NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-18-2025 7PM EDT

Episode Date: September 18, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jail Snyder. President Trump is due back at the White House this evening after receiving the royal tribute during his state visit to the U.K. He's flying back aboard Air Force One after meeting today with British Prime Minister Kirstarmer. Michelle Kellerman covers the State Department for NPR and assesses the state of the special relationship between the U.S. and the U.S. and the U.S. and the U.S. and President Trump has a fondness for the Brits. His mother came from Scotland, and he talks about that a lot. But, you know, they're treating the Brits like they are other European countries. It's all about deal-making transactional diplomacy, and not so much about these big-picture issues of what the world looked like after World War II and this Special Alliance. It's gotten down to kind of more transactional diplomacy.

The advisory panel handpicked by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is recommending new restrictions on a combination shot. that protects against chicken, pox, measles, mumps, and rebella, voting 8 to 3 today against administering the shots to kids younger than 4 years old. The recommendation now goes to the CDC director tomorrow. The panel considers hepatitis B shots and the COVID-19 vaccine. Experts say foreign governments are trying to influence the conversation around Charlie Kirk's assassination last week, but NPR's Jeff Brumfiel reports they're having trouble spreading that message. Monitoring foreign paid influencers is the job of. of Darren Linville. He's a professor at Clemson University. He says after Charlie Kirk's death,

foreign government influencers have absolutely been talking, but amid a flood of social media postings... The foreign influence can't really break through. He wishes he could blame someone else for the division he's seeing online, but... It's just us. The call is coming from inside the house. Meanwhile, authoritarian governments are spinning conspiracies around the shooting for audiences at home. That's according to a study by Media Watchdog News Guard. Elements of Russian state media, for example, are blaming Ukraine for Kirk's death. Jeff Brumfield, NPR News. More than a week after the expiration of President Trump's declaration of a crime emergency in

the nation's capital, D.C.'s mayor, faced questions on Capitol Hill about the government intervention. From member station WAMU, Alex Coma reports. Congressional Republicans used Thursday's hearing to simultaneously claim that crime in the city is out of control, but also that Trump's recent actions made it safer. than it's ever been. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said crime was falling long before Trump stepped in. It is true that we experienced, like many places, a spike in 2023. I can say unequivocally, this is not 2023. In each of the past two years, we have driven down crime. While federal control

of the city's police force has expired, National Guard troops and federal agents remain for now. Trump, meantime, is threatening to send troops into other Democrat-led cities. For NPR news, I'm Alex Koma in Washington. listening to NPR News. A federal judge today extended a temporary order that blocks the Trump administration from immediately deporting a group of migrant children from Guatemala. The Trump administration initially tried to remove the children over the Labor Day weekend, but immigration and children's advocates filed a lawsuit, arguing the children who arrived in the U.S. alone were fleeing abuse or violence and said the government was attempting to bypass legal procedures meant to protect the children.

Bear Week, which celebrates the resilience of brown bears, has its main event next week with adult bears fighting for the title of fattest bear of the year. First up, though, chubby Cubs competing in Fat Bear Jr. M.Pierrezaa Poocatch reports at voting in the junior tournament opens today and the winter advances to next week's bracket. The National Park Service encourages voters to vote for the bear they best believe exemplifies fatness and success in brown bears. The Bears beef up for the winter, gorging on salmon in Brooks River, in Alaska's Catmine National Park and Preserve. Cubs competing in Fat Bear Jr. have familial ties to some of the iron giants of Fat Bear Week. Cub 128 Jr. is the offspring of defending champ Grazer, and is taking on two Cubs from Bear 803 who are competing together. The other semi-final matchup is a sibling rivalry, with Bear 26's female and male cub facing off.

The winner of the Friday final advances to the 12 bear bracket, which will be announced Monday. Ava Pukatch, NPR News. Talks rallied today after NVIDIA said it's investing $5 billion in the struggling chipmaker Intel. This is NPR News.