NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-19-2025 5PM EDT

Episode Date: September 19, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst. In a high-profile meeting of vaccine advisors today, members voted against recommending a prescription for the COVID-19 booster. But as NPR Selena Simmons-Duffin reports, it was a dramatic tie vote. This panel of advisors was hand-picked by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He has a long history of anti-vaccine activism and called COVID-19 vaccines, a quote, crime against humanity. On Friday, the panel considered whether to require patients to obtain a prescription if they want to get the COVID booster this year. Dr. Amy Middlman of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine urged committee members to reject this idea. If we start asking for prescriptions for vaccines, which are a primary

prevention, public health strategy, we are going to overwhelm physicians' offices. In the end, the vote was a tie, but because the chair voted no, the motion failed. Selina Simmons-Duffin and PR News. President Trump says he'll meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping this fall and traveled to China early next year, as relations appear poised to break out of a rut. And peers John Ruich reports the two leaders had a call today that Trump says yielded progress on a range of thorny issues. Trump says the call with Xi was very productive, and Chinese state media call it pragmatic. positive and constructive. It's unclear, though, how far the two got in negotiations over a pivotal

issue, the fate of the short video app TikTok. The Trump administration has been trying to broker a deal for U.S. companies to take control of the app from Beijing-based bite dance and prevent it from going dark in the U.S. in line with a law passed last year. Trump said on social media, the talks yielded progress on, quote, the approval of the TikTok deal. An official Chinese readout of the meeting was ambiguous, though, as was a statement from bite dance. that thanked Trump and Xi for their efforts to preserve the app in the U.S. John Rewich, NPR News. Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels say they'll continue to target the Israeli city of Alat

after a drone slammed into a hotel at the Red Sea resort. MPIRS Jane Aref has more. A Houthy statement said the Alat attack was among several launch Thursday in retaliation for Israeli attacks in Yemen and in Gaza. The Israeli military said the attack caused damage but no casual. facilities. Local media reported a drone crashing into a hotel courtyard and thousands of residents and tourists running to bomb shelters after air raid sirens. Israel last month killed the Houthi-backed Prime Minister and most of his cabinet in an airstrike in Sena. Israeli defense minister,

Israel Kat, saying Israel would kill the Houthi leader and raise the Israeli flag in the Yemeni capital. Jane Arraf, NPR News, Beirut. You're listening to NPR. Pampalona, Spain is known for its annual running of the Bulls. Things kick off with a super-crowded festival that organizers say may hold lessons for improving public safety. Ari Daniel, has more. During the festival of San Fermin, this little plaza becomes packed with 6,000 people. Ikerzurigel, a physicist at the University of Nes, Navarra and his colleagues have filmed the masses from above for several years. The footage revealed

a pattern. Each person repeatedly traced out a rough circle on the ground about the size of a car. Thurigel is now exploring the pressure waves that can ripple through this crowd, the kind that have been fatal elsewhere, but never here. If we understand why this happens, I think we will be able to apply some strategies in other places. Thereby translating the jitters of a Sangria-soaked crowd into recommendations that may save people's lives. For NPR News, I'm Marie Daniel in Pumplona. In Southern California, drivers were trapped for 10 hours after mudslides and debris flow, knocked down trees and plowed into homes after the small communities of Forest Falls, Oakland, and Potato Canyon were hit by heavy rain. The National Weather Service says intense rains

pounded the area for more than an hour yesterday. As remnants of tropical storm, Mario, reached the area, Authority's St. 10 people stranded in at least six vehicles were rescued near the San Bernardino National Forest. There were no injuries. I'm Janine Herbst, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington. Listen to this podcast sponsor-free on Amazon Music with a prime membership or any podcast app by subscribing to NPR News Now Plus at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.