NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-19-2025 12PM EDT

Episode Date: September 19, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Trump says on social media he and Chinese president Xi Jinping made progress toward approving a deal on TikTok in their phone call today. He says they have agreed to meet at the APEC summit in South Korea late next month. Trump also said he will visit China early next year. TikTok's, a Chinese-owned company, has been under threat of being banned in the U.S. over national security concerns. TikTok's parent company is bike dance. A short-term spending bill to fund the government through November 21st has passed the House. Now it moves to the Senate. Speaker Mike Johnson had a message for the Senate's Democratic leader.

The ball is in Chuck Schumer's court. I hope he does the right thing. I hope he does not choose to shut the government down and inflict pain unnecessarily on the American people. I hope that they will vote on this clean short-term CR so that we can continue the work to get our appropriations done. All but one Democrat in the House, Representative Jared Golden of Maine, voted against the measure. The Senate is scheduled to vote later today on two different spending measures, one sponsored by Democrats, the other by Republicans. In a surprise move this morning, a panel of vaccine advisors to the federal government table their proposed change to the vaccine schedule. That schedule would have dropped the current recommendation that all children receive the hepatitis B shot at birth. The panel, which Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., stacked with people who have loved,

long question the safety of vaccines are also now saying that the vaccine for children program should not cover a combined shot known as MMRV, measles, mumps, rebella, and chicken pox. Israel has launched a wave of airstrikes in South Lebanon and issued warnings of further attacks displacing hundreds of residents. NPR's Jana Raf has the latest from Beirut. Israel and Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire last November, but Israel has been launching attacks almost every day against what it says are Hezbollah targets. It warned residents of three Lebanese villages Thursday to leave ahead of more strikes. It said we're aimed at preventing Hisbalah from rebuilding military infrastructure.

Lebanon's prime minister and president said the attacks violated UN resolutions and were setback to international peace efforts. The Israeli strikes have also solidified opposition by Hisbalah and its allies to a Lebanese government plan to disarm the militant group. Hezbollah says it won't give up its weapons while Israel is attacking and occupying Lebanese territory. Jane Arraf and Pyrnews, Beirut. U.S. stocks continue to trade higher this morning.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 57 points. It's at 46,200. The S&P has gained 13 points at 6645, and the NASDAQ is up now 87 points. This is NPR News. The president of Texas A&M has resigned as part of the fallout from a lesson on gender identity. Houston public media, as Rob Salina says, numerous conservative lawmakers call for the removal of retired general Mark Welsh after video was posted on social media. Welsh is the second A&M president to last two years on the job. He took over from former president, Kathy Banks, who was fired over the botched hiring of a black journalism professor,

Amid allegations, she was a DEI hire. For Welsh, the controversy was over a lesson that included gender identity that was recorded by a student. Welsh originally came to the defense of the professor, but fired her a day later. Welsh is a retired four-star general who served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Obama administration. I'm Rob Salinas in Houston. Jimmy Kimmel fans converge on Hollywood Boulevard to protest ABC suspension of the comedian's late-night show. The network took action after Kimmel. comments related to the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Steve Futterman reports from Los Angeles.

And the speeches have been going on here for some time. Many vehicles come by with people honking their horns and support. This is one of the protests taking place here in the L.A. area. There's been another protest in front of the Disney Studios in Burbank. Basically, they are saying Jimmy Kimmel should be allowed back on the air. For the moment, his show remains suspended indefinitely. Steve Futterman reporting yesterday, President Trump suggested networks that are critical of him should maybe lose their broadcast licenses. It's NPR News.