problem. This report contains explicit language. Vice President J.D. Vance claimed in an interview on Fox News that the suspect charged in the shooting of Charlie Kirk was radicalized by far-left political ideas, social networks, and institutions. My friend is dead because of left-wing political radicalization, and if you want to cut that out, then to be honest about it. and look yourself in the mirror. Like other members of the administration,

Vance said political violence was a much bigger problem on the political left, but the officials often do not mention recent examples of political violence from the political right, including the assassination of Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, as well as the attack against Representative Nancy Pelosi's husband in their home. Franco, Ordonez, and PR News. ABC is suspending Jimmy Kimmel. Kimmel's late-night show indefinitely. It follows comments he made about reaction to the slaying

of Charlie Kirk. They included Kimmel's remarks that, quote, many in Magaland are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk. The network made the move after a group of ABC-affiliated stations said they would not air his TV show going forward. A federal judge is ordering Alabama's largest county to redraw its commission lines ruling the districts are unconstitutional because of racial gerrymandering. This is NPR News. Georgia's Secretary of State says he's running for governor. Raul Bally with member station W.A.B.E.

says President Trump is weighing in on that race. Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger came to prominence in 2020 when President Trump called and asked for help overturning his 2020 loss in Georgia. I just want to find 11,780. votes, which is one more that we have. Raffensberger went on to defeat a Trump-backed primary challenger in 2022, and the call would eventually be a key part of the criminal case against Trump in Georgia, which is now stalled. Republican Lieutenant Governor Bert Jones, who served as an alternate elector for Trump,

is also in the race for governor and has Trump's endorsement. For NPR News, I'm Raul Bally in Atlanta. Authorities in Pennsylvania are investigating the fatal show. shooting of three police officers and the wounding of two others in York County. Investigators say gunfire erupted at a farmhouse and North Cordes Township. It's unclear what led to the gunfire. The Federal Reserve is lowering interest rates for the first time in nine months. The Fed is cutting rates by a quarter point because of concerns about a slowdown in hiring in the U.S.

Here's Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. In this less dynamic and somewhat softer labor market, the downside risks to employment, appear to have risen. Powell was speaking yesterday at the conclusion of the Fed's latest policy meeting. Wall Street futures are higher this morning. I'm Dave Mattingly, NPR News in Washington.